Primary screen option in multi monitor setup doesn't work

[jvdurme]

Hi all,

I have two monitors with this physical setup: Left: Laptop, Right: External screen.
Since the external screen is bigger, I want this to be the primary screen and thus to contain the KDE Panel.

When I set the "Primary output" in the Display settings to CRT1 (external screen), the laptop screen keeps the panel and nothing happens.
I'm guessing xrandr is used to set these options, so I tried:

xrandr --output CRT1 --primary

And indeed, nothing happens.

I saw this bug on launchpad and it was fixed for Unity in 11.10:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...er/+bug/742544

But not for KDE it seems.

Basically, the panel is always on the leftmost screen (as defined by xrandr).
This bug is the only thing keeping me from using Kubuntu as my working distro. And I want to use it! It's so beautiful.

Any chance on getting this fixed? Or perhaps a workaround?

I have an ATI HD3650 Radeon card using the fglrx driver.

Thanks!

J.

ps: Kubuntu 11.10 also has this bug.

[Teunis]

Although the nVidia driver is totally different it has a similar problem but also a work-around you might want to try.

When in the nVidia settings menu I select the primary screen and when clicking Apply the wrong one is selected.
Next I cancel this setting and click Apply for a second time and this will set the screens as wanted.

B.t.w, this should not require xrandr.

[sithlord48]

since you are using the amd driver for you card you will need to use their control panel to set up your screen stuff. you can use the command

kdesudo amdcccle

to start the control panel.

also your randr command could just be wrong.

[jvdurme]

Hi all,

thanks for the replies.

The AMD control panel does not have an option to set the primary screen. So that's a no go.
I'm pretty sure the xrandr command is correct, since it worked for Ubuntu 10.10 and I could not guess what could be wrong with such a simple command.

For the moment I made a new panel on the external screen, but of course this is not the ideal option, since any changes I make to one of both panels, has to be made to the other panel as well for when the external screen is disconnected.

Not that it will matter much, but xfce has the possibility to set the screen for each panel and it's also scriptable. They've created their own workaround for any multi monitor issues related to distro incompatibilities with xrandr. Might be something to keep in mind.

Just a question: does my problem also occur with you? I mean, can you make the rightmost screen the primary to contain the panel in that way?

[Teunis]

I can't answer, the only computer with AMD video that I get my hands on is an HP TouchSmart All in One.
But it would be a serious surprise when this option would not be available.

[jvdurme]

Trust me, it won't work.
But to be honest I have no idea to which package this bug can be contributed to.

[sithlord48]

the amdcccle has an option to set primary display you just have to move the displays around in the section called "display manager" be sure to click on the down arrow for your display there you can set the mode of you card(it just doesnt word it as one would expect). i can do it on my desktop, if you have looked there and its not present it could be bacause its a laptop ? . also have you tried setting it under system settings -> display and monitor -> size & orentation? toward the bottom there is a place to set primary output. (this might be ingored because of the properitary driver)

[Teunis]

After this morning's upgrade to the nVidia driver I can no longer set the laptop screen as primary, regardless of the setting the tool bar ends up on the external screen.

[jvdurme]

the amdcccle has an option to set primary display you just have to move the displays around in the section called "display manager" be sure to click on the down arrow for your display there you can set the mode of you card(it just doesnt word it as one would expect). i can do it on my desktop, if you have looked there and its not present it could be bacause its a laptop ? . also have you tried setting it under system settings -> display and monitor -> size & orentation? toward the bottom there is a place to set primary output. (this might be ingored because of the properitary driver)

Hi, I did all that, but no luck. No primary option in amdcccle and the primary option in size & orentation has no effect whatsoever. I didn't try with the open driver, because I need full 3D accelleration for my work.
Perhaps with another update of amdcccle ...

[MountainX]

Hi, I did all that, but no luck. No primary option in amdcccle and the primary option in size & orentation has no effect whatsoever. I didn't try with the open driver, because I need full 3D accelleration for my work.
Perhaps with another update of amdcccle ...

I have the same problem. I confirm: "No primary monitor option in amdcccle." I'm on a desktop with 3 monitors.