Multiple monitor primary settings ignored?

[SteveRiley]

OK, this is now bugging me enough that I can't stand it anymore. I have an external monitor connected to the dock in which my T520 nestles. I want this monitor to be the primary one, where all windows open. According to what I've configured in System Settings, that's what I should be experiencing:


But that's not what's actually going on. When the laptop boots, I see the same KDM on both screens. After I enter my password, KWin begins behaving like I'd expect: the panel appears on the external monitor. But that's the only normal behavior. After that, every single window opens on the laptop's display -- even though I've supposedly told the computer that the primary output should be the external monitor.

Anyone have a quick fix?

sriley@SRiley-T520:~$ [B]sudo lshw -class system[/B]
sriley-t520
    description: Notebook
    product: 423926U ()
    vendor: LENOVO
    version: ThinkPad T520
    serial: R9FZ8DE
    width: 64 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.6 dmi-2.6 vsyscall32
    configuration: administrator_password=disabled chassis=notebook family=ThinkPad T520 power-on_password=disabled uuid=...

sriley@SRiley-T520:~$ [B]sudo lshw -class display[/B]
  *-display
       description: VGA compatible controller
       product: 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 2
       bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
       version: 09
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
       configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
       resources: irq:45 memory:f0000000-f03fffff memory:e0000000-efffffff ioport:5000(size=64)

sriley@SRiley-T520:~$ [B]apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-video-intel[/B]
xserver-xorg-video-intel:
  Installed: 2:2.18.0+git20120330.ee075ced-0ubuntu0sarvatt~oneiric
  Candidate: 2:2.18.0+git20120330.ee075ced-0ubuntu0sarvatt2~sna~oneiric
  Version table:
     2:2.18.0+git20120330.ee075ced-0ubuntu0sarvatt2~sna~oneiric 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/sarvatt/intel-sna/ubuntu/ oneiric/main amd64 Packages
 *** 2:2.18.0+git20120330.ee075ced-0ubuntu0sarvatt~oneiric 0
        500 http://ppa.launchpad.net/xorg-edgers/ppa/ubuntu/ oneiric/main amd64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:2.15.901-1ubuntu2.2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-proposed/main amd64 Packages
     2:2.15.901-1ubuntu2.1 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric-updates/main amd64 Packages
     2:2.15.901-1ubuntu2 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ oneiric/main amd64 Packages

[bra|10n]

I'm just wondering why Display 1 has an x-coordinate of "1920" on a display size of 1680 x 1050 or am I misunderstanding this?

EDIT:

Ok I just connected a cable to try this out and deliberately did not look at your settings. I set my external display to show above being the only difference from what I can see...

Behaviour is start-up/splash screens shown on both monitors. Panel is shown on laptop display only (LVDS1) with open windows shown only on external monitor (HDMI1) with tasks shown on the panel.

[SteveRiley]

In my setup, the laptop (LVDS1) is on the left side, the monitor (VGA1) on the right. The upper-left corner of LVDS1 is 0,0 and it is 1920 pixels wide. The upper-left corner of VGA1 is 1920,0 and it is 1680 pixels wide. The total width of my X screen is therefore 1920 + 1680 = 3,600 pixels. Because I indicated that the primary output is VGA1, the Multiple Monitors tab configures Display 1 to begin at coordinate 1920,0 and Display 2 to begin at coordinate 0,0. Everything in the two dialog boxes looks like it should. I'm just not experiencing the behavior I expect.

In your setup, you've left the laptop display as the primary output. And that's where your panel appears. So at least one aspect of our setup behaves the same: namely, the panel appears on the primary display. If you change your primary display to HDMI1, what happens? Do you experience the same unexpected behavior? Also, how does your Multiple Monitors tab appear, both before and after you change the primary display?

[bra|10n]

In your setup, you've left the laptop display as the primary output. And that's where your panel appears. So at least one aspect of our setup behaves the same: namely, the panel appears on the primary display. If you change your primary display to HDMI1, what happens? Do you experience the same unexpected behavior? Also, how does your Multiple Monitors tab appear, both before and after you change the primary display?

Ok trying this again, I cannot reproduce the earlier behaviour, i.e panel on LVDS1 with open windows on the external monitor HDMI1 set to above. The HDMI1 monitor acts only as a wallpaper frame.



The screenshot is the attempt reproduce the earlier behaviour.

The matching monitor setup



The only changes otherwise on this system is a bunch of updates to 4.8.2, a mere 191 only.

Primary display changed to HDMI1



This behaviour strikes me as normal or what one would expect.

Finally the matching monitor setup



I'm afraid the above will only confirm your suspicions that this feature remains broken. No idea why I couldn't reproduce what I had earlier though.
In case it assists you, notice my "conky" output remains fixed in the top left corner of the HDMI1 monitor for both setups, when it is configured to show above and left of the sys_tray as a norm.

[SteveRiley]

So there's a bug somewhere...but where? Graphics driver? Kwin? Something else?