Xfce Forum

uintathere

Member

Registered: 2018-05-23

Posts: 2

Disable automated monitor removal/reconfiguration

I'm a long-time Linux user (1995), but I am not much of a GUI person.

I run Slackware with dual-monitors and use xfce 4.12.  The issue is that on my new system one of the monitors uses DisplayPort, which means when the monitor is turned off, the system is aware of it and xfce automatically moves all the windows from the DisplayPort monitor to the  DVI monitor.  But when I turn the DisplayPort monitor back on, it is now a duplicate of the DVI monitor and I need to exit and reload xfce to fix it.

The system doesn't "know" that the DVI monitor has been disconnected when it is turned off, so it doesn't display the problem.

I leave my system on 24x7 and access it remotely.  So suspending it before I shut off the monitors is not a useful solution.

What would be useful is to not make any changes to the display settings just because I turn the monitor off.  Another obvious solution would be to buy a video card with two DVI ports, but I'd rather just fix the problem. 

I had assumed it was an nVidia driver issue, but it doesn't happen in window managers like twm, fvwm, fluxbox, etc.  Out of the window managers on my system, this behavior is limited to kde and xfce.

Thanks.

Last edited by uintathere (2018-05-23 21:12:07)

alcornoqui

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 832

Re: Disable automated monitor removal/reconfiguration

Adapted from http://www.webupd8.org/2012/11/how-to-u … buntu.html

1. Install Arandr, a simple GUI for XRandR:

https://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/desktop/arandr/
https://pkgs.org/download/arandr

2. Then, open Arandr and move the monitors to the desired position using drag and drop.

By default, the monitors might be displayed one above the other, so drag the first one to be able to see both of them.

When you're done, select Layout > Apply.

3. The changes are not saved and will be lost once you logout / restart the computer so to make them permanent, from the Arandr menu select Layout > Save As, enter a name for this layout and save it.

This creates a script under ~/.screenlayout using the name you've used above (unless you've selected a different path).

4. Add this script to your startup items: Session and Startup > Applications Autostart - click "Add", under "Name" enter whatever you want and under "Command", enter the exact path to the script created under step 3 and you're done:

Your computer's display should now be extended to the external monitor(s), instead of using the default clone (mirror) option, each time you log in.

alcornoqui

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 832

Re: Disable automated monitor removal/reconfiguration

There's also this informative thread https://forum.xfce.org/viewtopic.php?id=11244

uintathere

Member

Registered: 2018-05-23

Posts: 2

Re: Disable automated monitor removal/reconfiguration

Thank you so much for your help.  This has worked, allowed me to return to XFCE from twm and also shown me the newer GUI-based way of doing things.