Open all new apps on Primary Display only

BFG · 2022-01-03 14:06:50

I love the way that XFCE handles dual displays for a permanent setup. It works far better than other distros for a desktop setup with two permanent monitors. Really superb.

On a laptop and projector, less so. I can't get a good experience for end users when there is a temporary display. What I would really like is to have the ability to tell XFCE to only ever open new applications on the primary monitor.

This would mean we're able to start a new application mid-presentation / mid-video, without it interrupting the experience for viewers. E.g. the presenter needs to quickly open a browser to research a question that's been asked.

The second need hits tech support queries and is probably more of a workaround. If someone turns off the projector, this is a problem. The laptop will still think that the display is real as long as the HDMI cable is present. H/W limitation, but a reality.

I've been called out one too many times to a user who says that Chrome will not launch, only to find they have 20+ instances which have opened on the secondary display - the projector - which is switched off.

I'd rather not mess round with devilspie etc.

There's a solid concept of primary monitor, how can I exploit this to solve the problem please?

ToZ · 2022-01-03 14:31:54

It would be nice of xfwm4 supported the idea of a primary monitor, but I don't think it does. See: https://gitlab.xfce.org/xfce/xfwm4/-/issues/261. You could try to "place windows under the mouse pointer" (Window Manager Tweaks > Placement) to see if that helps, but as you can see from the linked bug report, not all apps respect that (most likely because they do placement on their own that overrides xfwm).

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#1 2022-01-03 14:06:50

Open all new apps on Primary Display only

#2 2022-01-03 14:31:54

Re: Open all new apps on Primary Display only

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