Xfce Forum

novakyu

Member

Registered: 2007-08-22

Posts: 3

window placement with xinerama

Hi,

I am using Xfce 4.3.99.2 (stock Xfce4 with Debian Etch), and I have a small issue with occasional window placement problems.

I use Xinerama to combine two monitors (an external monitor and my laptop screen) into one workspace, and sometimes, I find that a new window launched from one monitor (say, when I open a PDF file from Iceweasel (open on laptop screen) using xpdf) is placed in the other monitor (in the external monitor). Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but recently, I got into habit of launching a Windows virtual machine in the other monitor fullscreened so that I can quickly "change" between OS's when I need to, and when a window opens in that other monitor, it's usually hidden behind the full screened Windows virtual machine.

I do think my install of Xfce is Xinerama-aware, since maximizing a window only fills one monitor, and there is a slight  resistance in moving a window from one screen to the other screen.

Is there any way to change Xfce's window placement behavior so that either: 1) window launched from one monitor will stay in that monitor, even when it's a new process being spawned from another application (... and, it looks like I'm having the same problem when Iceweasel is spawning a new window, which *should* be the same process); 2) place all windows in one screen, so I will have to explicitly drag the window to the other monitor to place anything there (I think I can live with that, since it's kind of a master-slave setup).

Thank you for your help,

Andrew

god_sprit

Member

Registered: 2007-09-18

Posts: 1

Re: window placement with xinerama

Have you tried disabling Xinerama and only use separate X screens? I mean if you have no need for moving windows between screens.
If that is not an option you can use Devil's pie.

novakyu

Member

Registered: 2007-08-22

Posts: 3

Re: window placement with xinerama

I have tried separate screens, but it didn't really work out for me. Aside from not being able to move screens from one to another, programs like Firefox had real problem having a separate instance running in the other screen (or somehow launching a new window in the other screen without running a separate instance).

Devil's pie does seem like a nifty program and I thank you for the suggestion---but how would one use it for placing window in only one screen? It looks like if I use geometry directives (say, with origin at 1025,0 if my other screen has dimensions of 1024x768 and is placed on the left), I would essentially be elliminating any smart window placement within the primary screen, which wouldn't be too ideal either. I've tried looking around for info, but there is a dearth of information out there. The Ubuntu "how-to" is very basic at best (doesn't cover xinerama at all) and the included documentation is very scanty.

novakyu

Member

Registered: 2007-08-22

Posts: 3

Re: window placement with xinerama

I just wanted to update that ... I found a relatively complete documentation at: http://foosel.org/linux/devilspie, but according to the comments below (search for xinerama), it doesn't look like devilspie cannot (yet) do what I want to do (at least not without making an ugly hack that includes hard-coding geometries). Neither set_viewport nor set_workspace does what I would like to do in the context provided by xinerama.

finswimmer

Member

Registered: 2007-10-02

Posts: 8

Re: window placement with xinerama

A solution of that problem would be interessting for me too. Is there any right now?

bye

tobias