Can't define primary screen in dual screen setup

[Niklas Andersson]

When in gnome-display-properties I can't define which screen is the primary. I have a dual screen setup. Laptop + external 22" LG. Before upgrading to Jaunty when plugged in my 22" was the primary screen, just as I wanted.

After upgrading, the laptop is suddenly the primary screen and I can't change it. Not in gnome-display-properties nor in grandr.

There has to be an option in gnome-display-properties where you can choose what screen to display the gnome-panel.

[Damien Cassou (cassou)]

I confirm latest update (1:2.26.0-0ubuntu5) break the dual screen support in different ways.

[Damien Cassou (cassou)]

Might be related to issue #353712.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

thank you for your bug report, is that an issue due to the recent changes? could you try if today's update fix the issue?

[Niklas Andersson (niklas-andersson)]

Negative. Problem still persist as of today. No way to set primary screen in a dual-screen setup.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

what do you call primary screen exactly?

[Niklas Andersson (niklas-andersson)]

1. In a dual-screen setup you have two screens

2. One screen presents the gnome-panel ( primary screen) - the other is not.

3. There is no way in gnome-display-settings to define what screen where to display the panel.

Reproducible? Yes

In my case gnome-panel is displayed on the smaller laptop-screen. I have no way to change that.

When it first occurred? When upgrading to Jaunty gnome-panel suddenly switched screens.

There must be a way to define this in a multi-screen-setup. >=2 screens that is.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

The issue seems to be similar to bug #216144 there

[mefiX (mefix)]

I can confirm that behaviour.
I also have a notebook and an external (via TMDS-1 aka DVI) connected LCD.
My Notebook stands LEFT of the LCD and has 1440x900.
The LCD has 1680x1050, so preferred for primary screen.
In previous versions this worked pretty fine.
I tried to get cope with it by engaging xrandr in several combinations (e.g. one could say --left-of for the notebook OR --right-of for the LCD).
Xrandr also has smth. like --primary and --noprimary.
All these don't really influence the way that gnome choses the primary screen.

I would also say that there has to be some flag to determine the primary screen one would like to have!

[Ruairi (ruhann)]

I had a similar problem the panels stayed on my laptop when i plugged in the external screen. I managed to find a workaround using xrandr.

1. I queried the screens
> xrandr -q
My screens were VGA1 <external> and LVDS1 <laptop>

2. set the external to primary
> xrandr --output VGA1 --primary
3. turn off the laptop screen, forcing the panels to the external screen
>xrandr --output LVDS1 --off
4. turn the laptop on again,
>xrandr --output LVDS1 --auto
5. set the laptop left-of the external monitor
>xrandr --output LVDS1 --left-of VGA1

I am sure there is an easier way

[Andreas Jonsson (sonofjon)]

Well, the third step may be a little dangerous, since you can end up with two screens turned off unless the external was turned on already. This worked for me:

xrandr --output VGA1 --primary; xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --pos 0x0 --output LVDS1 --auto --left-of VGA1

[kaho_tam (kaho-tam)]

wow thanks a lot! it works after i had been googling for half hours.