[Jaunty] Desktop "jumps" to secondary monitor in dual head mode

[wofritz]

Binary package hint: kdebase-workspace

I have 2 monitors connected to an ATI graphics board using the radeon driver. I can switchj between single and dual head mode with xrandr.

Observation 1:
If I am running single head (left monitor on, right monitor off), I see the "desktop" (panel, icons etc.) on the left monitor (Correct)
If I enable the right monitor, the "desktop" jumps to the right monitor (Incorrect).

Observation 2:
In a static dual head configuration set up via xorg.conf, the "desktop" is also created on the right monitor (Incorrect).
KDM is showing its login mask on the left monitor (Correct).

lsb_release output:
Description: Ubuntu jaunty (development branch)
Release: 9.04

Update status: April 4, 2009

Attachments:
xorg.conf for static dual head setup

[wofritz (wolfgang-fritz)]

This is the script I for dynmically switching between dual and single head:

[lifi (lifi)]

I have nearly the same problem... If i change from single-head to dual-head via xrandr, all i got is the right half from the big desktop on both LCD's. Using the radeon driver. I tried also the fglrx driver and its "working" with xrandr to enable the 2nd LCD and i got the big-desktop working... But after a logout and login again, the settings set with xrandr are gone and i got the desktop one both LCD's again.

The KDE tool krandr isnt working at all.

[Andreas Schiffer (andreas-schiffer)]

I see exactly the same behavior as reported by wofritz.
The system settings and krandr are completely useless in this scenario.
grandr helps a little bit, but it doesn't allow me dragging a display to the right or to the left.

It seems to me that there are a number of bugs to be fixed before using two displays with KDE4.x actually works fine.

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

So if I understand this correctly, both desktops appear on a single screen?

[Andreas Schiffer (andreas-schiffer)]

In my case, I have to configure both displays in the xorg.conf, and then the "desktop" is on the wrong screen (the same bug as wofritz describes).

Without modifying xorg.conf, both screens display the same desktop, and neither xrandr nor grandr allow me to virtually place the screens side by side (right-of or left-of). But in the case of wofritz this seems to work. So this is just a side-note from my side. I don't want to hijack wofritz's bug report.

[wofritz (wolfgang-fritz)]

I can get xinerama mode basically working, but only with xrandr command line or xorg.conf.
krandrtray is not working for me.

My problem is, if I am running in single monitor setup (the left of my monitors is active), the "desktop" with panel etc. is on this monitor. If I activate the second (right) monitor, the desktop is moved to this monitor, in fact the destops on both monitors are swapped.

Meanwhile I made another observation:
If I am running a xinerama setup configured via xorg.conf, so that kdm is running in xinerama mode, the "desktop" of a new user is created on the left monitor on first login as expected. The right monitor shows an empty desktop. If I then disable the right monitor with xrandr, the empty desktop from the right monitor is displayed on the left monitor. So in order to be able to see the panel etc. in dual and single monitor mode, I have to move it to the right monitor first.

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

Dual-head (non-xinerama) is pretty much busted in general. Things may get better in KDE 4.4, as there has been some work on that.