Ubuntu
gnome-panel package

Two panels appear on main desktop after reboot after detaching external monitor.

Bug #255727 reported by Jamie Dalgetty on 2008-08-07

Affects		Status	Importance	Assigned to	Milestone
	GNOME Panel	Confirmed	Low	gnome-bugs #331516
	gnome-panel (Ubuntu)	Triaged	Low	Ubuntu Desktop Bugs

Bug Description

I run a dual monitor setup with a task bar on each desktop. When I boot with only a single monitor I am stuck with 2 taskbars on the one desktop.

On the next boot with the second monitor attached, both taskbars are on the external monitors desktop.

This is quite annoying as I am on a laptop and often boot while away from my desk.

Revision history for this message

Jamie Dalgetty (jdalgetty) wrote on 2008-08-07:

Screenshot of 2 panels on main desktop Edit (1.6 MiB, image/png)

Revision history for this message

Sebastien Bacher (seb128) wrote on 2008-10-30:

thank you for your bug report, that's an upstream issue and should be sent to bugzilla.gnome.org by somebody having a similar configuration who can reply to their comments

Changed in gnome-panel:
assignee:	nobody → desktop-bugs
importance:	Undecided → Low

Revision history for this message

Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) wrote on 2008-12-17:

Opened an upstream task

Revision history for this message

Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) wrote on 2008-12-21:

Found the regarding bug in the upstream bug tracker. Linking it here.

Changed in gnome-panel:
importance:	Undecided → Unknown
status:	New → Unknown

Revision history for this message

Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) wrote on 2008-12-21:

The upstream bug was marked as a duplicate, so I reassign it to the right bug.

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater) on 2008-12-21

Changed in gnome-panel:
status:	Unknown → Confirmed

Martin Mai (mrkanister-deactivatedaccount-deactivatedaccount) on 2008-12-23

Changed in gnome-panel:
status:	New → Confirmed

Sebastien Bacher (seb128) on 2009-01-05

Changed in gnome-panel:
status:	Confirmed → Triaged

Bug Watch Updater (bug-watch-updater) on 2010-09-16

Changed in gnome-panel:
importance:	Unknown → Low

Revision history for this message

nZain (patrick-stalph) wrote on 2010-12-09:

So, after searching from here to upstream, from the non-duplicate upstream bug to forum posts, out-of-date PPAs I ask myself if this can be resolved somehow.
The upstream bug refers to problems where applications do not open on the correct monitor. However, this is not the issue here: when monitor 2 is gone, the gnome-panel resorts to the available monitor - which is of course useful in many respects. Typically, you don't want your applications be left alone in the void.

BUT when working in a dualscreen environment and from time to time only on a single monitor, this is just so anyoing. This issue is open for a long time.

So, I'm fine with the behavior as default: always revert back to an available monitor, if the original target is lost somehow. However, for the scenario depicted in this bug, it should be possible to "lock" a particular panel to a particular monitor, even if it is not showing then.

Basically, I suggest to add an option "right-click on the panel > preferences" to force a monitor, even if not present.
This raises the issue of "lost" panels, so eventually there should also be the possibility to "gather lost panels", e.g. by "right-click on any panel > find lost panels from disconnected monitors". I could live without the second - advanced - option, since I know where to look in the gconf.

If all this stuff confuses the majority of users that have only one monitor or always work with two mons, I'm also fine with a gconf option to deactivate this "save switching" off. My current workaround involves removing the whole panel from the list of visible panels... and re-inserting, if my second monitor becomes available. Mah.