kde 4.3 Multiple Monitors tells lies

This bug is also present in the KDE 4.3 packages for Karmic.

I also see this on Karmic with an Intel card on Xorg Edgers
$ lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)

I can confirm this on Karmic with Geforce 9800GTX+ using Nouveau driver. XRANDR works, and creates the dual screen when the correct spell is typed on the Konsole. But if I open the System Settings - Display, I get little bit of flickering and I have a clone mode again within my 2 displays :( So it doesn't work at all, and it even f*s up the configuration I've manually set...

The behavior described by Toni also occurs on Intel hardware. Opening System Settings - Display will force clone mode. Very bad.

Same bad behaviour here with intel hardware.

It seems that the "Multiple Monitors" section is designed to work only with xinerama
(indeed the service called when you click on this section is called 'xinerama': try
"kcmshell4 xinerama")
but xinerama is deprecated (according to Xorg) !

here is the head of the file
/usr/share/kde4/services/xinerama.desktop

[Desktop Entry]
Icon=preferences-desktop-display-multiple
Type=Service
X-KDE-ServiceTypes=KCModule
Exec=kcmshell4 xinerama
X-DocPath=kcontrol/multiplemonitors.html
# This is still awfully broken, first of all Hidden= here doesn't work
# for some reason and second this is statically done at kbuildsycoca time.
# X-KDE-Test-Module (KCModuleLoader::testModule() in KDE3) needs to be brought back.
#Hidden[$e]=$(if test_kcm_xinerama; then echo "false"; else echo "true"; fi)

I made some googleing today and discovered
http://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=62111
and a bugreport https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=201866

So digging in the bug reports (kde bug #180437) revealed those buttons
for positioning are intentionally left out. Compare to recent SVN
http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/KDE/kdebase/workspace/kcontrol/randr/outputconfig.cpp?view=markup

 // FIXME: RandRScreen::applyProposed() has a bit of code for positioning
 // outputs, but it's commented out and might not work as is. Until someone
 // gets this to work, it's probably better not to show these controls.
 positionLabel->setVisible(false);
 positionCombo->setVisible(false);
 positionOutputCombo->setVisible(false);

and once you had a look at RandRScreen::applyProposed you know why it
is not working. So unless somebody works on it, this feature just has
not yet been coded.

Mmmm
I thought then "gnome-display-properties" would be a good workaround,
since it works perfectly under gnome.
(with a nice graphical interface that does screens positioning)

But for some reason "gnome-display-properties" cannot apply changes when run under KDE.

Does someone know what to do to have "gnome-display-properties" work under KDE ?

Ah: if I run

gnome-settings-daemon
and then
gnome-display-properties

it works !

I does, but gnome-settings-daemon will also set keyboard layout,
accessibility options, mouse settings (like acceleration), will start
you a gnome screensaver and might inflict with clipboard management.

You might wanna killa gnome-settings-daemon after you use it but be
warned it set up more than just your display.

thanks for the warning.
Indeed, it changes my PPP fonts settings.
Anyway, it's better than nothing

Hi Guys,

I wonder if anyone can shed light, I have almost the identical problem. But with a tiny twist!
* ATI Graphics card
* KDE 4.3
* Del optiplex

Output of xrandr:

nherriot@agamenmon:~$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1680 x 1050, maximum 3360 x 1050
DVI-1 connected 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 433mm x 271mm
   1680x1050 59.9*+ 60.0
   1280x1024 75.0 60.0
   1280x960 60.0
   1152x864 75.0 70.0
   1024x768 75.0 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 75.0 72.8 66.7 59.9
   720x400 70.1
DVI-0 connected 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 430mm x 270mm
   1680x1050 60.0*+
   1280x1024 75.0 60.0
   1152x864 75.0
   1024x768 75.0 60.0
   800x600 75.0 60.3
   640x480 75.0 59.9
   720x400 70.1

When I run the gnome settings daemon and the gnome display properties app to get my dual monitor support I see the familiar gnome properties app (which all works fine under gnome), but when I de-select 'Mirror Screens', then identify the monitors (which still works fine) then hit apply I get the error:

Method "ApplyConfiguration" with signature "" on interface "org.gnome.SettingsDaemon.XRANDR" doesn't exist

I also noticed that under gnome you have a small green and red box, one on each screen identifiying the screen types (i.e. dell 20" and philips 20"). However when I run the app in KDE 4.3 each monitor shows both red and green boxes. One on top of the other!

I'd appreciate any help! I've been surfing forums for housrs trying to get this sorted.

Kind regards, Nicholas.

I think it is about time we confirm this one. Thanks for linking the upstream report, as I have added it as a watch for this report. Thanks again, and hopefully someone will start fixing the dual monitor stuff so it "just works".

Excellent news. Happy to test bleeding edge code on request :)

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There's a previous bug report linked to the same upstream bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/kdebase/+bug/385115

I suppose one should be marked as a duplicate.

I can really not understand why this bug has an importance level of Undecided and Low. As it is absolutely confirmed and affect a lot of people, why is it not put higher up on the priority list?

I totally understand and know that nobody care if I move to Gnome instead of KDE on one of my computers. But I would love to keep KDE and it is a bit difficult to explain to friends why I have the same picture on both screens in KDE when it works as expected in both Gnome and WindowsXP...

This bug will probably never be fixed with the priority level it has now. And as I am no programmer and will never be, I can not do anything about it myself.

Low priority? Seriously???

I think it's probably likely that business users make up more than a significant portion of people who use Linux. Adding real multiple monitor support to any non-nVidia hardware is such a huge PITA that even I won't touch it with a ten foot pole, so I'm stuck on a single screen.

I'm glad to see that the option is even in Display, but what's the point of having it there if it's not functional, and the likelihood of it being made functional is "Low"? There really isn't one.

This is just one more thing that makes KDE seem less professional than Gnome. I know most of the KDE developers are volunteers and that this is like biting the hand that feeds you, but I think a core goal of future KDE development should be feature parity with other window managers as well as simplifying features that Windows converts desperately need (like "disable touchpad when usb mouse is plugged in").

If not, I have to question the goal of having a separate window manager at all. What is KDE for if very basic functionality is considered low priority for being fixed/written?

I see a fix has been developed over at OpenSuse (comment #4 and #14) back in january '09:
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=468931

Get it upstream and pulled into Kubuntu.

Terrible problem with Karmic, KDE 4.3 is becoming nice but completely unusable with two screens. I have no way to use KDE until it's fixed...

Karmic can not be released with this problem !

7oby

I am not as seasoned as other people here in finding out all info about a bug, so I really appreciate the work that all of you do to try to find possible solutions etc.

Is there a way to figure out who is in charge of this area in Kubuntu and ask them nicely to change the level of importance for this bug?

I've noticed that if I log into gnome first and then logout and log into KDE it works. A shame KDE won't work with dual-head as smoothly as gnome...

Im still having this problem here. With kde 4.2 and Kubuntu 9.04, it works fine.

But when im using kubuntu 9.10 fresh install and kde 4.3, i try to activate dual monitors (twinview) with nvidia-settings , but the plasma crash when i activate the effects. Using Nvidia GeForce 7000M with nvidia drivers 185 or 190.

The problem only happens when i change the view with nvidia-settings. If i start kdm with pre configured twinview, it works fine.

Can i help with some log?

Thanks.

In Kubuntu 9.04 there was no 'Multiple Monitors' tab, so I worked around it by editing my xorg.conf file. Today I updated to 9.10 and even though my edited xorg.conf file remains the same, my dual monitors now have a cloned desktop on them. I noticed the multiple monitors tab but it gives me the same problem as the others that have posted here. I have the Intel Chipset 945GM series. I can also help with some logging if needed.

I had a perfectly working system and then this popup came:"an upgdare to kubuntu 9.10 is availble"...

im allready spending a week to get everything working again. and this one is persistent. If a fix is available in Suse and many people are suffering, please prioritise this bug!

(nvidia, 2 screens (sounds comes through hdmi-tv that stays black), even krandrtray displays settings for both)

ps: i installed and opened gnome-display-properties.
it warns
"It appears that your graphics driver does not support the necessary extensions to use this tool. Do you want to use your graphics driver vendor's tool instead?"

if chosen "no", also the gnome settings show only my first screen...

ps2: login into gnome, it works completely like it should be. however, when trying the method of @paulocic (login gnome, logout, start kde), it doesnt. screen2 stays black and when moving the mouse to it, the cursor changes to an X. if i use krandrtray to set the resolution to very low, i can make it a huge X....

I've done a fresh install of 9.10 and I'm having this problem too even though it worked fine uner 9.04 (admittedly I had to manually edit my xorg.conf to do it) this should absolutely not be a low priority issue, it's not like multiple monitors are uncommon these days

9.04 -> nvidia-settings twinview + composite : WORKS OK

9.10 -> nvidia-settings twinview + composite: WHITE SCREEN

with .deb nvidia driver (185) and with the nvidia's site driver (190), same problem!

Its a kde bug??

HIGH PRIORITY who doesnt use multiple monitors??????????

I agree that this should be a higher priority. Being limited to 1 monitor (especially if it's a tiny 15" monitor like mine) is a huge drawback. Does the Multiple Monitors option in the Display Settings work for anyone in 9.10? If it does, it might be hard finding that someone on this bug page...

+1 to the higher priority. This is a significant bug, not a missing feature.

Anyone who doubts it should try using their Kubuntu for typical
professional purposes - like presenting; I did a presentation recently
and everything worked, recognising and understanding the existence of
dual monitors (the laptop screen and the projector). Like everything
including the incredibly useful OpenOffice Presenter Console, which
started automatically when the slide show was started. Everything
except the ability to use the dual monitors out of cloned mode, which
resulted in the Presenter Console being overlaid on the presentation;
not something you can quickly workaround by editing xorg.conf or
fiddling with a CLI.

Fix it, or tell me what needs to be done to fix it. This is a
showstopper for wider corporate use of Kubuntu.

Chris has hit the nail on the head, this is a major issue for anyone presenting to or training clients, let alone the impact it has on your desktop efficiency.

As a small business owner it is essential we spend our time running our business not mucking about with out IT, it's also essential that we look professional in front of our clients and dropping to the CLI at the start of a presentation is not really an option. With any number of different projectors and large plasma screens out there, at any number of different resolutions, this is one feature which needs to work seamlessly.

xrandr seams to detect everything correctly - all the time - it would appear the os just doesn't do something intelligent with the output.

Anything you can do to bump this up the priority list and resolve it will be greatly appreciated. In the mean time I guess we will have to continue to use arandr which so far seams to work.

A fix has been released
https://bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi?id=468931#c16

and commited to the KDE 4.4. upstream version:
http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/KDE/kdebase/workspace/kcontrol/randr/ChangeLog?view=log

it fixes the setup of multiple monitor setups:
http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-core-devel&m=125053677632703&w=2

An option for the Kubuntu maintainers is to cherry pick it. Otherwise it should be available in Kubnutu 10.4 since KDE 4.4 will be released Feb 9th 2010.

Unfortunately (and quite unfortunately at that) this is not cherry-pickable. :(
It breaks just about every post-release protocol imaginable; adding new, untranslated strings as well as modifying the strings of KRandrTray, which would make them untranslated. This would definitely *not* something we could force upon everybody as an update.

Maybe somebody will step up and put the branch in a PPA.
Marking fix committed as a fix has been committed in trunk upstream.

This is the only stopper why I can't use Kubuntu for my work. Will stay on Vista until this will be fixed

As a workaround, I use ARandR which works perfectly fine, including drag'n'drop of monitor positions, and the ability to save monitor schemes, that you can later load from .bashrc or .profile.

For some reason in ARandr I can't increase width of worspace and set up monitors side by side :(

The workaround proposed by Vu Ngoc San can be implemented in a clean way, too:
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/index.php?topic=3107874.msg205118#msg205118

I am so glad this will be fixed for 10.04! Thanks 7oby for the good news!

Here's my workaround (from a terminal window):

$ # Determine what the output names are:
$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 2560 x 1024
DVI-1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 376mm x 301mm
   1280x1024 60.0*+ 75.0 60.0*
   1280x960 60.0
   1152x864 75.0
   1024x768 75.0 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 75.0 72.8 66.7 59.9
   720x400 70.1
DVI-0 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 376mm x 301mm
   1280x1024 60.0*+ 75.0 60.0*
   1280x960 60.0
   1152x864 75.0
   1024x768 75.0 70.1 60.0
   832x624 74.6
   800x600 72.2 75.0 60.3 56.2
   640x480 75.0 72.8 66.7 59.9
   720x400 70.1

$ # Set up a side-by-side display
$ xrandr --output DVI-0 --left-of DVI-1
$ # Oops! It put my monitors on the wrong sides of each other
$ xrandr --output DVI-1 --left-of DVI-0

Fix released to the development version of Kubuntu 10.04.

I can confirm this bug in KDE 4.4.1, using Karmic.

Hegh,

Thank you for putting the xrandr command. It works fine for R60 with Intel 945GM Integrated Video chip and Likom monitor.

This bug seems to be fixed in Lucid with 4.4.2.