Can't keep KDE panel on laptop screen when using dual monitors

[Tekno_Cowboy]

I'm having some trouble keeping the KDE panel on my laptop screen when using dual monitors.

From what I can tell, this is because the LCD I'm attaching is getting priority and being listed as display #1, bumping the laptop display back to #2.

Is there any way to keep the laptop display as #1?

[David Batson]

If you go to System > Preferences > Display, you can drag the monitors around and put the laptop display on the left which will give it priority.

[Tekno_Cowboy]

That would be great if I was using Gnome, but I'm using KDE...

[David Batson]

Yeah, I see what you mean. I have the same problem in Mandriva 2010 KDE. Maybe some info needs to be put in /etc/X11/xorg.conf for this to work.

---------- Post added at 10:15 AM CST ---------- Previous post was at 10:07 AM CST ----------

It looks like there is a workaround or two from the following bug report. I'll try resolving this later when I have more time.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ce/+bug/403610

---------- Post added at 05:43 PM CST ---------- Previous post was at 10:15 AM CST ----------

I got this to work in Mandriva 2010 KDE. First I had to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf and add the following information. Note that the Virtual size I chose was twice the normal width and normal height of my laptop display. Your virtual size might be different. [Note: do not forget to add the EndSubsection line as I did. I could not start x, and had to edit xorg.conf with vi from the command line. Difficult for me because I do not know my way around vi (wish I had EDLIN available instead).]

Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
# Here you can set virtual screen size:
Virtual 2800 1050
EndSubsection

Here is my complete /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:

# File generated by XFdrake (rev )

# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the xorg.conf man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "DontZap" "False" # disable <Ctrl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
    #DontZoom # disable <Ctrl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
    AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load "dbe" # Double-Buffering Extension
    Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
    Load "extmod"
    Load "glx" # 3D layer
    Load "dri" # direct rendering
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "monitor1"
    VendorName "Generic"
    ModelName "Flat Panel 1400x1050"
    HorizSync 28.8-90
    VertRefresh 60
    
    # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
    # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630
    
    # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
    BoardName "ATI Radeon X1950 and earlier"
    Driver "ati"
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    Subsection "Display"
            Depth    24
            # Here you can set virtual screen size:
            Virtual 2800 1050
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "layout1"
    Screen "screen1"
EndSection

After editing xorg.conf, you need to logout/login (possibly reboot, not sure).

Next I entered the following in konsole (terminal) as regular user and this set both my displays to maximum resolution (for each), with the Laptop display as primary display, to the left of the external display:

[david@localhost ~]$ xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1400x1050 --output VGA-0 --auto --right-of LVDS

With the above xrandr line, I could drag a window from the Laptop display to the external display.

You can type xrandr by itself to see the current modes you are using. The following was a help to me.
http://manual.sidux.com/en/hw-dev-mon-en.htm

---------- Post added at 06:05 PM CST ---------- Previous post was at 05:43 PM CST ----------

I created the following script file to toggle between laptop display only, both displays, and external display only. I created the file as root and made it executable. If you want, you can set up a hotkey combo to run the script. Alternatively, you can double-click on it in Dolphin to run it.

I named the file video.sh and placed it in /etc/acpi/actions/

#!/bin/sh

statusvga=`xrandr -q | grep 1024x768* | grep VGA-0 | cut -c1-5`
statuslvds=`xrandr -q | grep "1400x1050*\|1024x768*" | grep LVDS | cut -c1-4`

if [ "$statusvga" != "VGA-0" ] && [ "$statuslvds" == "LVDS" ] ; then
   xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1400x1050 --output VGA-0 --auto --right-of LVDS
fi
if [ "$statusvga" == "VGA-0" ] && [ "$statuslvds" == "LVDS" ] ; then
   xrandr --output LVDS --off
fi
if [ "$statusvga" == "VGA-0" ] && [ "$statuslvds" != "LVDS" ] ; then
   xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1400x1050 --output VGA-0 --off
fi
exit