Dual/Multi Monitor Gnome Configuration

Registered by kenc

We need a better way to configure multi monitor modes in X. Currently, you need to edit all of this by hand! Xinerama or TwinView or fglrx's implementations should all be handled.

Blueprint information

Status:
Complete
Approver:
Bryce Harrington
Priority:
Undefined
Drafter:
Bryce Harrington
Direction:
Needs approval
Assignee:
Bryce Harrington
Definition:
Approved
Series goal:
None
Implementation:
Implemented
Milestone target:
None
Started by
Bryce Harrington
Completed by
Bryce Harrington

Related branches

Sprints

Whiteboard

Dual monitor gnome configuration is handled by the DisplayConfigGTK specification, however >2 monitors is not supported and would require extra design conceptualization for expanding to arbitrary numbers of monitors.

2007-08-17 bryce: DisplayConfigGtk is now implemented in Gutsy, which provides support for configuring 1 or 2 monitors. Please flesh out this specification conceptualizing modifications to DisplayConfigGtk to allow for >2 monitors. Please review that spec as there is discussion about >2 monitors that should be accounted for in this one.

2007-10-15 bryce: Now that many drivers also have xrandr support, DisplayConfigGtk also will need support for xrandr-based multi-monitor setup. It would be worthwhile to have a session on both xrandr and >2 monitor support for UDS Boston 07.

2008-02-29 bryce: I've been working on a new gui for this. See: http://bryceharrington.org/drupal/display-config-1

2008-03-10 bryce: Updating to beta available. The tool is available for testing in Hardy via Screen Resolution in the System menu. There are some known issues with particular drivers (radeonhd, fglrx, 855 intel) which do not have sufficient xrandr 1.2 support, that will need have version checks implemented (this is partly done). Upstream is also working on some nice features (drag and drop monitor layout, monitor auto-detect, fn+f8 hotkey support) which may be nice to include if they're completed and stabilized quickly - otherwise we can anticipate those for Hardy+1.

Also note that the immediate goals are dual monitor config. More than 2 monitors (or two monitors on two different video cards, with disconnected memory regions) will require the TTM memory manager in libdrm, which is not yet stable and not going to be available for hardy, but is expected for Hardy+1. So we can get this spec partly implemented for Hardy, but full multi-monitor config support will need to wait for Hardy+1.

2008-03-25: is there any way this tool could facilitate the setup of multihead configurations as well? See http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/383/ and http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/3153/ and http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=707796

2008-04-24 bryce: Hardy is released! The Screen Resolution tool is able to do dual-head configuration. Multi-head should be straightforward to add one day, when Xorg supports it, perhaps Intrepid or Intrepid+1.

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Work Items