compiz team mailing list archive

[cro <764051@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I think the wider issue here is that this is a specific change in
functionality, wherever it may be. Under the prior version of Ubuntu,
configuring a second monitor/second video card as a seperate X screen
would result in the second screen being set up the same as the first
when it came to window decorators. Since the upgrade, this functionality
has changed, and the X-Server is launched without a default window
manager, let alone a clone of the first monitor's window manager
setting.

Now, there is completely non-obvious behaviour happening, and for the
majority of first-time users, the fact that the second monitor *does not
work as expected* will cause consternation.

Contrary to the low improtance assertion, there are a number of valid
use-cases for configuring a second monitor with a seperate X-Server. I
use a seperate X-Server on my HDMI-out for general display work when I'm
using my laptop for other purposes. I've used it in the past for
presentation work, or for displaying server monitoring services and
displays in a way that doesn't interfere with my primary workspaces.

Not every use case for multiple monitors has them next to each other, or
even in close proximity. As I type this I have a monitor being driven by
a seperate X Server at the end of a 5 meter HDMI cable - if it was
running in Twinview then when I switched workspaces I'd lose what was
being displayed in the external monitor. And I'm not the only audience
for that second screen.

I'd heartily disagree that this is of "Low" importance, although I
wonder if the actual bug is in Compiz, or in the way X (or Ubuntu for
that matter) handles the user-selected configuration of multiple
X-Servers, especially where a second display is launched without a
default window manager (if one is not set for the primary display), and
where there is no obvious way to run a display manager for those without
comand line knowledge.

I struggled myself to resolve this, and I've been using Ubuntu as my
only OS (work and home) for the past 5 years or so, so I shudder to
think of the reaction of a newcomer to Ubuntu when they run into this
kind of issue.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/764051

Title:
  Second monitor useless in dual desktop mode