Multiple-Display Power Tools For Linux?

shift writes "I've used multiple monitors for years (currently 3) and find that Linux is lacking in power tools for such setups. Even Windows 7 has added the feature to move a window from screen to screen with keyboard shortcuts. Are any of the major desktop environments adding such features? I'm still stuck on FVWM and have defined functions to swap the contents of screens as well as move windows from screen to screen and so on. But this just seems like such basic functionality people would want in multi-screen setups that I'm surprised I don't find any of these features in our latest desktop environments."

Comments

Compiz can do it.

[rqg]

Use compiz and set your shortcuts in Window Management / Put. Just checked moving windows to different outputs (I use 2 displays) and it works.

Isn't this pretty widespread already?

[Elshar]

Is this just a problem with FVWM? I know I've been doing it for years in both FreeBSD and Linux. I've done it with FreeBSD running Windowmaker as early as 2002-2003, iirc. And I've done it on Linux with KDE and Gnome.

I've done it with Matrox, ATI, and Nvidia cards. I guess I'm not really sure what the submitter is talking about, because it works for me just as he's asking for without any special hardware.

In fact, in linux running Ubuntu, this was the default configuration as I recall, and I've actually got this working on the Ubuntu 9.10 right here.

Multiple desktops

[sexybomber]

This might be overly simplifying the matter, but Ubuntu (GNOME environment) has got multiple workspaces built in, and CTRL-ALT-SHIFT-right_arrow will throw the current window to the next workspace. Couldn't you just assign each workspace to a different monitor and be done with it?

Keyboard Shortcut in GNOME

[InfiniteLoopCounter]

To move a window to another monitor (not workspace) in GNOME, press alt+F7, hold shift and the direction you want to move.

Tiling

[Anonymous Coward]

Linux has many fine tiling window managers available, such as Xmonad, AwesomeWM, and StumpWM. These pieces of software deal very well with multi-monitor setups. They have support and expressive keybindings built in. They also automatically manage window size and placement, which is a great boon, especially if you have a lot of screen real estate: no more dragging windows around to see everything!

Truly, tiling window managers are screen-management power tools. I personally use Xmonad on four screens with named dynamic workspaces, which allows me to nicely label each set of windows and layout according to the content of the windows involved.

Re:Tiling

[plasticsquirrel]

There are a few good tiling window managers that make this a breeze. To some degree it depends on which language you prefer. The following screen shots are from stumpwm, a window manager written entirely in Common Lisp. It has the added benefit of being programmable while it is running, so you can interact with, and test, any new additions or modifications in real time. Anything you want to do like sending windows one place or another, or binding different features to different keys, can be done very easily in a window manager like this. It's very capable out of the box, and it is meant to be extendible arbitrarily due to the powerful programming language it uses.

stumpwm tiling across five monitors at different resolutions

There is also a window manager that has some similar features called xmonad, but it is written in Haskell, so it has a bit of a syntactic learning curve if that matters to you.

xmonad tiling across three monitors

On a side note, it's interesting that the proliferation of Lisp, Haskell, and other powerful functional programming languages has created a demand for a different kind of window manager that is written in, and can be extended with, the language. It's almost as if programmers began to see the limitations of static, C/C++ programmed environments after they started using these languages, and then started to build up new environments more suitable for high-level programming. Is this the beginning of the end for the traditional Unix way of always running back to the C languages?

dwm

[zero-point-infinity]

dwm had its multihead support improved back in July. Since pretty much all of dwm's window management is by keyboard, of course it has keyboard shortcuts for moving windows between monitors. So yeah, this feature exists in even one of the most minimalist window managers out there.

Re:You need a GUI?

[peragrin]

multiple mointor support is through XRandR. It also does away with the stupid xorg.conf.

Re:Another Question

[Anonymous Coward]

I've heard anecdotal stories that Compiz can't cross video cards.

Compiz doesn't really have the problem here. It's the driver's problem. Specifically, on certain Intel video chips, there's a limit to the size of the framebuffer you can have with DRI, which Compiz requires. 2048x2048 was the limit, which is pretty hard to fit two-three monitors into with reasonable resolution, especially with the Widescreen Monitor Proliferation we've seen in the past decade. IIRC, this has been fixed with later drivers ("shatter" fb, which does exactly what it sounds like it does, was the solution I remember hearing about), but it plagued many for a very long time.

Re:I hope you're not a troll

[Anonymous Coward]

FVWM is a windows manager that has been around with few major functional changes for several decades.

It true! My grandfather used this back in the 30s and 40s! He stopped when he was drafted into WWII, but that's a whole different story....

Partially correct, he is

[udippel]

Let's not pretend there was no problem with multiple monitors at times.
To me, Linux has been ready for the desktop for 10 years, and I've been using it almost exclusively. So, that's said.
Though, using dual monitor out of the box has failed me at the first instance a good number of times. And that's far away from perfect. Because I know how to handle Xorg.0.log and xorg.conf; and I know where to post for help; but Aunty Tilly doesn't.

Example 1: 1600x1200 next to 1024x768, Gnome, year:2009. Failed. Took me a few hours until I found a filed bug, that Xorg would not accept a higher resolution of the virtual desktop than 2048x2048. Placing 1600x1200 above 1024x768 finally worked; based on Gnome's GUI. Still not good.

Example 2: Playing with KDE (4.3.2-4), that same thing doesn't. The desktop configuration applet (Computer Administration->Display) simply doesn't allow to un-mirror the two screens; contrary to the 'Display' applet in Gnome. Another need to resort to Google, and a forum. Solution: I need to issue a number of xrandr commands to split the two displays to show separate content. Not good.

Example 3: Having another box with Nvidia-card with TV out. The same KDE (4.3.2-4) applet simply is not aware of the TV output. It shows one standard display, the LCD monitor. Over. Of course, the Nvidia-applet works fine, doing anything with the TV of my liking. But it would require the user to know that she uses a Nvidia card, and that there is another applet that she needs to use. Not good.

The problem, AFAIK, is not that on Linux one couldn't; but one can't, once too often, not simply out of the box.

multiple monitors with FVWM for a long time

[bigogre]

I've been using FVWM with multiple monitors for years. xrandr has simplified things considerably. I can drag from one monitor to another with no problem. Below is my current xorg.conf (note that I am running on Fedora 10). You can use a Radeon card by changing the driver to 'radeon'. Use 'lspci' to get the appropriate BusID for your card(s). There may be simpler solutions but this has worked well for me.

And for those saying to use a different window manager please note that FVWM has not stood still but is still true to the name it had when I began using it 15 years ago: the Frugal Virtual Window manager. It is frugal with regards to RAM and CPU use. I also like it because I can edit a file (gasp) to modify the configuration. For old farts like me that's a plus. YMMV.

Section "InputDevice"
# keyboard added by rhpxl
                Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
                Driver "kbd"
                Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
                Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
                Identifier "DVI0"
                Option "Enable" "true"
                Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
                Identifier "DVI1"
                Option "LeftOf" "DVI0"
                Option "Enable" "true"
                Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
                Identifier "nVidia Corporation GeForce 8600 GT"
                Driver "nv"
                BusID "PCI:1:00:0"
                #Option "Monitor-DVI0" "DVI1"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
                Identifier "Default Screen"
                Device "nVidia Corporation GeForce 8600 GT"
                DefaultDepth 24
                SubSection "Display"
                                Depth 24
                                Virtual 3840 1200
                EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
                Identifier "Default Layout"
                Screen "Default Screen"
                InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
EndSection

Re:Issues I've had.

[ircmaxell]

You most definitely haven't tried to setup a multiple display environment in any modern Linux...

I've been using linux for the last 10 years at home, finally ditching Windows entirely about 4 years ago (So I'm pretty decent at setting up/working with Linux)... Just 2 days ago, I tried to setup a 3 monitor desktop at work (2 Nvidia cards and 1 Intel card), and gave up after 10 hours of trying to get it work. I got X using them as different sessions (One instance of Gnome per monitor), but couldn't get a unified window manager between them... And I tried 2 different distributions (Ubuntu and Fedora)

One thing Windows does REALLY well right now, is multiple monitors. What you said, is pure anti-MS hatred. There's a lot that I don't think Windows does well, and a lot that I think Linux does REALLY well, but multiple monitors clearly isn't one...

What about the text console?

[VanessaE]

If there's one thing I've wanted for as long as I've used Linux, it's multiple monitor support on the regular, plain text console. I use a dual-head nVidia card, which works fine under X, but console mode has always been a let-down. One monitor always displays a normal console, while the other usually ends up displaying whatever I saw perhaps 10 minutes prior (as if it is showing part of the other monitor's scrollback buffer).

So, each can clearly show unique content in text mode, but does any tool exist that can bring some order to it?

Re:Issues I've had.

[MostAwesomeDude]

Use nouveau instead of nvidia, and do Xorg -configure, and you should be golden. The big thing is that nvidia won't do multicard with non-nV hardware.

I have two ATI chipsets in my current work box, and everything works just great.

Re:Issues I've had.

[icebike]

Did everybody miss the line in TFA where he said:

    Still stuck on FVWM?

Windows 3.1 had pretty miserable multi screen support too. That's why everyone dumped it like a leaking baby diaper.

Ubuntu, and KDE both handle multiple monitors very well.

Why would the OP mention Windows 7 in the same post where he whines about FVWM?

Level playing field much?

Re:Issues I've had.

[dotgain]

I got multi-head working in Linux too - it doesn't mean the GP doesn't have a point.

Just because you can post a screenshot of a Linux machine running multi-head, doesn't rebut at all the fact that it's a pain in the ass to set up, doesn't work consistently between window managers. In short, your productivity on a Linux box is inversely proportional to the number of monitors you've got hanging off it, the very opposite of the point of having them.

Now I see Microsoft have finally decided to breathe some life into their dual-head code that they haven't touched since Windows 98, and come up with something that doesn't blow chunks. Bravo. Now their users can join the Mac users who have had dual head for longer than most of than remember.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Linux, I run it, and I will run it for as long as I need and can get it*. But I don't get all silly and got plugging displays and mice into it. Linux is not a desktop operating environment, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise (such as myself, two years ago, before I wised up).

* maybe another ten years? It'll more likely be outlawed than ever die.

Re:Issues I've had.

[Late Adopter]

This. Welcome to the ugly side of proprietary drivers. nVidia wrote their driver in a really misbehaving way, they circumvent most of the X architecture. Don't expect it to play nice with... anything (does it even support XRANDR?) Long story short, you can use the nVidia card alone, and then use their tools to set up the dual head display on it, or you can use the Intel card alone and expect all your built-in tools to play fine. Never the twain shall meet. The fact that you got even independent X sessions working on it I find nothing short of miraculous (I would be curious to see glxinfo on each display).

Re:Issues I've had.

[mugginz]

If we're talking nVidia hardware, then when you use a combination of nVidia's TwinView with x.orgs' Xinerama for three or more screens, then there are issues with windows maximising across two screens when it should only be on one.

If you're using just Xinerama or Twinview then screen boundaries are respected.

There's a "fake xinerama" patch available though that works around the TwinView with Xinerama problem.

Re:Issues I've had.

[FireFury03]

Linux is a desktop OS. it just has some rough edges for installation and a couple of ease of use problems.

So, the same as every other OS then?

I'm tired of people making out that Linux isn't "ready for the desktop" because of a few minor problems, as if all the OSes they think are "ready for the desktop" are perfect. News flash: every OS has its problems, sure you may think that another OS is "better" than Linux because you have already learnt to live with its problems, but that's pretty much missing the point. From my perspective (having been using Linux as a desktop OS for around 12 years, and pretty much exclusively for the last 7), the likes of Windows and OS X are far less "ready for the desktop" than Linux, probably mostly because they present a whole new set of problems that I have to deal with.

One thing about Linux is important to me though - if a problem is a big enough deal to me then I _can_ fix it myself, whereas under many other OSes this simply isn't an option.

the maximaize window bug

What "maximize window bug"? I'll admit that I don't have a lot of use for maximizing windows, but on the odd occasion that I do it seems to work perfectly.