GSoC : Multiscreen management

[Detlev Casanova]

On Thursday 01 April 2010 18:13:09 Will Stephenson wrote:
> On Thursday 01 April 2010 16:35:59 Detlev Casanova wrote:
> > I'd like to work with you this summer (and even longer after that :-) ).
> > So, there's something in KDE that I find not really nice, It's the
> > multiscreen management.
> > For instance, I have an extra monitor for my laptop which I use every day
> > but I also unplug it every day. The problem is that the screen
> > configuration is never kept and sometimes, the screen is deactivated and
> > KRandr says the screen is configured in 1980x1200...
> > 
> > So, my point is : there are problems.
> > So far, what's the link with plasma you might ask. Well, I'd like the
> > device notifier to react when a monitor is plugged in, showing the
> > screen. 2 actions should be possible : Auto configure and manual
> > configuration.
> > 
> >  -> Auto configure would try to find the best configuration depending on
> > 
> > the screen capabilities (read resolutions).
> > 
> >  -> Manual configuration would open KRandr.
> > 
> > In KRandr, there should be a possibility to keep configurations depending
> > 
> > on the plugged device :
> > 	I'd like the university projector to be on the right of my laptop
> > 	screen. I'd like my 26" screen to be a clone of my laptop screen.
> > 
> > If a configuration exists for a monitor when it's plugged in, the
> > configuration should directly be applied with the monitor entry still in
> > the device notifier (so that it can be modified).
> > 
> > KRandr could also be more handy : the view could be used to move screens
> > to place them at the wanted position (like a widget is moved on the
> > desktop).
> > 
> > What do you think ?
> 
> All great features, but you should look at
> http://techbase.kde.org/Projects/Plasma/ScreenManagement

Well, that's almost exactly what I had in mind :-)

> http://aike.me/site/blog/20090407/multihead_in_kde_422

This is more like a bug fixes list. But I see the idea of improving multihead 
management is at least 1 year old.

> http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/KDE/kdebase/workspace/libs/kephal/

I'll have a look at it, but it seems to be exactly what I wanted to do.

> http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/playground/base/plasma/screenmanagement/

So you think another plasma widget than the device notifier should be used for 
monitors ? Is the Device Notifier widget only for mass storage devices ?
 
> This was already the subject of a GSoC project in 2008, which was
> successful but stopped short of applying policies to restore previous
> configuration, doing KNotifications or events or providing UI to edit
> configurations.
> 
> KRandR is a separate codebase which Lubos Lunak updated for 4.4 with some
> SUSE patches to launch an improved version of the KRandR KCM, and does not
> use Kephal.

But couldn't KRandR use Kephal eventually ?

> I feel the same itch as you do and have spent the last couple of days
> getting into the Kephal code - it's been hardly touched since 2008 and
> could do with a clean up, so I'll see how far I get with it over the
> weekend.
> 
> Aaron, do you think there's another GSoC project in completing Kephal?
> 
> > I already posted the idea on #plasma but had to leave before you could
> > answer so, it might feel familiar.
> > 
> > I know though that there are problems with xrandr and some drivers, like
> > the NVidia driver. I'm not sure how big are the problems but interfacing
> > with the NVidia tools is maybe possible.
> 
> I know the disper tool tries to abstract both systems, but haven't used it.

Detlev.
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