Breakout: * multiscreen behaviour: how should Plasma exactly behave in different scenarios?

Martin Graesslin mgraesslin at kde.org
Tue Oct 18 10:44:01 UTC 2016


On Monday, October 17, 2016 5:59:05 PM CEST Jonathan Riddell wrote:
>     <d_ed> biggest pain point from bugzilla is mostly still
> multiscreen. I'm not sure we have a solid plan of what /should/ happen
> in each situation.
>     <d_ed> panel gets added to screen 1 and 2, you disconnect screen
> 2. How many panels do you have on screen 1

Adding something we see regularly in KWin: windows should store their position 
in relation to the screen they are on. E.g. you have window A on screen 1, 
then you add and move it to screen 2, unplug screen 2, kwin will put it on 
screen 1 and it's not where it was last on screen 1.

Other issues we regularly get reported is windows not opening on the screen 
the user expects them to open. Mostly a problem, because on X11 almost every 
application provides a positioning hint which kwin honors.

Both issues are unfixable with X11. And even on Wayland we kind of would need 
to know what the user wants. Which  is hardly possible.

With my window manager hat on, I'm nowadays convinced that there are two/three 
different usage strategies:
1: static setup with two screens. System should ideally have virtual desktop 
per screen, window management super important
2: notebook with docking station: like 1, but dynamic
3a: notebook with external extended projector: no window should ever go to the 
external screen except the ones added there
3b: static system with an external (off) TV: only used for kodi/vlc. No window 
should ever go there

Of course this is all highly dynamic. A system like 2 might turn into 3a at 
any time.

Taking the panel question from above: it depends on the usage pattern we are 
in. In 1 and 2 it should only be one panel, in 3a it should be 2, in 3b I have 
no idea.

And of course the question related to window management also depends on the 
usage strategy.

Cheers
Martin
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