Two monitors in Openbox

lucmove · 04-25-2015, 05:09 PM

I run Openbox/LXDE on Debian Jessie. I just got a smaller, additional monitor and I am having problems.

My primary monitor is on the right, secondary on the left. It really has to be on the left.

Most of the stuff wants to go to the left: application windows, Desktop icons, taskbar, even my choice of background color. I figured out how to keep the taskbar on the primary screen (on the right), but that's about it.

* The desktop icons (managed by pcmanfm, I guess - or not?) refuse to be dragged to the right/primary screen.

* The Alt-Tab pager seems to be stuck on the left/secondary screen.

* Many applications insist on launching on the left/secondary screen even though my focus is on the right/primary one. At least Tilda is multiple screen aware and has a specific configuration entry for that.

* My choice of background (plain color) only applies on the left/secondary screen. The right/primary uses a background image.

* I use osdsh to display things on the screen. Usually sound volume, but there are other things. Well, that has disappeared completely since I got the second monitor.

Is there anything I can do to fix any of these problems?

skrotnisse · 04-25-2015, 05:53 PM

Have you tried xrandr or lxrandr?
I use lxrandr for fluxbox. I'm not sure whether lxrandr works on openbox.

lucmove · 04-25-2015, 05:57 PM

Yes, I use both xrandr and lxrandr, depending on the task. Won't solve my current problems, though.

descendant_command · 04-25-2015, 06:57 PM

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57593

lucmove · 04-25-2015, 09:34 PM

Thanks. That solves part of the issues.

descendant_command · 04-25-2015, 10:31 PM

You could run them as separate X screens, but that might not be what you want either.

lucmove · 04-25-2015, 10:41 PM

Run them as separ... what? Please tell me more.

descendant_command · 04-25-2015, 10:53 PM

Well, the specifics are a bit fuzzy, as I haven't done it for a while, but 'xinerama = no' or such in the xorg.conf means that rather than one big virtual "screen" shared accross your monitors, they are entirely separate displays, and apps must be started on the "non-default" one by specifying the display - 'DISPLAY=0.1; startmyapp' or such.
And you can't drag windows across etc. (although your mouse does).

I used it with a TV as the second screen so was mostly for playing video while I could change workspaces etc. on the other screen without interrupting it.

lucmove · 06-05-2015, 04:50 AM

Some applications insist on launching on the first monitor, contrary to the configuration option that establishes that my "Primary Monitor" is a fixed monitor, and that monitor is monitor #2.

So I read up on the documentation and came up with this:

Code:

<keybind key="W-End">
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
    <monitor>2</monitor>
  </action>
</keybind>

It works, but I wish I could have this done automatically. One of the stubborn applications is Claws Mail. But this does not work:

Code:

<keybind key="C-W-l">
  <action name="Execute">
    <command>/usr/bin/claws-mail</command>
  </action>
  <action name="MoveResizeTo">
  	<monitor>2</monitor>
  </action>
</keybind>

By "does not work" I mean claws-mail still pops up on the first monitor and stays there until I press W-End to bring it to the second monitor. I wish it would pop up on the second monitor automatically.

Is this not possible or am I doing something wrong?