2

As part of my multi-monitor setup problem I decided to create two openbox configurations in ~/.config/openbox, one being the default lxde-rc and the other being lxde-dual-rc. Every other part of my setup is working correctly so far, but the margins of openbox on my bottom screen cut the window decorations off of applications that are maximized there.

I have been having issues with this setup from the start, since it is not your everyday dual screen layout. My main screen (eDP-1) is attached to my laptop, and due to space and personal preference my second screen (HDMI-2) is on top of that. [1]

Careful configuration with xrandr and lxpanel have proven useful to move the panel to eDP-1, but openbox does not play nicely and instead stretches the margins out to HDMI-2 for top margin and eDP-1 for bottom margin.

I am well aware that openbox does not support multiple monitor margins, so my conclusion was to create a second openbox rc without the margins. This rc includes position arguments for applications I use instead. Some of them will be placed on HDMI-2 while others are placed on eDP-1 with an additional y-offset.

The current fix I'm using is to rename lxde-rc and swap it with lxde-dual-rc before reloading openbox. However, this is less than ideal since I have to place the original configuration back every time I shut down and unplug the monitor. I know I can probably fix that by using a shutdown or startup script, but I feel like there should be a more elegant way to do this.

It is also important to note that the second screen is not always plugged in, so a static setup would mean half of my applications won't be visible most of the time.

1: monitor setup

Jeff Schaller
  • 67,283
  • 35
  • 116
  • 255
cytodev
  • 21
  • As fas as I know Openbox will not sense that the monitor is gone. So you have to tell it that the monitor setup has changed. Either by setting a key or by doing some Linux udev foo. – Raphael Ahrens Sep 20 '16 at 10:00
  • See: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/4489/a-tool-for-automatically-applying-randr-configuration-when-external-display-is-p – Raphael Ahrens Sep 20 '16 at 10:00
  • and: http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/246225/is-it-possible-to-have-xrandr-in-different-modes-based-on-workspace – Raphael Ahrens Sep 20 '16 at 10:01
  • @RaphaelAhrens: I have been telling most of my desktop utilities just that, openbox included, the problem is that when I reboot with a dual monitor setup and boot with only one screen the openbox rc is still loaded as dual (since I can't configure it to a default and dual profile as far as I'm aware). – cytodev Sep 21 '16 at 12:03
  • do you use the openbox-session script and how do you start openbox? – Raphael Ahrens Sep 21 '16 at 13:14
  • @RaphaelAhrens: Openbox starts along with LXSession. I'm sure the openbox-session script is never actually executed. Also, openbox doesn't use the rc.xml in ~/.config/openbox but uses lxde-rc.xml instead.

    I am starting to think that what I am trying to accomplish is really impossible... Maybe I will need to settle with rebuilding my rc every time I plug in/out my second monitor.

     – cytodev Sep 23 '16 at 09:50

0 Answers0