Bug 181679

Summary: KDE 4.2RC: dualhead setup with KDE-GUI for xrandr not possible (parsing error?)
Product: [Unmaintained] krandr Reporter: Daniel Mader <danielstefanmader+kde>
Component: control centerAssignee: Gustavo Pichorim Boiko <gustavo.boiko>
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE    
Severity: normal CC: aseigo, danielstefanmader+kde, l.lunak, Lukasz.Kurylo, myriam, tobias.hain, wstephenson, zahl
Priority: NOR    
Version: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: openSUSE   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments: screenshot of the entire desktop after login
screenshot of the entire desktop after manually adjusting screen layout with xrandr
full screenshot showing two maximized Konsole applications which confuse the actual location of the panel

Description Daniel Mader 2009-01-23 18:40:17 UTC
Version:            (using KDE 4.1.96)
OS:                Linux
Installed from:    SuSE RPMs

The bug could be related to https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=156475 especially to the last comments.

Despite the announcement for 4.2 Final, nothing has changed in the poor management of dual head setups with upcoming 4.2 at least here in 4.2RC.

I use the free radeonhd driver, and the connected monitors report their specs nicely, no matter if connected via VGA or DVI.

Yet, the KDE configuration app is unable to identify the monitors correctly. Instead of treating them as two independent monitors, they are handled as some kind of overlay. I will attach screenshots.

In a terminal, everything is totally fine with the xrandr tool. I can check the screens, I can turn them on an off independently, and I can arrange them to a nice dualhead setup:

[code]
doe@santenay:~> xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1680 x 1050, maximum 3840 x 1200
TV_7PIN_DIN disconnected
DVI-I_1/digital connected 1280x1024+0+0 360mm x 290mm
   1280x1024      60.0*+   59.9     60.0*    59.0     57.9
   1280x960       60.0     63.0     62.0
   1280x800       75.0     70.0     65.0     73.9     60.0
   1152x864       71.0     70.0
   1280x768       78.0     72.0     66.0     76.9     60.0
   1280x720       83.0     75.3     81.8     67.7
   1024x768       79.0     72.7     75.1     75.0     70.1     77.9     66.3   
 60.0     60.0     59.8
   1280x600       85.0     76.7     83.9     68.3     60.0
   1024x600       85.0     76.7     83.8     68.3     60.0
   832x624        74.6
   800x600        84.7     85.0     85.1     76.7     83.8     72.2     75.0   
 68.3     60.3     59.9     60.0     56.2
   768x576        85.0     84.0     76.7     68.3     60.0
   640x480        85.0     85.0     84.4     83.8     75.0     72.8     72.8   
 75.0     76.7     68.3     60.0     59.9
   720x400        85.0
   640x400        85.1
   640x350        85.1
DVI-I_1/analog disconnected
DVI-I_2/digital connected 1680x1050+0+0 473mm x 296mm
   1280x1024      75.0 +   59.9     60.0
   1680x1050      60.0*+   59.9
   1400x1050      74.8     60.0
   1280x960       60.0
   1152x864       75.0     74.9
   1024x768       75.1     75.0     70.1     60.0
   832x624        74.6
   800x600        72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2
   640x480        75.0     72.8     75.0     60.0     59.9
   720x400        70.1
DVI-I_2/analog disconnected
doe@santenay:~> xrandr --output DVI-I_2/digital --off
doe@santenay:~> xrandr --output DVI-I_2/digital --mode 1680x1050 --right-of
DVI-I_1/digital
doe@santenay:~>
[/code]

The related hardware profile can be found here:
http://smolt.fedoraproject.org/show?uuid=pub_a09c45d5-5b81-4563-9988-ea5064818464
Comment 1 Daniel Mader 2009-01-23 18:41:06 UTC
Created attachment 30537 [details]
screenshot of the entire desktop after login
Comment 2 Daniel Mader 2009-01-23 18:41:25 UTC
Created attachment 30538 [details]
screenshot of the entire desktop after manually adjusting screen layout with xrandr
Comment 3 Aaron J. Seigo 2009-01-23 20:30:13 UTC
that's not a dual head setup, it's a multiscreen xrandr configuration; the overlay nature is up to the driver, not kde; you're using the RC which is not the final release, and bugs in kephal were fixed after the RC.
Comment 4 Daniel Mader 2009-01-24 00:41:11 UTC
Excuse me, I honestly don't care about the exact name.

If this issue will be resolved in upcoming 4.2 Final and has been fixed after RC, why does it get an INVALID status instead of RESOLVED?

The driver is well capable of what I want it to do. Gnome handles it just the way users expect it. If KDE is still, even in 4.2, not able to cope with these basics, then I can only shout out in utter frustration of what's going on.
Comment 5 Daniel Mader 2009-02-02 10:43:35 UTC
Bug is not fixed in 4.2 final. Same behavior as before, the GUI tool is not capable of separating the two monitors and place them.

I repeat: it works totally fine on a terminal with xrandr commands, and it works perfectly well with Gnome *on the very same box*.

In case I am missing something, please tell me.
Comment 6 Gustavo Pichorim Boiko 2009-02-04 18:45:56 UTC
Indeed the KDE configuration tool (krandr) does not yet support configuring multiple displays in extended (xinerama-like) mode.

There has been some efforts in order to get this working (a framework called kephal) but currently it is only capable of reporting the screen layout correctly to KDE applications. It does not offer a tool to setup it yet.
Comment 7 Daniel Mader 2009-02-04 20:01:42 UTC
So, this is what has been announced as "improved multiscreen support" in http://www.kde.org/announcements/announce-4.2-beta2.php ?

"Multi-screen support has been improved through the Kephal library, fixing many bugs when running KDE on more than one monitor."

"Improved" usually means "works better now". This is not the case. For the average end user, an application to *set up* a multiscreen config is needed prior to use it.

Please stop this kind of silly marketing. Promises must be realistic, everything else makes us (I include me as a promotor of the KDE project) look stupid.

Also, it is *very* annoying to get bug reports closed as invalid when everyone in his right mind can see it is fully valid. This is not what I as a community member expect.

Thanks.
Comment 8 Gustavo Pichorim Boiko 2009-02-04 20:17:15 UTC
While I agree with you that the user expects everything to run fine (and everything includes setting up multiple monitors), the announce clearly says that the improvement is that when running KDE on a multiple monitor setup things will work (and not go crazy like they did before kephal was implemented).
This doesn't mean it will not be implemented. It only means it was not implemented yet. That's why this bug was let opened, showing there are some points to be improved.

It is not silly marketing: the announcing does not say anything about full multiple monitor support, it just says the support for it was improved.

Was this bug closed as invalid before it was reassigned to me? If it was, I can't really speak for others, but the feedback I gave to the bug report was not saying it is invalid. Instead, I confirmed the bug (which was marked as unconfirmed).

The KDE developers are working hard to give the community a usable and productive desktop environment, but unfortunatelly we are not able to do everyghing in one single release: the improvements are happening gradually. 


Comment 9 A. Spehr 2009-02-04 22:43:12 UTC
RESOLVED is not currently used as an option under our bugzilla, please do not be offended by the choice of INVALID vs REMIND, etc. Thanks.
Comment 10 Daniel Mader 2009-02-05 10:52:41 UTC
Thanks for clarifying!
Comment 11 Daniel Mader 2009-02-11 10:42:56 UTC
There are still bugs in the handling of multiscreen setups: fullscreened windows for example get confused on which screen the panel is. That makes them wander behind the panel on the screen with the panel, while they omit exactly the amount of screen real estate corresponding to the panel on exactly the position but the wrong screen. See attached screen shot.

This works OK when freshly setup but is wrong upon next login.
Comment 12 Daniel Mader 2009-02-11 10:45:47 UTC
Created attachment 31219 [details]
full screenshot showing two maximized Konsole applications which confuse the actual location of the panel
Comment 13 Daniel Mader 2009-02-25 11:37:27 UTC
I opened a new report to track that issue: bug #185513.
Comment 14 Lukasz 2009-03-06 11:23:17 UTC
Is there any progress with this bug?
Comment 15 Tobias Hain 2009-10-11 13:39:18 UTC
This seems to be a duplicate of
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=180437
Comment 16 Lubos Lunak 2010-08-31 14:57:08 UTC

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 180437 ***