Bug 470099

Summary:	Non-wysiwyg config for panels for multiple monitors
Product:	[Plasma] Active Window Control	Reporter:	donquixote <py7smpbu>
Component:	General	Assignee:	Chris Holland <zrenfire>
Status:	RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Severity:	normal	CC:	nate, plasma-bugs
Priority:	NOR
Version:	unspecified
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Ubuntu
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description donquixote 2023-05-21 23:29:31 UTC

_Sorry, I have no idea which "Product" is responsible for the panels. Please change category if you know a better one._
_This is a feature request._

CURRENT SITUATION

I am using a laptop with multiple external monitors attached. The external monitors have a different resolution and size than the laptop monitor, and I use display configuration to make them all work nicely together.

Sometimes I disconnect the external monitors to work with the standalone laptop.

At night, I typically send the system to sleep/suspend, and I power down the external monitors. Next day I power everything up again and wake the system up.

Currently using KDE with wayland, but I used the other one (X?) before.

My panel config is usually quite simple:
- The primary monitor (one of the external monitors) gets a bottom panel with application launcher menu, a taskbar, the tray icons, and a desktop switcher. The taskbar shows the windows of the current monitor.
- Any secondary monitor gets a bottom panel with just the taskbar, showing the windows of that specific monitor.
- All the panels are smallest possible height (20).

PROBLEM

When I reconnect the external monitors, or I wake up the system from sleep/suspend, both the display configuration and the panels can or will get messed up:
- Sometimes the primary monitor's panel is on a secondary monitor. I can fix this by opening display configuration, making the other monitor the primary one, and then switching it back.
- Sometimes one panel has a wrong width, probably because it was calculated with a different monitor in mind. This can be fixed in the same way as above.
- Sometimes panels disappear. Perhaps they are just hidden.

Also, whenever I attach different external monitors, I have to start over to configure the panels.

CURRENT MODEL

(as far as I understand it)

Currently, panels are configured using a "wysiwyg" approach.
Then, different panel configs are stored per combination of external monitors (I think).
Whenever it wakes up or I connect different monitors, the system will find a stored config that matches the current monitors (I think).

This system seems to be quite fragile.

PROPOSED SOLUTION

Provide a different way to configure panels, that is not "wysiwyg" but more structural and rules-based.

Configuration:
- A user can create named panel templates with collections of widgets. E.g. for me it would just be "primary display panel" and "secondary display panel". For others there might also be e.g. "small secondary display panel". Some of these would be pre-configured, but a user can arbitrarily add more.
- Widgets placement does not store precise coordinates, but just order, shrink/expand and align left/right settings. Or instead of align right, just have elastic spacers.
- Widget settings affect all instances of that widget in that panel template. E.g. if I have two secondary monitors that both have the same panel template with a taskbar widget, then changing the settings for taskbar will affect both.
- A user can create rules where to place panels of which type. E.g. on a primary display, put a panel in the bottom using the settings from "primary display panel". On any non-primary display use the "secondary display panel" in the bottom. Some users might create panel placement rules based on screen resolution or other criteria.
- There could be special settings to prevent duplicate panels. E.g. a panel rule could have options "replace other panels in the same position" or "don't place this if there are already other panels in the same position" or "place this above other panels in the same position" (if that is even possible).
- The wysiwyg could still exist, but placing a widget would affect the panel template, not the panel itself.

Execution:
- Whenever the system starts or wakes up, or monitors are connected or disconnected, or the display configuration is changed, the panel rules are newly applied.

NOTES

This same problem exists in different desktop envs, not just KDE.
Maybe KDE could be the first to fix it :)

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS

Operating System: Ubuntu 22.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.24.7
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.92.0
Qt Version: 5.15.3
Kernel Version: 5.19.0-41-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: Wayland
Processors: 8 × 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
Memory: 15,3 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® Xe Graphics

Comment 1 Nate Graham 2023-05-22 20:10:57 UTC

I'm afraid Plasma 5.24 is unfortunately no longer eligible for support or maintenance from KDE.

Plasma is a fast-moving project, and bugs in one version are often fixed in the next one. Please update to Plasma 5.27 by updating to Kubuntu 23.04. If you need support for Plasma 5.24, please contact your distro, who bears the responsibility of providing support for older non-LTS releases.

If this issue is still reproducible in either Plasma 5.27--which includes many multi-monitor improvements--feel free to re-open this bug report.
Thanks for understanding!

Comment 2 donquixote 2023-05-26 22:53:37 UTC

Thanks for the feedback!
I would like to KDE Plasma 5.27, but I would like to keep my Ubuntu LTS.
Unfortunately this is not possible,
https://launchpad.net/~kubuntu-ppa/+archive/ubuntu/backports

> This PPA will NOT currently receive Plasma 5.26 for Jammy 22.04, as this would break subsequent upgrades to Kinetic 22.10.

Maybe I will go to 22.10.

Comment 3 Nate Graham 2023-05-27 06:48:19 UTC

If you'd like to stick with Ubuntu 22.04 or 22.10, I'm afraid we cannot offer support for it in KDE, sorry. Please contact Kubuntu folks for support and bug reporting purposes.

Comment 4 donquixote 2024-01-11 16:36:27 UTC

Hi
I actually did upgrade my KDE.

Operating System: Ubuntu 23.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.27.4
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.104.0
Qt Version: 5.15.8
Kernel Version: 6.2.0-39-generic (64-bit)
Graphics Platform: X11
Processors: 8 × 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 @ 2.80GHz
Memory: 15,3 GiB of RAM
Graphics Processor: Mesa Intel® Xe Graphics
Manufacturer: LG Electronics
Product Name: 17Z90P-G.AA79G
System Version: 0.1

The problems with multiple monitors still occur.
When connecting monitors or waking up from suspend, the panels _can_ get messed up.
E.g. a panel on one monitor disappeared one day. I created a new panel to replace it. Then the next day, the old panel was back, and I had two.

But this issue is not not about a technical problem to be fixed.
Instead, I propose an alternative metaphor to configure the panel placement, based on rules instead of remembering specific positions.

This would be more challenging for the user, but it means that one rules configuration can easily adapt to different monitor compositions.

So, this proposal is quite independent of a specific KDE version or setup.

Comment 5 Nate Graham 2024-01-12 21:18:20 UTC

Thanks for getting back to us. Much appreciated.

However, we need to simply fix those panel bugs. I don't think we're going to consider a new methods of panel configuration, especially after we've totally overhauled it already for Plasma 6. :) 

I'd invite you to submit bug specific individual reports for the specific individual issues you're experiencing, but it's likely that most or hopefully all of them are fixed in Plasma 6 with the new system and a renewed focus on multi-monitor robustness--especially on Wayland, which I'd encourage you to use for a better multi-monitor experience. So maybe hold off on reporting those bugs until you can upgrade to Plasma 6 and verify that they're still present.