Version: (using KDE 3.5.9) Installed from: Debian testing/unstable Packages The behaviour of kwin has changed since 3.5.6 (?). Previously new windows (including Alt-F2) would pop up on whatever screen the mouse was in. This was nice. Now new windows appear to pop up on whatever screen has the focussed window. This isn't. I can't find any existing bugs that match this specific problem, though I do see there are a few other issues (as you'd expect) with how multiple physical screens are handled. I can't find any settings to change this behaviour. I'm hoping it's not another item to add to the list of 'irritating minor changes made on my behalf without the option to adjust that setting'. I've quoted 'wrong' in the short-desc as it denotes a change of default, and in the absence of a way to revert that change, that's a bug. I'm using NVIDIA (tainting) drivers, one kwin, single task bar (middle screen).
> Now new windows appear to pop up on whatever screen has the focussed window. Oh, is that what the logic is? I just noticed it doesn't do what I want it to any more :-).
This is inconsistent with how plasma shows the desktop (which is inconsistent with how krunner is shown). I think that plasma show desktop is right here, we expect the new window to appear where the mouse is, not the focus. It requires a lot of extra clicking to have windows appear on the screen with focus.
Matthew - it took me a little while to work out what the new logic was, but so far as I've been able to see this matches. (I've been having to use SUSE a lot at work lately, and so my expectations of GNU/Linux have really dropped ... it's an even more blissful experience to come back to Debian with KDE in the evenings, these days.) Mike - haven't used Plasma or krunner at all yet. Are you saying that they have both remained consistent, or just that their usage matches 'intuitive' expectations? Certainly in the past, even on a quad-core with 4GB and 2 x high perf NVidia cards managing 3 x monitors .. there's always been plenty of time to flick the mouse across, after I've launched a new app / window, to the monitor I want that new window to open on. I think it's very easy to get used to a certain type of behaviour with your GUI.
Plasma has a 'Show Dashboard' feature activated with Ctrl+F12 and it appears where the mouse is, krunner (Alt+F2) appears where the focus is not where the mouse is, so they are inconsistent. Personally my eyes are normally around where the mouse is and that is where I would normally expect any new window to appear. I assumed the dashboard was just a fullscreen window, maybe it is not? If you have to give focus to the screen first then you have to check you are not clicking on something which will cause an action (like the close button or a link in an email). If a new application window appeared where the mouse is then you could have a browser on the left screen, push your mouse to the right, hit Ctrl+n and have the new browser appear on the right screen. At the moment it appears on the left. I am using kde4, sorry I thought this bug report was for that. It seems like the problems are the same though.
The KDE3.5.x parts: -> http://ktown.kde.org/~seli/xinerama/ . It is not officially part of KDE3.x, KDE4 has the UI option. Plasma: The dashboard needs to be fixed.
Can someone please remind me what in this bug isn't working (and update the summary to reflect that)? Windows pop up correctly here for some time (note: needs a setting in the kcm). Is it just the plasma "show dashboard"? Otherwise I think this is FIXED.
Matthew - the problem is that around 3.5.8 or 3.5.9 the previous default behaviour changed. Whereas new windows would open up on whatever screen had the pointer, they now open up on whatever screen has the focussed window. What's this magic kcm setting that you speak of? It'd be great if it was a simple fix to revert this to the more sensible method.
> the problem is that around 3.5.8 or 3.5.9 the previous default behaviour changed. Assuming that kwin (optionally) works "right" now, the desire is still to change this to the *default* behavior? I'd be ok with that... Lubos? > What's this magic kcm setting that you speak of? System Settings -> Window Behavior -> Window Behavior -> Active mouse screen (While we're at it, for 4.2 can we *please* get less cryptic text next to these checkboxes? And move "separate screen focus" to the "Navigation" group, since AFAICT what it does is alt-tab switch only windows on the current *screen*.)
This bug is now only about dashboard, but that needs some support in kwin first. And I'm not going to change the defaults, for people focusing with mouse there are the mouse focus policies.
> for people focusing with mouse there are the mouse focus policies If I take my developer hat off, I'm not sure I understand how having windows start where the mouse is relates to not being able to type unless I have the mouse over where I want to type. Or, put another way, I don't want "focus follows mouse"*, but I DO want windows to start on the screen that has the mouse. In my mind, that isn't an unreasonable default, especially if the current (default) behavior is confusing people. (* I /do/ think it would be good to have an actual "separate screen focus" option, i.e. what has focus is independently tracked by screen, so that when I move the mouse across screens, focus changes to the window on that screen that last had focus. As mentioned, the current checkbox with that text does something else. But I'm not sure if I'd use it, as there are times I want it and times I don't. Maybe a way to quickly toggle it? Or a related feature, like a key or gesture to switch focus to the last-focused window on the current screen?)
I use a dual screen setup and having new windows not start where the mouse is, is very annoying because without fail when you start a new app focus is on the only application open on the other screen, meaning you then have to move it across to the empty screen.
There is an explicit option for using the mouse, regardless of focus policy, the defaults are however based on the policy - mouse-based policies make active screen mouse-based, window-activity-based makes the same with the screens.
*** Bug 164579 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Ok, the description was driving me nuts. As I understand, this is curerntly about making 'show dashboard' and new windows consistent in which xinerama screen they use relative to mouse position (i.e. both follow focus or both follow cursor). I've tried to update the summary accordingly. If I've failed, I apologize and feel free to fix it, but the previous summary looked too much like the original (now fixed) report. ...and since field changes don't seem to be visible (at least, not to common developers, much less mere mortals) outside notification mails, the old summary was "Fix applications to use properly the active Xinerama screen", for those curious.
in 4.4 the dashboard is opened on all screens which renders this bug kind of invalid. I set to worksforme.