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My mac remembers the displays and where I placed them relative to my laptop, even if they are all the same resolution over HDMI. Why can't linux do this? I'm a

My mac remembers the displays and where I placed them relative to my laptop, even if they are all the same resolution over HDMI. Why can't linux do this? I'm assuming displays have detectable ids of some sort?

ccouzens 5y ago
> I'm assuming displays have detectable ids of some sort? Yes, the EDID information uniquely identifies a screen. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Display_Identification_Data https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Display_Identificat... > Why can't linux do this? It does for me (fedora, gnome, wayland). Other stacks are more work. I was put off using Sway as my desktop, because screen resolutions and layouts was manual.
- mixedCase 5y ago
  Kanshi is the default solution when you need dynamic monitor management in Sway: https://sr.ht/~emersion/kanshi/ https://sr.ht/~emersion/kanshi/
- PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
  It gets better. One of my ASUS monitors has a defect (it kicked in after several years of use) where it no longer provides EDID information. I believe that on windows and macOS this would effectively be the end-of-life for the monitor, which is a shame since in every other way it is still 100% functional. On Linux, I was able to tell the kernel to use a file for the EDID information, and created the file using the other (identical) monitor. Very much a corner case, but also another perfectly good monitor kept out of a landfill.
  - paulfurtado 5y ago
    Windows may actually let you override the EDID info, it's been a while since I used windows but I think it lets you do it in device manager... from the era when displays came with drivers on a cdrom. There are also EDID cloner/emulator hardware solutions that you plug in inline on the display cable.
PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
My linux machine remembers the displays and where I place them relative to each other (I'm not using a laptop). But ... I sometimes use 1, 2 or 3 of the displays, and the configuration needs to be different depending on the number and specific displays in use. My Linux machine can do this automatically, because this is scripted. Maybe you can do this on macOS also, but I doubt it can be done with nothing but the GUI tools.
- thedevelopnik 5y ago
  macOS does do this without scripts. It remembers combinations of attached monitors and where I want them, absolutely.
  - sam2426679 5y ago
    ime, this isn't totally accurate in the world of usb-c HDMI dongles. I've had the same 2 monitors plugged into the same 2 ports since the machine went to sleep, and it will occasionally switch their positions upon waking.

ccouzens 5y ago

> I'm assuming displays have detectable ids of some sort? Yes, the EDID information uniquely identifies a screen. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Display_Identification_Data https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extended_Display_Identificat... > Why can't linux do this? It does for me (fedora, gnome, wayland). Other stacks are more work. I was put off using Sway as my desktop, because screen resolutions and layouts was manual.

mixedCase 5y ago
Kanshi is the default solution when you need dynamic monitor management in Sway: https://sr.ht/~emersion/kanshi/ https://sr.ht/~emersion/kanshi/
PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago
It gets better. One of my ASUS monitors has a defect (it kicked in after several years of use) where it no longer provides EDID information. I believe that on windows and macOS this would effectively be the end-of-life for the monitor, which is a shame since in every other way it is still 100% functional. On Linux, I was able to tell the kernel to use a file for the EDID information, and created the file using the other (identical) monitor. Very much a corner case, but also another perfectly good monitor kept out of a landfill.
- paulfurtado 5y ago
  Windows may actually let you override the EDID info, it's been a while since I used windows but I think it lets you do it in device manager... from the era when displays came with drivers on a cdrom. There are also EDID cloner/emulator hardware solutions that you plug in inline on the display cable.

PaulDavisThe1st 5y ago

My linux machine remembers the displays and where I place them relative to each other (I'm not using a laptop). But ... I sometimes use 1, 2 or 3 of the displays, and the configuration needs to be different depending on the number and specific displays in use. My Linux machine can do this automatically, because this is scripted. Maybe you can do this on macOS also, but I doubt it can be done with nothing but the GUI tools.

thedevelopnik 5y ago
macOS does do this without scripts. It remembers combinations of attached monitors and where I want them, absolutely.
- sam2426679 5y ago
  ime, this isn't totally accurate in the world of usb-c HDMI dongles. I've had the same 2 monitors plugged into the same 2 ports since the machine went to sleep, and it will occasionally switch their positions upon waking.