2 ms·

Based on the comments, I guess I should clarify. Yes, I can plug my monitors in and log into my system. However, it is a crap shoot that an application will 1.

by beart 2y ago

Based on the comments, I guess I should clarify. Yes, I can plug my monitors in and log into my system. However, it is a crap shoot that an application will 1. choose the correct monitor / remember the chosen monitor after reboot 2. render text in the correct resolution for the monitor 3. correctly render in the new resolution when dragged across monitors 4. correctly respect the "primary" monitor setting instead of using the "first device in the list" My most recent experience is using Linux Mint Cinnamon

EstanislaoStan 2y ago
I actually have some of these problems with Win 11
- fuzzfactor 2y ago
  With Windows very often using Microsoft Standard Display driver on lots of hardware it won't even recognize a second monitor. The same hardware on Linux works most of the time right out of the box from the live distro, the problem I have seen is when you adjust the layout and resolution using the GUI, it can help if you close the settings GUI after each little change to allow the displays to adjust before opeing the GUI again for the next tweak. Either way, rebooting can be the major factor if you're trying to switch cabling. Even though you can generally plug & unplug VGA or HDMI cables safely while in use, if there is more than one display output on the back of the PC, the ones which have nothing (recognizable) plugged in when you power up can be very likely to be non-functional until you reboot.
xerox13ster 2y ago
I just had to blow away my Linux mint cinnamon install because of display and audio issues with screen detection and my desktop freezing if I changed my volume after my audio devices changed. If I was lucky enough to have it start responding I could fix it until the next time I forgot I unplugged my headphones by restarting cinnamon. If I was unlucky I would need to restart. I was more often unlucky. I also had to constantly reset my screen layout whenever I would turn on/off my tv. I’m back on Arch and building my DE from scratch in Hyprland. At least I can tell it in text exactly how to lay monitors out, identify them by name or port, and know that it’s going to follow that layout even if one is disconnected/reconnected
- fuzzfactor 2y ago
  The audio on Mint with an old Dell desktop is bugging me too. Didn't used to be like this. For years the audio IC's have been very flexible, with the analog I/O pins re-routable by software (expected to be drivers) to any of the 3.5mm jacks that may be scattered on the outside of the PC, along with any aux connections that may be merely an unused internal motherboard socket. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to use a single socket for either speakers or a microphone, and have the system figure out which one it is when plugged in. And things like that. When they first color-coded the 3.5mm analog I/O's it was the 20th century and it was still a hard-wired approach. With a modern motherboard the same exact board can be connected to a cabinet having 2 or 3 of the 3.5mm, or 5 or 6 and configuration could be selected (sometimes in advance) by specific factory drivers, accessible settings in a GUI, or both. Windows isn't perfect any more by any means. Windows 7 or XP still works ideally with the original Dell drivers, but with W10 nothing ever comes out of the green 3.5mm, you have to plug speakers into the black 3.5mm. At least you get stereo then, but could select mono from Windows if you wanted to. Using the newer Mint, you only get output from the green 3.5mm as expected, but usually only the left speaker gets any signal. Although sometimes you can set it for 5.1 surround and the whole pair of speakers will respond as the center channel. Depending on what you were doing with Windows before you rebooted to Linux, and whether or not you cold-power-up. But there is no provision to set Mint for mono at all which would be the perfect workaround. That would get us by until the flaws in the audio get corrected. It would be good to have user access to the pin-to-jack hardware configuration too, but the inconsistency could be a sign of deeper defects. Didn't used to be this bad.
felurx 2y ago
It's kind of funny to me to read your comment, because multiple monitors are working perfectly fine for me (Manjaro, KDE, Wayland, if anyone cares), but I do have some problems with that on my work laptop that runs Windows.

by beart 2y ago

EstanislaoStan 2y ago

I actually have some of these problems with Win 11

fuzzfactor 2y ago
With Windows very often using Microsoft Standard Display driver on lots of hardware it won't even recognize a second monitor. The same hardware on Linux works most of the time right out of the box from the live distro, the problem I have seen is when you adjust the layout and resolution using the GUI, it can help if you close the settings GUI after each little change to allow the displays to adjust before opeing the GUI again for the next tweak. Either way, rebooting can be the major factor if you're trying to switch cabling. Even though you can generally plug & unplug VGA or HDMI cables safely while in use, if there is more than one display output on the back of the PC, the ones which have nothing (recognizable) plugged in when you power up can be very likely to be non-functional until you reboot.

xerox13ster 2y ago

I just had to blow away my Linux mint cinnamon install because of display and audio issues with screen detection and my desktop freezing if I changed my volume after my audio devices changed. If I was lucky enough to have it start responding I could fix it until the next time I forgot I unplugged my headphones by restarting cinnamon. If I was unlucky I would need to restart. I was more often unlucky. I also had to constantly reset my screen layout whenever I would turn on/off my tv. I’m back on Arch and building my DE from scratch in Hyprland. At least I can tell it in text exactly how to lay monitors out, identify them by name or port, and know that it’s going to follow that layout even if one is disconnected/reconnected

fuzzfactor 2y ago
The audio on Mint with an old Dell desktop is bugging me too. Didn't used to be like this. For years the audio IC's have been very flexible, with the analog I/O pins re-routable by software (expected to be drivers) to any of the 3.5mm jacks that may be scattered on the outside of the PC, along with any aux connections that may be merely an unused internal motherboard socket. Otherwise you wouldn't be able to use a single socket for either speakers or a microphone, and have the system figure out which one it is when plugged in. And things like that. When they first color-coded the 3.5mm analog I/O's it was the 20th century and it was still a hard-wired approach. With a modern motherboard the same exact board can be connected to a cabinet having 2 or 3 of the 3.5mm, or 5 or 6 and configuration could be selected (sometimes in advance) by specific factory drivers, accessible settings in a GUI, or both. Windows isn't perfect any more by any means. Windows 7 or XP still works ideally with the original Dell drivers, but with W10 nothing ever comes out of the green 3.5mm, you have to plug speakers into the black 3.5mm. At least you get stereo then, but could select mono from Windows if you wanted to. Using the newer Mint, you only get output from the green 3.5mm as expected, but usually only the left speaker gets any signal. Although sometimes you can set it for 5.1 surround and the whole pair of speakers will respond as the center channel. Depending on what you were doing with Windows before you rebooted to Linux, and whether or not you cold-power-up. But there is no provision to set Mint for mono at all which would be the perfect workaround. That would get us by until the flaws in the audio get corrected. It would be good to have user access to the pin-to-jack hardware configuration too, but the inconsistency could be a sign of deeper defects. Didn't used to be this bad.

felurx 2y ago

It's kind of funny to me to read your comment, because multiple monitors are working perfectly fine for me (Manjaro, KDE, Wayland, if anyone cares), but I do have some problems with that on my work laptop that runs Windows.