Edited to include OS/KDE/Plasma versions.

Kubuntu 23.04
KDE Plasma: 5.27.4
KDE Framework: 5.104.0
QT version: 5.15.8
Kernel: 6.2.0-20
Hardware: 13900K / 32GB DDR5 @5200 / EVGA 3070ti / ASRock PG Lightning (PCIE 5 and DDR5 version)

:~$ inxi -v2
System:
Host: pappa Kernel: 6.2.0-20-generic arch: x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 5.27.4 Distro: Ubuntu 23.04 (Lunar Lobster)
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: ASRock product: Z790 PG Lightning v: N/A
serial: <superuser required>
Mobo: ASRock model: Z790 PG Lightning serial: <superuser required>
UEFI: American Megatrends LLC. v: 5.01 date: 01/09/2023
CPU:
Info: 24-core (8-mt/16-st) 13th Gen Intel Core i9-13900K [MST AMCP]
speed (MHz): avg: 2871 min/max: 800/5500:5800:4300
Graphics:
Device-1: NVIDIA GA104 [GeForce RTX 3070 Ti] driver: nvidia v: 515.105.01
Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.7 with: Xwayland v: 22.1.8 driver: X:
loaded: nvidia unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,nouveau,vesa
gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch resolution: 1: 2560x1440~60Hz 2: 2560x1440
3: 2560x1440~144Hz
API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 515.105.01 renderer: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070
Ti/PCIe/SSE2
Network:
Device-1: Realtek RTL8125 2.5GbE driver: r8169
Drives:
Local Storage: total: 19.33 TiB used: 6.06 TiB (31.4%)
Info:
Processes: 446 Uptime: 2h 49m Memory: 31.09 GiB used: 3.36 GiB (10.8%)
Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.25



Hi,

I remember when KDE was first released ( no plasma then) and it was awesome for us techie types. This was before multi-monitors were ever used (AFAIR).
Then came KDE multi-monitor support and it sucked - big time
Then the KDE team kinda sorta resolved the worst of the multi-monitor issues and it was glorious.
The Plasma was implemented and multi-monitors support sucked again.
Then most of the bugs and issues were resolved and it was glorious.
Then I had a long time where I used only Winblows - and it kinda sucked, compared Linux but, literally everything always worked (at least that was my experience as a knowledgeable Windows tech)
Then I got sick and tired of Winblows 10 trying t make itself a cell phone app because they LOST the lead in MOST installed OS to Android (EGO) and the telemetry and now with the approaching Windows 12 release your $5K gaming PC is about to be completely controlled by MS and is about to become the most expensive thin client ever invented - no more local accounts soon (wait and see if I am not right on this - I am, but of course I cannot guarantee it as I am guessing, but literally all my guess about Win10 have come true to date).
And so, with the sick and tired of MS **** I wiped it out and put Linux on my PC after 20+ years of not running it at all. I was seriously impressed with the fact I did not have to edit the xconfig file (I've, since long ago, forgotten the actual file name) and enter my own scan lines, resolution and refresh rate(s) in order for startx to be successful.

I ask around some friends and did a bit of googling and discovered that for technicians and multi-display setups KDE was probably the way to go.
I also know about Ubuntu being so user friendly (if bloated) and thought, OK, Until I get familiar with bash again I am gonna use Kubuntu.

That is when the multi monitor issues began. Oh yah, the live cd found my monitors gave me a choice of configs and I chose one and it was good.
I found out the hard way that it was NOT actually good.
I started with 22.04LTS and KDE plasma - no clue what that version is/was.

My immediate thought was to wipe drive and install Ubuntu with Gnome, Xfce, LMDE, even fluxbox/openbox/blackbox - anything is better than constantly having to enable your 2 other monitors, re-arrange the displays, pick a primary, save everything, re-adjust all your desktop icons because, the icons positioning get pooched when this happens at every single reboot,shutdown, sleep or hibernate .

So, for a month or so it was great, it seemed to have work itself out and all was good - except when the system was sleeping, then waking up my display settings were gone - I had 1 primary and 2 cloned from primary, if I was lucky, but mostly I need to screw with the whole setup again to get it back to the way it as before it went to sleep - disabled sleep after that and ran the system full bore for about a month with zero issues. Then I had to reboot for some reason, 20 minutes again setting everything up.
SO, I was about to wipe the drive again and Id did a bit of research and I found a blog which described the KDE DEV's new approached to "fixing" the multi monitor cluster **** that is KDE monitor management and I was happy that it was coming soon.

I got that about 3-4 weeks ago.
NOW I select my monitors and give them a priority and for a week or so it was bliss.

3 days ago I logged into my PC and the oops was back.
2 of my external monitors were disabled.
Here we go again.
Since then if the PC sleeps I wake up and have 3 cloned monitors with ghosted icons - meaning I have 60 icons instead of the 20 I normally have spread out across 3 displays - but when this happens I end up with 60 icons on one display -> and the promise of a multi-monitor fix from the devs happens every few years and then never happens because the fixes invariably end up in the same place as before the fix.

I want to re-iterate that I LOVE KDE and this is literally the only reason I am still seeing it on my PC, but there comes a time when enough is enough and after 20+ years of this I believe that time has come.

I believe, and I want to be clear that I am not getting this from any outside source, but from my own possibly flawed logic, due to the ignorance of what goes on with the KDE/Plasma code and dev's writing it, that these issues are not be fixable in KDE/Plasma code, if it was possible it would already have been done and therefore I also am led to believe that the issues are not fixable and KDE dev's will keep hacking it out and trying other things all in a fruitless attempt to not have to re-code what is probably tens or hundreds of thousands of lines of code - No one can blame them for that however, I need my monitors to be the same throughout sleep,hibernate, reboot and shutdowns or I am literally going to go OCD crazy and end up in the crazy house.

So, thanks for all the fish but I am 60 years old and I truly do not want to wait another 20 years to use my Linux box in a stable way with KDE, especially since the Dev's prioritize new sparklies over stability and functionality (just like Winblows 10 come to think of it). I wonder if the Dev's realize that literally every single person I know both personally and professionally use at least 2 monitors. There are 342,000 employees in my corp and ALL of them have at least 2 external monitors and a good portion of them have 3-4 monitors.

NOW - it's a matter of what desktop do I replace KDE with and THAT is going to take some research for sure.

Have a nice life and thanks for all the fish!

I will leave the above post because I truly believe it is true.
I won't apologize for my rant because it has been building for a LONG time.
The day that happened was the "straw that broke the camels back" and the flood gates were opened.
I have since closed those floodgates again and truly hope to never loose control like that again.

WHEN/IF the kde Dev's ever resolve this permanently I'll take it all back, however, without years of re-writing code I don't think it is ever gonna happen.
(I do not not blame the devs to be clear and I STILL plan to donate to the KDE project every year because i WANT it to improve and hopefully, eventually take over the Linux world and become the #1 Linux desktop in the world).

FOR NOW, I will post my resolution for others to see if needed.

I have resolved the situation by doing the following steps below:

1 - disable compositor
2 - prevent kscreen2 from starting at boot (or at all - I don't understand how kscreen2 works so maybe it does start sometime after boot?)
3 - delete the ~/.local/share/kscreen/ folder
4 - arrange the desktop icons/taskbars the way you want them
5 - reboot
6- open display settings and fix whatever **** yah have to (this will be the last time), ensure the monitors/icons/taskbars are arranged the way you want them and then select the radial button near the bottom that says:

"Save Displays' properties: For only this specific display arrangement"

7 - go to the "~/.local/share/kscreen//control/configs/" folder and open each config file you see in a txt editor to view it's contents, the one you want to keep should be blatantly obvious, delete the rest of them.
8 - enjoy permanent display settings.

Since I have done this I have purposely reboot or shutdown my PC multiple times daily and it comes back the same every, single time.
I must have rebooted or shutdown 30 times daily since my last post and no **** at all.

IF you get a video driver update or a release update/upgrade that involves kde: ensure you do all these steps again as the update will most likely reset everything to defaults

This is the contents of the only config file in my kscreen folder: so kde/plasma has literally no choice but to use it - there is no guess work involved at all! NO chance it might use another for whatever reason because there IS no other. One of the configs I deleted had two monitors properly identified and arranged, the third monitor said NVIDIA and was 800x600 resolution at 60hz. In actuality it is a 2K monitor at 165hrz. Another config I deleted had two monitors only and what I saw on screen using was two monitors with the third (center monitor - black screen) disabled, yet another config had all the monitors stack on top of each other visually and cloned - I didn't even browse the contents of that config I just deleted them all except the one I wanted to keep, once I found the one I wanted to keep. Why one of the monitors is named DP 4 is completely beyond my understanding as the video card has 3 DP's only and one HDMI and the HDMI is not in use at all. Nothing plugged into it.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
{
"outputs": [
{
"id": "5baf5254ec432d390b1ee62ee6f93f33",
"metadata": {
"name": "DP-0"
},
"retention": 1
},
{
"id": "16a8c7f0c477a556934dcd5128372290",
"metadata": {
"name": "DP-2"
},
"retention": 1
},
{
"id": "f775cbbe3bc706add02956df84b0b416",
"metadata": {
"name": "DP-4"
},
"retention": 1
}
]
}