I hope I posted this in the right subforum; I searched for this issue and it seemed that other threads on topics like this were posted here before.

I'm using KDE 4.10.1 on a current Kubuntu 13.04 install, and at some point since I last plugged my system into an external monitor, the old Size & Orientation pane of the "Display and Monitor" configuration disappeared. This is how it looked in KDE 4.9.2, and this is what I see in 4.10.1.

The new configuration page is nicer and easier to understand, but I don't see a way to set one display as a clone of another. Am I missing something? It seems like a decent-sized usability regression to be unable to do this -- I tried to manually make the rectangles overlap in order to clone my display for a presentation today, and I was never able to get it exactly right. I was always off by a few dozen pixels in one direction or another.

I keep btrfs snapshots of my root filesystem and my oldest snapshot is from March 6. Hopefully that was before Kubuntu shipped KDE 4.10.1; I think I'll have to try to revert and stick with 4.10.0 if I can.

Thank you for all of your time and steady software improvement, though I understand that this isn't always a smooth process

The older "Size & Orientation" configuration panel which you were using previously is still provided as part of KDE itself - but it seems Kubuntu has replaced it.

The newer module you are seeing is part of the very new KScreen system, which is still under development.

From my understanding of KScreen (having never used it) you should simply be able to drag the second monitor on top of the 1st monitor, and this should automatically setup a cloned configuration.

I note that either this is your setup, or that the second screen is not being registered as existing at all. Your second screen probably does need to be connected however for it to show up.

Can you provide the output of "xrandr" if it is not showing up, and the monitor is connected (and powered up)?

Thank you very much. I have yet to guess right about whether something is general KDE behavior or specific to Kubuntu.

This thread on the Kubuntu forums pointed me in the right direction -- I installed the kde-workspace-randr package, which restored the "Size & Orientation" pane in the display and monitor configuration dialog. I can now clone displays as I could before.

I didn't have my laptop attached to the external monitor (actually a projector) when I took the screenshot; I just wanted to show an example of how this configuration dialog looks in Kubuntu 13.04.

I can, however, confirm that dragging the second monitor on top of the first one does not automatically set up a cloned configuration as I would expect it. When repositioning monitors in the "Display Configuration" dialog, the rectangles correctly snap to each other's outside edges (including aligning to the top, bottom, left or right as appropriate). They do not, however, snap to internal edges -- there was no way for me to have the two screens line up exactly. Most of the display was cloned on both screens, but I was always off by between (roughly) 10 and 30 pixels as in the following:



Anyway, I'm glad to hear that this isn't a general KDE problem; it makes sense for the Kubuntu project to test experimental modules/packages in prerelease versions. (13.04 won't actually be released until some time in April.)

Can you please provide the output of "xrandr"?
If the two monitors share a common resolution, they should switch to that - so i'm mystified as to why it was a few pixels off in this case.

mruffalo wrote:I can, however, confirm that dragging the second monitor on top of the first one does not automatically set up a cloned configuration as I would expect it.

Try to drag the first monitor on top of the second one!

I am new to kubuntu but not to Linux. I have been running kubuntu since the first of the year.

This turns out to be a non-trivial problem. I installed the kde-workspace-randr -- but infact it never changed any of the display options. I am uncertain how to drag an entire desktop onto another as well. That made no sense.

Wayno

http://www.pkill-9.com