I'll have to admit that I still don't understand what "unify outputs" is supposed to be itfp (it's for sure not a clone mode setting like "--same-as" - or it's completely broken) and I've also never seen a confirmation dialog there, but from what I got, your problem is not with the unification itself, but that a particular process (plasmashell) nukes parts of its configuration (desktop containment/s) in reaction to certain RandR events?

=> You should try to generalize the cause (ie. is it because of a change in screen size or in output count, basically: what't the output of "xrandr -q" before and after the ominous "unification") and file a bug against plasmashell.

Also check the "lastScreen" keys in ~/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc - might provide a trace ... or be a red herring.

Thanks! Sorry for not noticing your last post - page 2 effect and not having turned on notifications

To me it seems that the three ways to "Unify" are the equal: 1. Tap Unify Displays 2. Drag to 2nd on to of 1st 3. "xrandr --output DVI-1 --same-as DVI-0" - so it seems to me that "Unify" here means the same as "Clone".

Have tried creating a xorg.conf file with text as per your suggestion - did not notice any effect. The output of "xrandr -q" is the same, except for the obvious change in start position of the 2nd display. I don't know how to interpret the "lastScreen" keys in ~/.config/plasma-org.kde.plasma.desktop-appletsrc The lastScreen equals 0, -1 or 1. Strangely this config file does not change at all after unifying or re-log. Have tried starting session with empty session, previous session and saved session - no difference.

To better illustrate my problem I will make a small video, and I will put a link to it in a new post - page 1 - shortly. KDE is my preferred Desktop Environment and Kubuntu my preferred distro - and this problem might force me to change.

You need to ensure that the kscreen daemon isn't (auto)loaded ("kcmshell5 kded", lower section) - otherwise whatever you put into xorg.conf is gonna be overridden at runtiem by that daemon.

If unify is /really/ supposed to provide a clone mode, than I'm sorry to say that it's simply completely broken - disable and avoid kscreen (for the moment) if you wish to gain such.

So I copied xorg.conf again to /etc/X11, stopped and anticked KScreen2 and logged out. With Kubuntu 15.04 I could not detect any changed behaviour at all, but with Fedora 22 I did not get a login screen. Could not reboot as I did not get a login screen, until I booted the Suse partition and deleted xorg.conf.

You copied this

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "DVI-1"
Option "SameAs" "DVI-0"
EndSection

to /etc/X11/xorg.conf ?

That's not gonna work - sorry. It was merely meant as a pattern for a snippet in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/

You'll most importantly (likely) also require some

Code: Select all

Option "Monitor-DVI-1" "DVI-1"


in the "Device" section for your graphics card (usually found -or to be added- in another snippet in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/)

Also copying to different machines is a problem, because there's no guarantee that the outputs there are labeled DVI-0 and DVI-1.

Thank you very much for your help Leubking! I am afraid I am really out of my depth when it comes to xorg. I am not using any fglrx drivers for my Radeon HD5750, but the vanilla Gallium 0.4 on AMD Juniper (actually did try fglrx briefly on Kubuntu 15.04, but the problem with unified displays was the same),

I don't have a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file or a /etc/X11)xorg.conf.d/ directory on Kubuntu 15.04 or on Fedora 22 - so I would not know how to start. I can manage with running the scripts, at start of session:

Code: Select all

xrandr --output DVI-1 --same-as DVI-0

and at end of session:

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xrandr --output DVI-1 --pos 1920x0

Have tried and failed to put these scripts into autostart, startup and shutdown, I get the Unified display, but the wrong one: F22 only wallpaper, K15.04 only icons in a alphabetical order. Suppose I could live with that for when I am using the HTPC setup. Or use openSuse as my main Linux, as they have not yet gone to Plasma 5.

Cannot believe that I am the only one in the world with this problem!? Thanks, again!

get the Unified display, but the wrong one: F22 only wallpaper

I'm not sure how exactly plasmashell determines which desktop window to use, but could assume it's related to the primary screen.

Check the output of "xrandr -q" on which one is the primary and try setting the other, eg.

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xrandr --output DVI-1 --same-as DVI-0 --output DVI-0 --primary


Thanks leubking! Was quite optimistic, but no. Will try Kubuntu and then give a few more details

Does not work on Kubuntu either. The monitor is the primary display in both cases, not the TV.

Problem disappeared with fresh install of Kubuntu 15.10. Hope Fedora 23 also will behave.

Sorry, spoke too soon! The problem came back after the second or third reboot.

My problem solved with Plasma 5.7.5 - Hope it soon becomes available on the stable distros https://youtu.be/Tor-zcJhJDY

Finally it is working for me with Plasma 5.9.4 on Kubuntu 17.04 (Plasma 5.7.5 working must have been a trial version from ppa, it did not work after being ported to distros)