hi,
i have a laptop to which i sometimes connect an external monitor. the external monitor is always on the left and i always make it the primary monitor using the following command:

xrandr --output VGA-1 --primary --output LVDS-1 --right-of VGA-1

if i afterward try to run without the external monitor i get the kde desktop with all the icons but without the panel/taskbar. i could not find any way to restore the panel and thus i either have to erase the .kde directory or use gnome3.
any advice on how to restore the panel in the above described scenario will be much appreciated as i really prefer to stay with the kde when i do not use the external monitor.
thanks in advance,
monty

I presume you don't switch back to normal...

Easy enough to do with systemsettings or xrandr and a couple of neat aliases in your .bashrc

as you said i do not switch back to normal. i did however try commands in my .bash_profile (and not in .bashrc). the last line in my .bash_profile runs a script that includes the following lines:

/***********************************************************/
#!/bin/bash

IN="LVDS-1"
EXT="VGA-1"

if (xrandr | grep "$EXT" | grep " disconnected")
then
xrandr --output $IN --primary --pos 0x0 --output $EXT --off
else
if (xrandr | grep "$EXT" | grep " connected")
then
xrandr --output $EXT --primary --output $IN --right-of $EXT
fi
fi

/***********************************************************/
i had no luck with these lines. i guess i also need to mention that there is nothing to do after kde starts with a single monitor since anything i try to launch is not shown on the screen (probably sent to somewhere outside the physical display span).
thanks again in advance,
ofer

Refer this: viewtopic.php?f=66&t=99001&p=212917&hilit=dual+monitor#p212917

KDE doesn't work at all when you switch back to single monitor mode. Nothing will work. Windows, Krunner, taskbar nothing works.

Hi, I am seeing this issue with fedora 16 too, and it is a real showstopper.

If I boot with external monitor connected, everything works good. If I boot without, then the toolbar is gone and I cannot do anything but except what is available from the right-click on desktop + icons.

However I am not able to get any window but the widget stuff up. In other words, even applications do not appear (started from desktop), so both toolbar and applications disappears, really. When I restart and reconnect vga, the invisible windows are restored on the desktop (visible). So the windows are there but not visible somehow.

If I remove the VGA cable after logging in, all is good (although desktop is still 2-screen).

Anyways, now I cannot take my portable dell e6420 outside the office!

Is anyone aware of an existing bug report for this, or should I file one?

Hm, this is odd. I have a monitor and a beamer on my desktop - of course they are there when I switch the box on. Using systemsettings I can turn either one off or on as I see fit. I usually have them cloned but every now and then have them run them side by side.

iirc I always clone them first before switching either one off. Always worked for me...

Hmm this trouble appears on restart when the cable is unplugged without any prior manual system settings changes. Inserting the VGA cable before entering credentials does not help. Basically this never worked for me... not on the intial fedora 16 nor with the lastest yum update.

My laptop has the default intel graphics card. And this reverts me to use my shiny windows 7 partition while on the move..

Have you tried connecting the second monitor then restarting X? It seems that X is not detecting that the second monitor is now gone, so is not adding/removing it from the devices available. This is seperate to the issue of Plasma not adapting itself however.

I felt like chiming in on this thread, since I've also encountered peculiarities trying to use multiple screens with KDE. In my case a 16:9 laptop screen and an old 4:3 LCD.

I have only got this to work by connecting the cable BEFORE logging in - although in that case KDE starts an empty session instead of resuming my previous session. But, at least the resolutions are correct and I can choose to clone or extend the screen.

Logging in and then connecting the cable has never worked properly for me. I can get the second screen to work ONLY by selecting "Clone", and then the system seems to force both screens to use the same vertical resolution - either the desktop is too tall for the 16:9 screen or too short for the 4:3 one. Also it's impossible to get the desktop to extend instead of clone.