Dual monitor images?

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1

I have looked, but can’t find an obvious setting to put a wide image on a dual monitor desktop. It seems the settings are just for each separate monitor. Is there a way to have one desktop shared between the two monitors?

2

Desktop???

3

What desktop are you using (KDE, Gnome, etc.)?

4

What do you call the screen images you move your cursor around on? With dual monitors, the cursor moves between them at will. This is not called a desktop?

Leap 42.2, KDE Plasma 5.8.6

5

Ummmm It is the Desktop software you use. KDE Gnome other? It makes a difference in the answer

6

Again, I am using

7

It seems the settings are just for each separate monitor. Is there a way to have one desktop shared between the two monitors?

Dual monitor configuration with Plasma 5 can be configured via Configure Desktop > Display and Monitor. The graphical utility should show your current display configuration. The display icons can be moved relative to each other. For example, to clone you just drag the secondary display over the top of the other. For an extended desktop move one to the right of the other.

You can use xrandr to get the current display settings from a terminal window. Mine for reference…

xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 3046 x 1050, maximum 32767 x 32767
LVDS1 connected primary 1366x768+0+282 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 344mm x 193mm
   1366x768      60.00*+
   1280x720      60.00  
   1024x768      60.00  
   1024x576      60.00  
   960x540       60.00  
   800x600       60.32    56.25  
   864x486       60.00  
   640x480       59.94  
   720x405       60.00  
   680x384       60.00  
   640x360       60.00  
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA1 connected 1680x1050+1366+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 473mm x 296mm
   1680x1050     59.95*+
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1440x900      74.98    59.89  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
VIRTUAL1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

That shows that the external VGA-connected monitor is offset to the right of my laptop display. (I don’t use a second display much these days.)

Now, I have Intel graphics hardware so no proprietary drivers are involved, but it might be a different story perhaps if you have NVIDIA or AMD hardware and are using proprietary drivers. It used to be that both had their own display configuration utilities (nvidia-settings and amdcccle?). So, you may want to share your graphics hardware details if you need further support on this.

8

I have 2 different Images on the 2 Monitors.
Thats also without Activities the only Possibility to get 2 different Images on the Desktop, it is not possible to change the Image on differnet Desktops as before in KDE4.
That is only via Activities possible.

And 1 Image over the whole Screen (2 Monitors) is afaik not possible.

9

Ah, I wasn’t understanding that the background image (wallpaper) was meant here. Somewhere in the back of my mind I seem recall reading a that someone described spiting a wallpaper image in two, such that one half was then displayed on the primary monitor, and the other half on the secondary display.

10

There’s a way to switch desktop wallpaper when changing desktops, without resorting to activities. No different widgets per desktop, thou. See https://forums.opensuse.org/showthread.php/524387-Virtual-Desktops-disappear-in-SUSE-42-2-Leap?p=2820485#post2820485

I understand you want that the two monitors behave as one. I think this was possible through X settings, many moons ago - I forgot the terminology - but not anymore. If you just want the wallpaper extending to the two monitors, you can split the file image file (with GIMP, etc.) and set each half as the desired screen wallpaper. You can’t by default set different wallpapers to each desktop, but you can (or could, last time I looked) set different wallpapers to different screens.

I hope this helps.

11

I hope this helps.

Me also as the TO.

Thanks for the wallpaperswitch.

12

Is it possible that you are looking for the following?

Configure Desktop > Display and Monitor > Displays > Unify Outputs

I’ve never used it and really don’t want to test it out in case it screws up my present setup, so I don’t really know if that’s what you were looking for.

I do hope it helps, though.

13

This, at least here in oS 13.2 x64 KDE4, only changes to clone mode.

Here in nvidia-settings there is a Xinerama option (that’s the old name I was trying to remember). According to wikipedia:

Xinerama is an extension to the X Window System that enables X applications and window managers to use two or more physical displays as one large virtual display.

That may be what the OP is looking for.

But AFAIR this would require turning off composing. Worth testing, thou.