Re: plasma5 screen management going wrong
On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 7:06 PM, Bug Reporter wrote: > On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 6:03 PM, Bug Reporter wrote: >> see below >> >> On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 2:20 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.dun...@cox.net> wrote: >>> Bug Reporter posted on Wed, 11 Jul 2018 21:05:22 -0400 as excerpted: >>> see below On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 2:25 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.dun...@cox.net> wrote: > Bug Reporter posted on Sun, 01 Jul 2018 21:17:29 -0400 as excerpted: > >> Some questions include: >> >> - Upon putting the laptop on the dock (multiple external monitors) can >> I run my randr script (or command) to activate the dock-connected >> monitors without logging out of plasma? > > YES. > >> >> - Upon undocking, I assume I would run another randr script to disable >> the external monitors, then I would undock the laptop. > > YES > >> >> - Say I have two different docking stations (one in the east coast >> office one in the west coast office). Say both have the identical >> monitor layout (e.g., two 1920x1080 HDMI monitors side by side). Will >> the same randr dock-connect script work at the other office? The >> monitors will have different EDID's, of course. But the relative >> positions and the resolutions will be the same. > > This would appear to depend upon the names of the screens, such as > "DP-2-1". My guess is that if the dock itself is the same model > device, the display ports may be named the same by xrandr. Obviously, > it is not hard to come up with the required command for additional > office locations. However, it would be more convenient if a > non-technical user (one who can barely use a terminal) had exactly one > command to execute for docking, regardless of the office. But, in > worst case, I can see making scripts or aliases such as "dock-east" > and "dock-west". The undock script/alias would always be the same. > >> >> - With xorg conf files, I assume that switching from the undocked to >> the docked configuration requires logging out of plasma, restarting X, >> and logging back in. Correct? > > I don't know. I did not create any xorg.conf files yet. Will I need to > create them? > >> >> - Are there frequent or common situations where one could lose all >> monitor output and a non-sudo user would be required to restart the >> computer? > > After just a little testing, this seems like a robust solution. > > However, the key to whether or not this will be practical for me is > power management. Having to remove KDE's PowerDevil means I now have > to go and explore alternative means of managing power on a laptop. Any > suggestions? The lack of powerdevil may be the showstopper in this process. So I started looking for a config file that might disable kscreen. I did not find any yet, but I did find kscreen-doctor. This might be the way to leave kscreen installed and to manage it the way one would manage screens with xorg conf files or with xrandr. Interestingly, `kscreen-doctor -i` tells me: Preferred KScreen backend : KSC_XRandR.so KSC_XRandR.so: /usr/lib/qt/plugins/kf5/kscreen/KSC_XRandR.so I don't know exactly what that is, but the name gives me the feeling that kscreen-doctor might be able to be used like xrandr... any thoughts? # /usr/bin/kscreen-doctor --help Usage: /usr/bin/kscreen-doctor [options] [output.. output..setting [...]] kscreen-doctor allows to change the screen setup from the command-line. Setting the output configuration is done in an atomic fashion, all settings are applied in a single command. kscreen-doctor can be used to enable and disable outputs, to position screens, change resolution (mode setting), etc.. You should put all your options into a single invocation of kscreen-doctor, so they can all be applied at once. Usage examples: Show output information: $ kscreen-doctor -o Output: 1 eDP-1 enabled connected Panel Modes: Modes: 1:800x600@60 [...] Geometry: 0,0 1280x800 Output: 70 HDMI-2 enabled connected HDMI Modes: 1:800x600@60 [...] Geometry: 1280,0 1920x1080 Disable the hdmi output, enable the laptop panel and set it to a specific mode $ kscreen-doctor output.HDMI-2.disable output.eDP-1.mode.1 output.eDP-1.enable Position the hdmi monitor on the right of the laptop panel $ kscreen-doctor output.HDMI-2.position.0,1280 output.eDP-1.position.0,0 Set resolution mode $ kscreen-doctor output.HDMI-2.mode.1920x1080@60 Set scale (note: fractional scaling is only supported on wayland) $ kscreen-doctor output.HDMI-2.scale.2 Set rotation (possible values: none, left, right, inverted) $ kscreen-doctor output.HDMI-2.rotation.left Options: -h, --help Displays this help. -i, --info Show runtime information: backends, logging, etc. -j, --json Show configuration in JSON format -o, --outputsShow outputs -d, --dpms Display power management (wayland only) -l, --log Write a comment to the log file Arguments: config Specific output settings are separated by spaces, each
Re: plasma5 screen management going wrong
On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 6:03 PM, Bug Reporter wrote: > see below > > On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 2:20 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.dun...@cox.net> wrote: >> Bug Reporter posted on Wed, 11 Jul 2018 21:05:22 -0400 as excerpted: >> >>> see below >>> >>> On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 2:25 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.dun...@cox.net> wrote: Bug Reporter posted on Sun, 01 Jul 2018 21:17:29 -0400 as excerpted: > Some questions include: > > - Upon putting the laptop on the dock (multiple external monitors) can > I run my randr script (or command) to activate the dock-connected > monitors without logging out of plasma? YES. > > - Upon undocking, I assume I would run another randr script to disable > the external monitors, then I would undock the laptop. YES > > - Say I have two different docking stations (one in the east coast > office one in the west coast office). Say both have the identical > monitor layout (e.g., two 1920x1080 HDMI monitors side by side). Will > the same randr dock-connect script work at the other office? The > monitors will have different EDID's, of course. But the relative > positions and the resolutions will be the same. This would appear to depend upon the names of the screens, such as "DP-2-1". My guess is that if the dock itself is the same model device, the display ports may be named the same by xrandr. Obviously, it is not hard to come up with the required command for additional office locations. However, it would be more convenient if a non-technical user (one who can barely use a terminal) had exactly one command to execute for docking, regardless of the office. But, in worst case, I can see making scripts or aliases such as "dock-east" and "dock-west". The undock script/alias would always be the same. > > - With xorg conf files, I assume that switching from the undocked to > the docked configuration requires logging out of plasma, restarting X, > and logging back in. Correct? I don't know. I did not create any xorg.conf files yet. Will I need to create them? > > - Are there frequent or common situations where one could lose all > monitor output and a non-sudo user would be required to restart the > computer? After just a little testing, this seems like a robust solution. However, the key to whether or not this will be practical for me is power management. Having to remove KDE's PowerDevil means I now have to go and explore alternative means of managing power on a laptop. Any suggestions?
Re: plasma5 screen management going wrong
see below On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 2:20 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.dun...@cox.net> wrote: > Bug Reporter posted on Wed, 11 Jul 2018 21:05:22 -0400 as excerpted: > >> see below >> >> On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 2:25 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.dun...@cox.net> wrote: >>> Bug Reporter posted on Sun, 01 Jul 2018 21:17:29 -0400 as excerpted: >> >>> This is likely the kscreen component, or libkscreen ... >>> I finally unmerged/uninstalled those two components >> >> To clarify, you removed kscreen and libkscreen? I'm running Arch Linux, >> so I can probably uninstall those packages as well. > > Correct. kscreen and libkscreen are not installed (on gentoo, aka > "merged") here, despite the fact that I have kde-plasma as my desktop > environment, with plasmashell providing the desktop and panels, and kwin > as the window manager. > > It's possible there's something with a direct buildtime/runtime > dependency on them, but it doesn't seem to be anything I have merged, or > if it is, it's USE-flag controlled and I have that flag off. > > Actually... just did a grep on libkscreen in the (gentoo) repo, thus > covering packages I don't have installed as well. Other than kscreen > itself, there's two other packages depending on it: > > powerdevil: On gentoo at least, this appears to be a hard dep, buildtime > and runtime. The reason it doesn't affect me is that I don't have > powerdevil installed either. > > Interestingly enough, the other one is lxqt-config. > > Nothing (well, other than the plasma-meta metapackage) appears to dep on > kscreen itself. > > Meanwhile, note that I'm still on X. Yes, I see it the same way. I will switch to Wayland once it has full support under KDE and is reliable. > It's possible, however, that the past problems have all been due to kde > "fighting" with X over the configuration, and if there's no standard non- > kde config to mess up, with some luck perhaps it'll all "just work". My experience over most of the last two years is that it has "just worked" -- until a couple weeks ago. > Doing the same with xrandr, presumably scripting it to the settings you > use frequently and then either running the script with selected > parameters or running the appropriate script to change things, isn't > difficult. It'll just take some study of the xrandr manpage. Typically > you'd do something like this (for the same outputs/size/positioning as > above): > > xrandr --output HDMI-A-0 --primary --mode 3840x2160 --pos 1920x0 --output > DVI-D-0 --mode 1920x1080 --pos 0x2100 > > Note that there's a bash-completion helper available for xrandr as well. Can you say more about how this would work on a laptop that is docked and undocked daily? Some questions include: - Upon putting the laptop on the dock (multiple external monitors) can I run my randr script (or command) to activate the dock-connected monitors without logging out of plasma? The "without logging out" part is important. If we have to log out and restart X, that's no better than kscreen at the moment because if we restart after docking, kscreen usually gets things right. (Until two weeks ago, it got things right immediately when the dock was connected without any user intervention at all.) - Upon undocking, I assume I would run another randr script to disable the external monitors, then I would undock the laptop. - Say I have two different docking stations (one in the east coast office one in the west coast office). Say both have the identical monitor layout (e.g., two 1920x1080 HDMI monitors side by side). Will the same randr dock-connect script work at the other office? The monitors will have different EDID's, of course. But the relative positions and the resolutions will be the same. - With xorg conf files, I assume that switching from the undocked to the docked configuration requires logging out of plasma, restarting X, and logging back in. Correct? - Are there frequent or common situations where one could lose all monitor output and a non-sudo user would be required to restart the computer?
Re: plasma5 screen management going wrong
Bug Reporter posted on Wed, 11 Jul 2018 21:05:22 -0400 as excerpted: > see below > > On Mon, Jul 2, 2018 at 2:25 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.dun...@cox.net> wrote: >> Bug Reporter posted on Sun, 01 Jul 2018 21:17:29 -0400 as excerpted: > >> This is likely the kscreen component, or libkscreen ... >> I finally unmerged/uninstalled those two components > > To clarify, you removed kscreen and libkscreen? I'm running Arch Linux, > so I can probably uninstall those packages as well. Correct. kscreen and libkscreen are not installed (on gentoo, aka "merged") here, despite the fact that I have kde-plasma as my desktop environment, with plasmashell providing the desktop and panels, and kwin as the window manager. It's possible there's something with a direct buildtime/runtime dependency on them, but it doesn't seem to be anything I have merged, or if it is, it's USE-flag controlled and I have that flag off. Actually... just did a grep on libkscreen in the (gentoo) repo, thus covering packages I don't have installed as well. Other than kscreen itself, there's two other packages depending on it: powerdevil: On gentoo at least, this appears to be a hard dep, buildtime and runtime. The reason it doesn't affect me is that I don't have powerdevil installed either. Interestingly enough, the other one is lxqt-config. Nothing (well, other than the plasma-meta metapackage) appears to dep on kscreen itself. Meanwhile, note that I'm still on X. Google suggests there's not a lot of info out there about configuring plasma on wayland yet (a prominent hit is actually the arch wiki), but what I can find suggests that unlike X, there's no real desktop-independent configuration for wayland yet. At some point I'm going to decide it's time to try (plasma on) wayland, and I've been kind of dreading it in part (one thing on a list...) because I've had such bad experiences with kde's X-based monitor configuration, while for better or for worse, that seems to be what I'll have to use. It's possible, however, that the past problems have all been due to kde "fighting" with X over the configuration, and if there's no standard non- kde config to mess up, with some luck perhaps it'll all "just work". One can hope, anyway... But I definitely expect kscreen/libkscreen will be needed to properly configure kwin_wayland and plasmashell on wayland, since that's the way that kde/plasma does it these days, and as I said, it appears there's no desktop-independent way to do it, so if my desktop is plasma on wayland, it'll have to be kde/plasma configuring it, and thus kscreen/libkscreen. >> And if I /do/ want to change the layout or resolution on-the-fly, I >> can use xrandr to do it, or simply >> change the xorg.conf configuration and restart x/kde/plasma to have it >> take effect. > > It would be really helpful to find some examples of exactly how to apply > your approach to a laptop which docks and undocks to/from a dock with > multiple external displays. I would like to try your approach, but I > don't have any experience with xrandr at all, and it has been an > incredibly long time since I messed with xorg.conf. Any instructions or > links are appreciated. Wow. While xorg does generally have sane no-xorg.conf behavior these days, I have a customized enough setup that I'd hardly consider doing without it, entirely! Without actually checking, I'd (figuratively) bet money, however, that the arch wiki is one of the better resources out there on it. Well, that and the xorg.conf manpage... If you've not messed with xorg.conf in awhile, the biggest change you may not be aware of is that it's modular these days, configurable with multiple drop-in files (some of which are shipped by various xorg drivers in ordered to set defaults such as libinput (newer) or evdev (a bit older) as the default keyboard and mouse driver), instead of a single monolithic xorg.conf. That makes it much *MUCH* easier to tweak just one thing, with a comparatively small configuration file likely with just one section and a couple configuration lines in it, either to override a shipped driver default, or to, for instance, configure one monitor "primary", with a second positioned "left-of" the primary. As an example of why/how my config is somewhat customized, consider ($$ indicating a command, jed being my initials, my way of distinguishing my own settings files from the shipped defaults, this is for a radeon with the freedomware amdgpu driver, but the config should be similar for most freedomware drivers, if you're running nvidia with the servantware driver it may be different in which case you'll need to look elsewhere for that): $$ cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/jed.monitors.conf # 48-inch 1080p youtube monitor Section "Monitor" Identifier "jed.mon.dvi0" Gamma 1.1 Option "Position" "0 2100" EndSection
