Re: Multi-head configuration freaks out X11
Re: Multi-head configuration freaks out X11
This is quite a well known problem, and I don't know of any solution.
As I understand it, the problem is that the geometry of the screen is
set when X11.app starts up; so it is relative to that original
configuration of displays. If you unplug one of these displays, or move
them around with the Displays control panel, you change the geometry,
but X11.app has no way of updating this.
I don't know whether the X11R6 has any way of changing the geometry of
the root window dynamically - if it does, then this is a bug which
could be fixed by apple. However, if X11R6 doesn't have any such
facility, you're probably stuck with the problem.
If this were Xinerama on XFree86 on a PC, you'd have the same problem -
you can't change the geometry of the screens without restarting the X
server, as far as I know.
When X11.app gets confused like this, just close it down and restart it.
Of course this kills all your clients, but at the moment you have to
live with that.
X11.app is not the only application that gets confused, in my
experience. GeekTool can't cope with geometry changes of the desktop,
and neither can core parts of OS X itself; quite often I find that even
though my main display is running at 1280x1024, the display drop down
menu reckons its at 1024x768, and sometimes the "Detect displays" item
has disappeared, so I can't correct it. In such cases, the Displays
control panel doesn't work either.
Bottom line - extended desktop has quite a few flaws as it stands in
Jaguar, and X11.app is a victim of this.
Tim
On Wed, Jul 23, 2003 at 09:19:19AM -0500, Jim Morris wrote:
> I know the X11 0.3 I have been using for some time will not be updated.
> I am posting this in hopes Apple is aware of the issue and has or will
> address it in Panther.
>
> I have observed some unusual behavior of X11 if you are either running
> on a single monitor, and plug in a second monitor, or are running on
> two monitors, and unplug the secondary one. This is with a Powerbook
> 12".
>
> If X11 was started with an external VGA monitor attached, all is well.
> X11 apps can run on both monitors just fine. But when you unplug the
> external monitor (to go somewhere for example), and X11 apps are
> active, they do not seem to properly move to the built in screen on the
> Powerbook, as Aqua apps do. AND mouse cursor control is suddenly lost
> for all running X11 apps. I think as far as X11 is concerned, you just
> took half the video buffer away, or something like that, and it just
> loses it. About the only recourse is to kill or force kill X11 and all
> X11 apps.
>
> Going the other way - from one to two monitors is not quite so
> disruptive. In this situation, X11 keeps running and retains cursor
> control, but if an X11 app has focus, you cannot move the mouse cursor
> beyond the edges of the primary screen (the built in on the Powerbook).
>
> This will probably be the single thing that drives me to upgrade this
> system to Panther, as I use X11 to run a lot of stuff, and it is sorta
> painful to have to exit all X11 apps when going to/from my desk with
> the computer!
> --
> Jim Morris (email@hidden)
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--
Dr Tim Cutts
Informatics Systems Group
Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge, CB10 1SA, UK
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