Force one i3 instance/workspace across multiple monitors

asked 2013-04-19 12:26:56 +0000

STU
21 ●1 ●1 ●5

Until recently I was using i3 with fairly old nVidia drivers (TwinView). As far as RandR was concerned I just had one big 3840x1200 monitor, which made i3 work in just the way I wanted it to - each workspace covered both screens, so super+N would change both monitors at once to workspace N

Now I upgraded my drivers so that RandR actually knows about my two monitors, but unfortunately this means i3 runs two "instances" with different independent workspaces on each physical monitor, and it's impossible to for example move a window from one monitor to the other. This is essentially unusable as far as I'm concerned

Is there any way to force the global workspace behaviour? I can't seem to find any way to make xrandr tell i3 there's only one physical monitor.

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for your "move a window from one monitor to the other" issue: Have a look at the "move workspace/container to output right" commands, they allow you to do that.

mschaefer ( 2013-04-19 12:39:45 +0000 )edit

but why should I need to use different commands for moving windows around depending on whether the move happens to cross the boundary between my monitors or not. That's ridiculous even with this command, being able to switch the entire desktop at once to different windows is kind of necessary

STU ( 2013-04-19 12:47:55 +0000 )edit

For now I have just reverted to the old drivers

STU ( 2013-04-19 12:49:22 +0000 )edit

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answered 2013-04-22 11:50:57 +0000

STU
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updated 2013-04-22 14:02:36 +0000

So, it turns out it's possible to force the functionality I want by using the (undocumented, as far as I can tell) config option:

fake-outputs 3840x1200+0+0

(I have two 1920x1200 screens.)

I can't accept this answer because I need 20 points

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This works great for me, too! I've got 4 panels, one fake output for the leftmost and one fake output for the other 3. The config line for me is: `fake-outputs 1920x1200+0+0,5760x1200+1920+0`

jbohren ( 2013-09-17 22:58:34 +0000 )edit

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answered 2013-04-20 17:07:16 +0000

Michael
3081 ●13 ●28 ●50 http://i3wm.org/

You could use workspace 1 to 10 on the left monitor and 11 to 20 on the right monitor, then change your keybindings to switch both at once.

Granted, that’s a little kludgy and might not yield best results.

It’s the only possibility though, as what you consider “unusable” is what we consider correct. Switch to another window manager if it’s really a deal-breaker.