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Bug 60280 - Nautilus desktop does not work properly with Xinerama and different screen resolutions.
Nautilus desktop does not work properly with Xinerama and different screen re...
Status: RESOLVED OBSOLETE
Product: nautilus
Classification: Core
Component: Desktop
2.22.x
Other Linux
: Normal normal
: ---
Assigned To: Nautilus Maintainers
Nautilus Maintainers
: 79625 144434 151301 331734 341528 552544 568871 574487 586155 590116 603669 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks: randr-tracker
 
 
Reported: 2001-09-10 02:21 UTC by Dan Siemon
Modified: 2018-01-02 18:50 UTC
See Also:
GNOME target: ---
GNOME version: 2.21/2.22


Attachments
dead space prevention (4.49 KB, patch)
2008-09-19 15:07 UTC, Christian Neumair
needs-work Details | Review

Description Dan Siemon 2001-09-10 02:21:08 UTC
My configuration:
X Head 1 (left): 1024x768
X Head 2 (right): 1280x1024

Due to the different screen sizes X creates a 'dead' area under the bottom
of the first head so the virtual screen can be a square. When "Clean up by
Name" is selected Nautilus will place desktop items in this dead area
leaving no way to interact with them.
Comment 1 John Fleck 2002-01-05 04:18:36 UTC
Changing to "old" target milestone for all bugs laying around with no milestone set.
Comment 2 John Fleck 2002-04-24 03:30:00 UTC
*** Bug 79625 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 3 John Fleck 2002-04-24 03:30:28 UTC
Note the dup - this is still an issue with GNOME2 Nautilus.
Comment 4 Dave Bordoley [Not Reading Bug Mail] 2002-10-31 22:23:39 UTC
louie says that this should be fixed in gnome2.1 and if they could
test it and report specific problems we'd appreciate it
Comment 5 Dan Siemon 2002-11-01 18:54:28 UTC
This bug should not be closed. I am running the latest GNOME 2.1.x
snaps (as of 2002-11-01) and this bug is still present.
Comment 6 Paul Gnuyen 2003-05-24 09:09:29 UTC
I don't know if this is the same bug, but right click doesn't work on
my second monitor when using nautilus as the root window (dragging
things over there does not work either).  I'm using the nvidia drivers
with twinview but I can't tell if the xinerama extensions are on.
Comment 7 Bastien Nocera 2004-09-08 14:30:00 UTC
*** Bug 144434 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 Bastien Nocera 2004-09-08 14:31:37 UTC
The problem still exists with nautilus 2.7.92.
Comment 9 Bastien Nocera 2004-09-08 14:33:43 UTC
*** Bug 151301 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 10 Kjartan Maraas 2005-01-03 15:36:23 UTC
Bumping version...
Comment 11 sayao 2005-09-04 15:56:11 UTC
It happens for me too, please fix it! :)
Comment 12 Germán Poo-Caamaño 2007-03-05 14:07:37 UTC
*** Bug 331734 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 13 Germán Poo-Caamaño 2007-03-05 14:08:03 UTC
*** Bug 341528 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 14 Bob Warren 2007-09-10 19:50:57 UTC
Happens in Gnome 2.16 as well.  
Comment 15 Bob Warren 2007-09-10 19:54:27 UTC
Ok going into a bare X session shows this problem is not nautilus but something in gnome.  Also tried with just launching metacity.
Comment 16 Christophe Jouny 2008-03-02 15:55:04 UTC
Recurring problem since 2006 up to gnome-2.20. 

screen1 1280x1024 screen0 1600x1200 - everything works fine for a while but once it goes wrong all sort of problem arise. In my case, playing a game with wine (specifically when I exited the game) seems to have trigger the problem.

a- icons on the screen0 cannot be placed outside of the 1280x1024 area.
b- desktop icons are only visible in workspace 1
c- closing a nautilus window in one screen cause nautilus on other screen to restart.

For all I know the confusion of display :0.0 and :0.1 by several part of Gnome can explain most issues.
Comment 17 Cosimo Cecchi 2008-09-17 00:16:46 UTC
*** Bug 552544 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 18 Cosimo Cecchi 2008-09-17 00:17:09 UTC
It seems that this is still an issue for Nautilus 2.22.
Comment 19 Christian Neumair 2008-09-19 15:07:44 UTC
Created attachment 119002 [details] [review]
dead space prevention

This supplementary patch ensures that no icon is placed in dead space.

However, it only makes sense as soon as the “clean up by name” functionality is multi-monitor aware. Otherwise the top or bottom row (depending on the screen positions) will be crowded with overlapping items that were moved to visible space.

I think the layout routines should work on a per-monitor basis. However, it's a bit tricky what to do when regions in various monitors overlap, since we'd have multiple layout grids with different opinions where items should end up.

I also find it a bit odd that the _NET_WORKAREA seems to request an entire frame around the screen, rather than around a single monitor. Maybe it was introduced before Xinerama and XRandr where in a decent shape.
Comment 20 jimmy the saint 2008-09-28 18:51:40 UTC
Mr Neumair,

What are the chances that the changes you mentioned are implemented soon?  As someone who really likes gnome, but cannot implement it at work due to this limitation, I am very interested.  I think you hit the nail on the head when you indicated that all this is antiquated.  These day, multiple monitors setups are becoming more and more common, especially in work environments.  

I am glad to see that someone has finally taken the issue seriously enough to work on a patch for a symptom but, as you said, there needs to be more work done to make it a practical solution.  This is especially true for business users who (like me) have no idea how to code, but use the software as a tool to get work done.  I have made a list of the specific issues that I have found gnome's dual monitor support to have.  Is there an appropriate place to post such a list?
Comment 21 Cosimo Cecchi 2009-03-08 00:55:26 UTC
*** Bug 574487 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 22 Rui Matos 2009-03-08 16:35:20 UTC
This bug should be blocking the RANDR tracker bug. Sorry for filing a dup at first, didn't find this one.
Comment 23 Rui Matos 2009-03-08 16:36:35 UTC
(In reply to comment #22)
> This bug should be blocking the RANDR tracker bug.

... which is #573207.
Comment 24 Cosimo Cecchi 2009-03-19 18:06:10 UTC
*** Bug 568871 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 25 Bastien Nocera 2009-08-06 09:26:51 UTC
*** Bug 590116 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 26 john stultz 2010-02-05 02:50:26 UTC
This bug is still present in Gnome 2.28.1.

However, I have found a workaround:
While nautilus doesn't seem to take in the visible portion of the virtual screen area into consideration, it does pay attention to panel placement!

This may be why this issue doesn't get as much attention as one might expect, as if you have a gnome-panel on smaller screen, everything seems to work. I however have a primary large screen with panels on the right, and a smaller secondary screen without on the left, so I see the issue.

By adding a new empty panel to my smaller screen (on the edge next to the blank space in the virtual screen) and setting it to auto-hide, I lose one pixel, but nautilus properly aligns icons to within the visible portion of the screens.
Comment 27 Cosimo Cecchi 2010-02-27 12:28:47 UTC
*** Bug 586155 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 28 Cosimo Cecchi 2010-02-27 12:29:55 UTC
*** Bug 603669 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 29 guillermo siliceo 2011-09-10 20:14:28 UTC
I'd like to add to this bug, that the icons behave properly on the XFCE desktop  but the cursor can still be moved to a dead area.
Comment 30 benwolsieffer 2014-06-10 21:57:39 UTC
What is the current status of this bug? I am on Ubuntu 14.04 and am experiencing the same problem.
Comment 31 André Klapper 2015-01-16 04:57:00 UTC
Comment on attachment 119002 [details] [review]
dead space prevention

libnautilus-private/nautilus-icon-container.c does not exist anymore; hence patch does not apply cleanly
Comment 32 António Fernandes 2018-01-02 18:50:55 UTC
Starting with version 3.28, nautilus will not handle the "files on desktop background" feature. For better alternatives, read this blog post https://csorianognome.wordpress.com/2017/12/21/nautilus-desktop-plans/