How to get desktop panel to show on second display [solved]

[vinoman]

I've installed Mint 15 Cinnamon 64bit on my wife's Toshiba Satellite L305-S5921 and I plugged it into her 22" LG Flatron E2260 display. It shows the desktop on the 22" display with no taskbar or icons showing.

How do I get taskbar and icons to show on the larger display so she can use her laptop as a desktop when needed?

[Dis93]

Are there two displays showing in the System Settings>Display? If so drag the black bar at the top of the pink representations of the screeens to the larger of the two.

[vinoman]

Are there two displays showing in the System Settings>Display? If so drag the black bar at the top of the pink representations of the screeens to the larger of the two.

Just did that, and now the cursor is on the large display but still no taskbar. What else needs to be done?

[vinoman]

Are there two displays showing in the System Settings>Display? If so drag the black bar at the top of the pink representations of the screeens to the larger of the two.

Just did that, hit apply and now the taskbar is off the laptop screen and on the large display but still no icons and the taskbar disappeared from the laptop, until I unplugged the video cable.

What else needs to be done?

[Dis93]

Try restarting Cinnamon from the ^ symbol on the right of the panel. Failing that try logging out and back in.

[vinoman]

Try restarting Cinnamon from the ^ symbol on the right of the panel. Failing that try logging out and back in.

Tried both and still no difference, the taskbar is on the large display and when I open chrome browser it opens on the laptop screen instead on the LG. Then I hit restart Cinnamon and Chrome shows up on the LG but taskbar is gone from the laptop, until I unplug the cable.

What else can fix this problem?

[Dis93]

from here
http://alessiodellamotta.com/2013/02/15/how-to-change-primary-display-on-linux-mint-14-cinnamon/

in terminal

List your displays:

xrandr -q

Select your primary:

xrandr --output <display_name> --primary

worth a try..

[vinoman]

I ran the command but can't see what the names should be.

The laptop is the main display, it shouldn't make a difference which one is the main. If I plug in the vga cable it should just display on the larger display.

[Mark Phelps]

I ran the command but can't see what the names should be.

The laptop is the main display, it shouldn't make a difference which one is the main. If I plug in the vga cable it should just display on the larger display.

Maybe it "shouldn't" -- but unfortunately, it does.

The difference is Primary and Secondary display.

When you boot the laptop, it is the Primary display. When you plug in the monitor, it becomes the Secondary display. You can move the displays around in the configuration panel, from left to right, but that doesn't change Primary and Secondary display status.

You "moved" the menu bar to the Secondary display, so when you unplug it, of course it will disappear. Mint is not going to move it back to the Primary for you.

And, unfortunately, I know of no way to have the bar appear on both displays. I use Ubuntu as well, and with the Unity desktop, you can mirror the navigation bar on both displays.

As to which display is the default for opening apps, others have asked this as well, and from what I read, it depends on the app. If it has setting to change its default to the Secondary display, it will do that; otherwise, by default, it will open on the Primary display.

At least, this has been my experience.

[vinoman]

I ran the command but can't see what the names should be.

The laptop is the main display, it shouldn't make a difference which one is the main. If I plug in the vga cable it should just display on the larger display.

Maybe it "shouldn't" -- but unfortunately, it does.

The difference is Primary and Secondary display.

When you boot the laptop, it is the Primary display. When you plug in the monitor, it becomes the Secondary display. You can move the displays around in the configuration panel, from left to right, but that doesn't change Primary and Secondary display status.

You "moved" the menu bar to the Secondary display, so when you unplug it, of course it will disappear. Mint is not going to move it back to the Primary for you.

And, unfortunately, I know of no way to have the bar appear on both displays. I use Ubuntu as well, and with the Unity desktop, you can mirror the navigation bar on both displays.

As to which display is the default for opening apps, others have asked this as well, and from what I read, it depends on the app. If it has setting to change its default to the Secondary display, it will do that; otherwise, by default, it will open on the Primary display.

At least, this has been my experience.

Thanks, I'll look at the command again once I plug it into the large display and set the laptop as Primary.

[vinoman]

from here
http://alessiodellamotta.com/2013/02/15/how-to-change-primary-display-on-linux-mint-14-cinnamon/

in terminal

List your displays:

xrandr -q

Select your primary:

xrandr --output <display_name> --primary

worth a try..

I set my laptop LVDS1 as primary, but when I plug in the vga plug and open the chrome browser it opens on the laptop and not the large display! Isn't there anyway to use the laptop as the harddrive and use the larger display as I did in windows 7? This doesn't work at all. The dual display function in Mint 15 needs work! How do you open a browser in the large display? it should open in both.

Does MATE desktop handle dual screens better? Maybe this is a Cinnamon problem I'll install MATE if it does!

[vinoman]

I've now found out how to make it work. In display settings I set the large display to on, then hit apply and then the whole desktop showed up on the large display and the laptop went black. When I unplug the vga plug the display comes back up on the laptop.

[Dis93]

Excellent! maybe change the title to solved?

[mastapat]

from here
http://alessiodellamotta.com/2013/02/15 ... -cinnamon/

in terminal

List your displays:

xrandr -q

Select your primary:

xrandr --output <display_name> --primary

worth a try..

this is just what i was looking for! Worked perfectly for me

[vinoman]

I've now found out how to make it work. In display settings I set the large display to on, then hit apply and then the whole desktop showed up on the large display and the laptop went black. When I unplug the vga plug the display comes back up on the laptop.

I year later I have installed Mint 17 w/cinnamon and I having that same problem, but this time I can't get it to display properly on the large display. Is there something different to do with Mint 17 ?

[brmccarty]

Being this is a different OS I would start a new thread.

[nasair]

I've now found out how to make it work. In display settings I set the large display to on, then hit apply and then the whole desktop showed up on the large display and the laptop went black. When I unplug the vga plug the display comes back up on the laptop.

I year later I have installed Mint 17 w/cinnamon and I having that same problem, but this time I can't get it to display properly on the large display. Is there something different to do with Mint 17 ?

What do you mean "properly"?