Re: Separate virtual desktops for different monitors



On Tuesday 03 March 2015 08:03:52 Pavel Kretov wrote:
Most non-tiling window managers (if not all of them) combine all
available monitors into single virtual screen space which gets switched
as the whole thing when user changes virtual desktop, exactly as the
specification says. But there exist at least two tiling managers, namely
i3 and xmonad, which employ the different concept: they allow user to
setup own set of virtual desktops for each of monitor. (Mac OS X has a
similar feature too.)

Unfortunately, such a behavior is not a part of the specification, so
both i3 and xmonad actually use a single virtual desktop and manage
windows in some custom way, which, for example, makes unusable any
third-party desktop switchers. But I'd line to see such a behavior in
mainstream window managers too, so are the questions:

— Are there any chances this become a part of standard?

I think there is a chance to get it part of the standard, but given that most 
"mainstream window managers" are working on Wayland currently I wouldn't 
expect that they will implement support for it. On Wayland it is just an 
internal detail to the window manager.

— If yes, what can I do for this to happen?

You need to prepare a change to the spec. The tricky part here is to keep 
backwards compatibility. We must expect that some applications do "smart" 
things like stopping video playback if they are not on the current desktop. 
(That's the main reason why KWin didn't go the road i3 went: we cannot break 
existing applications).

Cheers
Martin


Sorry if this topic has been already discussed, I've searched through
the mailing list archive, I swear :).
——— Pavel Kretov.

P.S.

This kind of setup may be very convenient in practice. There is my
typical i3 usage pattern, just for example.

External monitor (1920x1080):
  — desktop 1: IDE                           (Meta+1)
  — desktop 2: terminal                      (Meta+2)
  — desktop 3: browser with stackoverflow    (Meta+3)
  — desktop 4: mail program                  (Meta+4)
  — desktop 5:                               (Meta+5)

Laptop monitor (1280x800)
  — desktop 6: browser with documentation    (Meta+6)
  — desktop 7: man pages                     (Meta+7)
  — desktop 8: music player                  (Meta+8)
  — desktop 9: messenger                     (Meta+9)
  — desktop 10:                              (Meta+0)

So the larger monitor is used for main work while the smaller one is
left for some supplementary tasks. For example, I can switch from IDE to
terminal without loosing access to documentation, or switch to messenger
and ask a friend about the code while being able to see IDE. And
everything is quickly accessible by using hotkeys.
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