I once tried to use my notebook screen as a second monitor… never managed to figure out how to do it. A standard VGA cable just didn’t seem to do the trick, and Google failed to point me to the solution.

My work setup is exactly the same, except that my main is the laptop display while my 19″LCD monitor is secondary. :P

And I didn’t know ctrl+L jumps to the address bar in FF. Been using alt+D for a long time now, but ctrl+L seems more natural.

@Samuel Weston: Well, I do like the idea of a tiling window manager… But I tend to feel more at home in traditional KDE.

@freelancer, @Dr. Azrael Tod and @Ian Clifton: : It is possible in KDE too – via the virtual desktop pager.

Also, I’m still running Gutsy so I’m like…. Two versions behind on Ubuntu now? I will be 3 versions behind like next week or so. If Gnome has it, the newer version of KDE might already have this feature.

I really should upgrade it but I sort of just know it will break something important and I will have to spend hours fixing it – in the meantime I need that laptop to work for… Well, work.

Yeah, you can move maximized windows across screens in Gnome without a problem. If you drag it relatively close to the top of the other screen, it will snap into place as a maximized window, but you can actually drag it to any point (even staying on one screen).

The taskbar isn’t an issue for me, but I’ve got two customized taskbars and my screens are directly against each other, so I essentially use them as one huge screen. I did notice that issue in OSX, since you look at the main screen for the menu of a particular app. That can be a bit of a pain though there’s probably a fix or workaround.

@Dr. Azrael Tod: I was just going by what Luke said. I have no experience with Linux and multiple monitors myself ;)

Btw, in Windows Vista you can drag maximized windows between different monitors (Vista 1 – Linux 0? ). There’s also an application called UltraMon which can, among other things, give you a taskbar for each monitor which only shows the applications on that monitor. It’s not free though.

uhm.. im using gnome and am able to drag maximised windows from one screen to another.. if i move them just to the top they will stay maximised and if i move them lower they become smaller.. pretty usefull.
So this point is more like a Vista 1 – Linux 1.1 *g*

Taskbar on multiple Screens is no problem too.. i just have to create another taskbar, since there could be infinite (ok, i never hit it and never will but there probably will be a limit) taskbars with elements which ever you like.

the only thing i still miss is that gnome doesn’t remember the layout of multiple taskbars if i manually switch between multiple screen-numbers.
I would need it every day, cause i enable and disable the second monitor on my notebook every day when switching between home and work.
Its just one drag/drop-operation per day.. but its still annoying.

I’ve used two monitors with my main computer for well over a year now, and it’s worked very well. Probably because I use no virtual desktops. I can see how that might cause problems. Mainly I just use the second monitor for IRC, but it’s also very handy when developing or writing reports. Sometimes I even feel like I need three monitors. I feel crippled when I have to use one…

Btw, in Windows Vista you can drag maximized windows between different monitors (Vista 1 – Linux 0? :P). There’s also an application called UltraMon which can, among other things, give you a taskbar for each monitor which only shows the applications on that monitor. It’s not free though.

I currently use the ‘awesome’ window manager under Linux. And while it is a bit of a pain to configure (the config file is written in a language called lua), it deals with multiple monitors the way I think they should be dealt with. I’m not sure it’ll suit you, as a KDE kind-of-guy but the way it deals with monitors is great :) http://kimag.es/share/91044657.png

@Chris Wellons: LOL! Up until now, I was totally convinced that his name was Artwood. I don’t know why. I guess my brain assumed that an “r” should be there for some reason.

@Dr. Azrael Tod: Yeah, I know about the Lite, but it doesn’t always work the same.

@Matt`: Heh, there is an extension for everything it seems.

There’s a Firefox extension, “Duplicate Tab” that would cut the process for tearing off a tab down to.

1. Right click on the tab
2. Choose “detach tab” from the Duplicate tab menu
3. Drag
4. Drop

Also lets you duplicate a tab in the same window, or copy it to a new window. I quite often use it when I know I’m about to spawn a lot of new related tabs from one thing I have open, and don’t want them cluttering up my main window. Dupe the parent tab to a new window and open away…