I have a relatively minor configuration problem with my multi-monitor system that has been bugging me for years now.
My desktop computer has three monitors connected to it. The center and right monitors are always on when I'm using the desktop, whether I'm working or watching videos/gaming, etc. The left screen however is a bit of a special case because it has a higher (4K) resolution but also a much higher latency. I have it rotated 90º and I only turn it on from time to time when I need to display files vertically, like debugging long source code, reading manuals/ebooks, etc., as it otherwise affects graphic performance and also distracts me.
The problem is that every time I turn the left monitor on I need to reconfigure configure it using the NVIDIA X server settings. Moreover, even though the MATE panels stay on the primary display (center monitor), all the desktop folders and icons shift place 1080 pixels to the left, likely because inserting the monitor resets the +0+0 coordinate origin from the center screen to the left one.
I have tried a number of solutions over the years, playing with different absolute/relative positions, changing the left monitor X coordinate to a negative value, and trying different xorg.conf setups manually, but nothing has worked so far.
I am at the time running Ubuntu MATE 22.04 with the latest NVIDIA proprietary drivers (525.60.13) and up-to-date NVIDIA tools, etc., but like I said, I've had the same issue for a while, with older versions of Ubuntu and Xorg, and other graphic cards, including ATI.
Here is my current Xorg.conf, should it help diagnosing the problem:
# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 525.60.13
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig: version 515.65.01
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout0"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection
Section "Files"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "Ancor Communications Inc ASUS VE278"
HorizSync 24.0 - 92.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 85.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "Stereo" "0"
Option "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-2"
Option "metamodes" "HDMI-0: nvidia-auto-select +1080+0, DP-3: nvidia-auto-select +3000+0, DP-4: 1920x1080 +0+0 {rotation=left}"
Option "SLI" "Off"
Option "MultiGPU" "Off"
Option "BaseMosaic" "off"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
This is not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but I find it hard to believe people occasionally plugging their laptop to an external monitor or projector has had to deal with similar issues for years with no practical workable solution existing out there. I am sure there must be lots of people out there who dynamically alternate between different multi-screen configurations for any number of different use cases.
The funny thing is, should I have this monitor placed to the right, the autoconfig system would probably just do what I expect, which only makes the problem so much more annoying.
TL;DR switching third monitor on/off requires manual X reconfiguration and moves desktop icons around
