I have a laptop (LVDS display) and an external monitor (VGA-0 display). When I am working with many windows and I really need to see them in parallel (and the laptop's screen width is too small for that) I am using the external monitor too.
This suppose to set up a dual monitor using the xrandr (x11-apps/xrandr), something like:
#!/bin/bash
MONITOR_LIST="VGA-0,LVDS" # from left to right, exactly as they are physically positioned on your desk
MONITOR_TO_SWITCH="VGA-0" # comma-delimited list of monitors you want to switch off/on
#XRANDR_INFO=`xrandr -q` # query the xrandr about monitor status; store the result into variable, we'll use it multiple times
# return monitor name if is on, otherwise nothing
function is_monitor_on()
{
xrandr -q|awk '{if (index($0," connected")>0) mon=$1; if (mon!="" "" index($0,"*")>0) print mon}'|awk '/'$1'/'
}
# return the xrandr option required to switch ON the monitor(s) that are switched OFF
function monitor_output_str()
{
result=""
prev_monitor=""
for m in $(echo $MONITOR_LIST|awk 'BEGIN {RS=","} {print}');do
result="$result --output $m --auto"
if [ "$prev_monitor" != "" ];then
result="$result --right-of $prev_monitor"
fi
prev_monitor=$m
done
echo $result
}
# loop through each monitor to be switched and turn it on (if is off) or vice-versa
for m in $(echo $MONITOR_TO_SWITCH|awk 'BEGIN {RS=","} {print}');do
result=$(is_monitor_on $m)
if [ "$result" = "$m" ];then
xrandr --output $m --off
ICON="network-transmit.png"
STATE="off"
else
$(xrandr $(monitor_output_str))
ICON="network-transmit-receive.png"
STATE="auto"
fi
notify-send -i "/usr/share/icons/Tango/48x48/status/$ICON" "Monitor switch" "Monitor $m was switched $STATE"
done
Note: don't forget to set the script as executable (eg chmod +x dualmon)
The script will also print-out a balloon notification (via libnotify) so we'll be informed about which monitor was turned on/off:
For another workstation where I use also a multi-monitor setup, I've adapted the above script as following:
- when I press the Win+F1 key combination I want 1st monitor turned off
- when I press the Win+F2 key combination I want  1st monitor turned on
- when I press the Win+F3 key combination I want 2nd monitor turned off
- when I press the Win+F4 key combination I want  2nd monitor turned on
- when I press the Win+F5 key combination I want all monitors turned off
- when I press the Win+F6 key combination I want all monitors turned on, on a specified order from left to right
The script looks like the one bellow:
#!/bin/bash
# DP1=HP monitor; is positioned on the left
# VGA1=DELL monitor; is positioned on the right
MONITOR_SETUP="DP1,VGA1" # from left to right, exactly as they are physically positioned on your desk
ICON_RES="scalable"
ICON_EXT=".svg"
# Print the script help syntax
function print_syntax()
{
echo -e "Usage : $0 [OPTION]...nStarts|stops the "$MONITOR_SETUP" multi-monitor setup or just turn on|off a specified display.n"
echo -e "Mandatory arguments to long options are mandatory for short options too.n"
echo -e " -c tturn on|off either the predefined multi-monitor setup or when -d is used then the specified display"
echo -e " -d tspecify the display to start|stop (run xrandr -q to see the display names);nttttwhen -d is not used then the multi-monitor setup "$MONITOR_SETUP" is used instedn"
echo "Report bugs to "
}
# Check for sufficent args
if [ $# -lt 2 ] ; then
print_syntax;
exit 1;
fi
# Read the options/arguments from command-line
while getopts c:d: flag; do
case $flag in
c|command)
COMMAND=$OPTARG
;;
d|display)
MONITOR=$OPTARG
;;
?) echo "Invalid option: $flag";
print_syntax;
exit 2;
;;
:)
echo "Option -$flag requires an argument.";
print_syntax;
exit 3;
;;
h) print_syntax;
exit 0;
;;
*) print_syntax;
exit 2;
;;
esac
done
case $COMMAND in
auto|off)
STATE=$COMMAND
;;
*)
print_syntax;
exit 4;
;;
esac
function set_monitor_state()
{
m=$1 # 1st arg. indicates the monitor name
MONITOR_STATE=$2 # 2nd arg. indicates the requested monitor state (auto|off)
OPTIONS=$3
CMD="xrandr --output $m --$MONITOR_STATE"
MSG="Monitor $m was switched $MONITOR_STATE"
if [ -n "$OPTIONS" ];then
CMD="$CMD --right-of $OPTIONS"
MSG="$MSG on right of $OPTIONS"
fi
$($CMD)
case $MONITOR_STATE in
auto)
ICON="network-transmit-receive${ICON_EXT}"
;;
off)
ICON="network-transmit${ICON_EXT}"
;;
esac
notify-send -i "/usr/share/icons/Tango/${ICON_RES}/status/$ICON" "Monitor switch" "$MSG"
}
# if the monitor has been specified then set its required state
if [ -n "$MONITOR" ];then
set_monitor_state $MONITOR $STATE
else
prev=""
# if no monitor was specified then loop throughout monitor list and start|stop them
for m in $(echo "$MONITOR_SETUP"|awk 'BEGIN {RS=","} {print}');do
if [ -n "$m" ];then
set_monitor_state $m $STATE $prev;
if [ $STATE = "auto" ];then
prev=$m
fi
fi
done
fi
All I had to do in order to switch multi monitor was to define 6 keyboard combination for commands like:
- dualmon -c off VGA0
- dualmon -c auto VGA0
- dualmon -c off DP1
- dualmon -c auto DP1
- dualmon -c off
- dualmon -c auto
Now, if you think that this article was interesting don't forget to rate it. It shows me that you care and thus I will continue write about these things.
The following two tabs change content below.
Eugen Mihailescu
Founder/programmer/one-man-show at Cubique Software
Always looking to learn more about *nix world, about the fundamental concepts of math, physics, electronics. I am also passionate about programming, database and systems administration. 16+ yrs experience in software development, designing enterprise systems, IT support and troubleshooting.
Latest posts by Eugen Mihailescu (see all)
- Dual monitor setup in Xfce - January 9, 2019
- Gentoo AMD Ryzen stabilizator - April 29, 2018
- Symfony Compile Error Failed opening required Proxies - January 22, 2018