I think I’ve had the opposite experience. I use W11 for my day-job with a laptop connected to 2 monitors. It could just be the archaic painful apps that my employer uses, but it routinely moves windows to different screens if I lock the system and return a few mins later. I set the taskbar on each screen to only show the windows that are open on each screen, but often a window will be open on one screen but the taskbar icon for it is on another. To work around that I developed a routine when I return from my breaks - I move every window to a different screen, then back again, and that ‘fixes’ it - it feels so stupid to have to do this on an OS that’s built by one of the biggest companies on earth.
I think the equivalent issue on Linux might be due to Wayland and/or the desktop environment not keeping track of window positions, and there’s ample developer ‘debate’ about if/how that gets handled.
I find that restoring multiple Firefox windows is hard work, they appear randomly on one of my two screens. Also, when I open a program but move the mouse to the other screen while it’s loading, the program sometimes follows the mouse and opens on the other screen.
On KDE, kwin Window Rules will allow you to force windows onto screens, and a ton of other stuff. It’s one of the best features on Plasma that I now miss on Windows
You can just force it forever, or do “apply initially” so it just starts in a particular configuration - size, position, screen, virtual desktop, etc.
Sounds really useful. I guess there’s no equivalent on mint though? Tried to search for one just now, but then again I’m still a noob and could be looking for the wrong thing.
Still, not the first time I’ve heard about the superiority of KDE plasma. Thanks for sharing.
My workflow now has my machine connected to my displays 24/7, but years ago I had a workflow where I would take my work machine home with me and bring it back in the morning and connect it to a dock. I got so fed up with all the windows piling into the ‘main’ monitor and not remembering their locations, that I wrote a script using some tool I can’t remember now, that i’d set to a shortcut key, and it would throw the currently in focus window to the opposite monitor. Made it really fast to get to my working state where I wanted stuff. It wouldn’t work today because it was exploiting features of the X window system, so I doubt it would work in Wayland.
The problem is that discord forces itself in front of every other window I currently use on the main monitor, twice, while it starts and auto updates. Manually dragging it away once it’s open is the smaller annoyance compared to the distraction of having to switch back to my other application two times in a row. And I guess the only solution would be for it to start on the secondary monitor in the first place, so it could go and take center stage where it doesn’t annoy and distract me.
One thing i noticed windows does better is managing multiple screens.
90% of the time when i undock/dock my laptop, the windows go back to the screens they were previously on
I think I’ve had the opposite experience. I use W11 for my day-job with a laptop connected to 2 monitors. It could just be the archaic painful apps that my employer uses, but it routinely moves windows to different screens if I lock the system and return a few mins later. I set the taskbar on each screen to only show the windows that are open on each screen, but often a window will be open on one screen but the taskbar icon for it is on another. To work around that I developed a routine when I return from my breaks - I move every window to a different screen, then back again, and that ‘fixes’ it - it feels so stupid to have to do this on an OS that’s built by one of the biggest companies on earth.
I think the equivalent issue on Linux might be due to Wayland and/or the desktop environment not keeping track of window positions, and there’s ample developer ‘debate’ about if/how that gets handled.
I find that restoring multiple Firefox windows is hard work, they appear randomly on one of my two screens. Also, when I open a program but move the mouse to the other screen while it’s loading, the program sometimes follows the mouse and opens on the other screen.
I can’t for the life of me get discord to start on my secondary monitor.
But eh, you get used to it.
On KDE, kwin Window Rules will allow you to force windows onto screens, and a ton of other stuff. It’s one of the best features on Plasma that I now miss on Windows
You can just force it forever, or do “apply initially” so it just starts in a particular configuration - size, position, screen, virtual desktop, etc.
Sounds really useful. I guess there’s no equivalent on mint though? Tried to search for one just now, but then again I’m still a noob and could be looking for the wrong thing.
Still, not the first time I’ve heard about the superiority of KDE plasma. Thanks for sharing.
My workflow now has my machine connected to my displays 24/7, but years ago I had a workflow where I would take my work machine home with me and bring it back in the morning and connect it to a dock. I got so fed up with all the windows piling into the ‘main’ monitor and not remembering their locations, that I wrote a script using some tool I can’t remember now, that i’d set to a shortcut key, and it would throw the currently in focus window to the opposite monitor. Made it really fast to get to my working state where I wanted stuff. It wouldn’t work today because it was exploiting features of the X window system, so I doubt it would work in Wayland.
You could write a simple bash script that will launch it, wait for it to open, then use wmctrl to position the window wherever you want it.
The problem is that discord forces itself in front of every other window I currently use on the main monitor, twice, while it starts and auto updates. Manually dragging it away once it’s open is the smaller annoyance compared to the distraction of having to switch back to my other application two times in a row. And I guess the only solution would be for it to start on the secondary monitor in the first place, so it could go and take center stage where it doesn’t annoy and distract me.
Are you using GNOME? If so, I remember there being an extension for that.
I’m using mint with cinnamon.
I did try to look for a solution online, found other annoyed users with the same problem and no solution, and kinda gave up tbh.
Maybe I do have to switch at least the DE in order to solve this, but at the end of the day it’s really just a small annoyance.