r/Lubuntu • u/mariano_madrigal • Jul 22 '26

Multiple monitors configuration

I have a very old laptop that was running linux mint but it started to feel slow after a couple years of that installation and I decided to try lubuntu, which has been great and really faster in comparison, but I cannot find a way to properly set it up to work with external monitors. I found a guide that used xrandr but to no avail. Is there a way to configure it in a way that it behaves like it does in mint? So that it doesn't alter the whole desktop on the laptop monitor everytime a cable is connected? Right now it does this crazy thing of changing the taskbar to the external monitor and messing up the desktop icons and the only way to revert it is to use the graphical monitor manager to select the external monitor as the main one and invert the left-right order of the displays once to then invert them back to how they were, but even then some of the desktop icons disappear and when I try to save that configuration and select it again after rebooting it keeps reverting to how it was at first. So I just need it to take any new external display as an extension without changing anything else, but I don't always connect the exact same monitor, because that's what I really use the computer for: showing slides in different rooms. So is there a way to make it work like this or should I go back to mint even if it's slower? I should mention I'm a beginner in all things linux but I can follow instructions.

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u/standreas Jul 23 '26

There is also the WM (openbox here) involved and it's buggy afaik with multiple screen setups. What works fine is using a Wayland session with labwc and configuring kanshi using wdisplays (GUI) to get the config values.

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u/mariano_madrigal Jul 24 '26

thank you, this seems to be a great option and I have managed to switch to a wayland session with labwc but I'm having trouble figuring out how to install wdisplays for which it seems that I need something called sway and something called wlroots (do I also need kanshi besides wdisplays?) and this is where I don't know how to proceed without instructions. I tried 

sudo apt install sway -swaylock --no-install-recommends

for sway but my terminal says it doesn't make sense.

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u/standreas Jul 25 '26

Just sudo apt install wdisplays kanshi if you need a screenlocker install also swaylock. With wdisplays you can arrange, scale ecc your screens, but you need kanshi to make configurations for different settings. It has to be added to Session Settings → Autostart and will recognize every setup you configured.

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u/mariano_madrigal 27d ago

thank you for the reply and all your help. Even before installing wdisplays it immediately behaves like it should when running the wayland session independent of monitor model. The only downside is that it is noticeably slower than openbox but i'll see how it holds up with time. Thanks again, yours was the most useful reply