I have a question with regard to a multiple monitor setup.
I'm currently primarily a Windows user, but I've been running Ubuntu in dual boot to get a feel for it. The one thing I find lacking that will (I feel) force me to choose Windows over any Unix system for general use is the seeming lack of adequate support for multiple taskbars (or panels, as they're referred to in Ubuntu) on multiple screens.
I've googled, I've searched here, I've read every old forum post I could find, and found information numerous times that suggest I should be able to move panels from one screen to another. Now, this might sound silly, but they won't move to my secondary screen. I can add, remove and move around panels on the main screen, but they'll never drag to the secondary screen. Even if I could drag panels across screens correctly, this doesn't necessarily solve my problem anyway:
On Windows I use Ultramon. I get two displays, and a secondary taskbar that shows windows/tasks specific to that second screen. I'm looking for something similar, or as close to it on Unix; supporting Ubuntu would be preferable but I could always switch to something else (my important stuff is all in Windows right now).
Is there a Unix application available (free or not) that will provide multiple monitor panels/taskbars? Or alternatively, is there a way to hack in similar functionality?
Best Answer
This isn't a direct answer to your question, but you might want to take a step back and consider why you want this feature. It may be because you are used to working in a particular manner under Windows, but you might find that Linux offers a different way to approach your tasks, which could be much more efficient and may not even require a taskbar!
For example I use the Awesome window manager, which allows me to perform all window management via the keyboard. Moving windows around, switching between programs, even moving windows between monitors can all be done via keyboard shortcuts. Using 'tags', windows can be linked to shortcut keys as well. So one keypress switches to my two Firefox windows (split screen on one monitor) and another keypress switches to Thunderbird on another monitor. Because of this, having a taskbar is not really necessary. Although having said that, by default you do get a taskbar on each screen!
Anyway, my point is that before you spend too much effort making your new environment work the same way your old one did, consider why you are moving away from your old environment in the first place!