I recently migrated to Manjaro using the architect .iso and installed the kde-plasma interface.
I have nothing to complain about the distribution if not for this problem I face:
If I install the Nvidia proprietary driver the entire screen composition is broken (I believe it is a problem involving dpi and edid although I’m not sure) and if I do not install it I cannot make my secondary monitor work at the correct resolution without blinking.
if i install the nvidia driver the secondary monitor works at its native resolution and refresh rate, and using Option UseEdidDpi False and Option DPI 96 x 96 partially solves the dpi-scale-composition problem
and post some more information so we can see what’s really going on. Now we know the symptom of the disease, but we need some more probing to know where the origin lies…
An inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --no-host --width would be the minimum required information… (Personally Identifiable Information like serial numbers and MAC addresses will be filtered out by the above command)
There is an issue with Hi-DPI screens and if the difference between the internal monitor and external monitor is too high, the workaround is to change the offending display’s resolution to something that works.
For this, we need the output to xrandr to calculate what the “ideal” resolution is for both screens.
P.S. If you enter a bit more details in your profile, we can also see which Desktop Environment you’re using, which CPU/GPU you have, …
My primary monitor is a samsung P2270HN and my secondary monitor is a W1943C, when I install the Nvidia driver the secondary resolution is 1368x768 and it works perfectly … But it breaks the screen composition.
In the future, when providing code/output, please copy-paste that output in-between 3 backticks ``` at the beginning and end of the code/text so that the output looks like this:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.
Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.
Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
instead of like this:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.
(as that makes our life much easier so you get helped more quickly and efficiently)
No need to do anything right now as I’m an editor here on this site and have fixed it for you already. However, in the future I might not see your post so review my edits by pushing the orange pencil above the post I just fixed.
you forgot the xrandr output: that gives resolution and size…
on my left (VGA-1)W1943C 18,5’’ 1360 x 768 (runs better on 1368x768) @ 60Hz h 30 ~ 61 kHz v 56 ~ 75 Hz
right in front of me (HDMI-1) P2270HN 1920x1080 @ 60
both 16:9
I’m currently using the free driver with the secondary monitor in a 4: 3 resolution so that it doesn’t blink
Will it only support 1368x768 with nvidia drivers?
Is there a way to save the resolution setting (modeset) of the nvidia driver and use it on the free drive?
How is workaround to solve the dpi problem you said?
So basically what you do is to look in the Video standards comparison chart and take resolutions that would give you the same size square on both monitors at the highest possible refresh rate and that’s it!
The solution is independent of graphics card / driver and gives the best *consistent user experience; (Yes, you don’t use both monitors at the highest resolution, but it’s more comfortable to work with until you can afford identical monitors)
But i am curious and didn’t understand exactly what’s going on, could you please explain to me? On Linux Mint Cinnamon with Nvidia’s proprietary drivers I can use the 2 monitors in their native resolution (I haven’t tested the Manjaro with Cinnamon yet).
Why can’t I change my secondary screen to a native resolution using KDE + Noveau?
For what reason if the two screens are at their native resolutions with the proprietary drivers the system breaks KDE composition?
Is it a problem with X? Video card drivers?
There is no way to make the system work by forcing a DPI or something?
I was a Linux Mint user previously and I loved using Manjaro, I intend to stay here xD But I would like to have my 2 screens in their native resolution (would even be inclined to buy a new video card if it solved the problem).
That’s what you’re doing right now and will also be doing when you use the resolutions I gave you above:
VGA-1 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 60.00*
HDMI-1 connected primary 1920x1080+1368+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 160mm x 90mm
1920x1080 60.00*+ 50.00 59.94 30.00 25.00 24.00 29.97 23.98
These are their native resolutions, unless I don’t understand what you’re talking about.
Please explain because whatever xrandr gives as output is native. Are you wanting to add custom resolutions???
If I use Windows or Linux Mint Cinnamon with proprietary Nvidia drivers the Samsung monitor remains at 1920x1080 but the LG monitor on my left changes to 1368x768 (the native resolution).
At the moment I have 2 choices: Continue with the perfect screen composition but with the monitor on the left in a broken resolution (both of them looks horrible outside the native resolution), or install the proprietary Nvidia driver and leave my monitor at 1368x768 and break the KDE screen composition.
Using those settings to force the dpi partially solve the problem (but not completely and some things like the login screen are broken, resized icons is horrible too).
I’ve tried using addmode to try to put the monitor on the left at its native resolution(1024x768>1368x768), it didn’t work with free driver (the proprietary driver already goes automatically).
I was wondering if there is a way to save the proprietary driver’s “modeset” settings for the secondary monitor to use with noveau or if there is a way to force the dpi or solve the broken composition problem on the proprietary driver.
This broken composition error seems to happen only with KDE (even in other distributions).
What I didn’t understand is why KDE works perfectly with noveau, however noveau does not recognize the resolution of my secondary screen correctly but if I install the proprietary driver the screen will switch to the native resolution but KDE will break.
I think I partially understand your problem now. Don’t forget that nouveau is open source so this is probably a bug: if it detects a VGA port, it goes to VGA modes only instead of SVGA modes. Have you tried the standard framebuffer driver if you don’t game? (I.e. video-linux or video-modesetting instead of nouveau or nVidia?
cvt 1368x768
gtf 1368x768
xrandr --newmode
xrandr --addmode VGA-1…
the ones to set custom resolution and stuff
as in the image above, all elements start to flash and are badly sized.
The thing is… KDE with the noveau works flawlessly here!
If I could save the timings / modeset used by the nvidia driver and use them just to keep the secondary monitor at its native resolution in the modeset-driver it would be very good.
edit:
Now that I have installed the proprietary driver the monitor is in its native resolution but KDE is still broken and I will probably have to reinstall the system again to resolve (if you zoom in on the screen elements, you can notice some flaws between them) …
My initial idea was to save the timings somewhere as it is now, reinstall the system without installing the proprietary drivers and just use the native resolution’s timings… I have no idea what this KDE incompatibility with nvidia might be, wayland ?
Which Theme are you using? (Looks like a theme bug: try Breeze2) If that doesn’t resolve the issue: create a new user and log in there and see if it happens there too.
System Settings
Type Monitor
Click Display Configuration
Set all these parameters to what I have (or higher)
Any theme, and it’s not just the theme, vlc and gimp are broken too
same but no 75hz option here, if the global scale is 100% everything gets messed up like the screen above (too big). putting on 125% makes it smaller (yeah… i know)
Welcome to Manjaro! 
?
are better than mine! 
