I, like many others, have been getting worn down by Microsoft’s awful changes to Windows over the years, and I finally said enough is enough and moved to Linux.

I had a little linux experience beforehand due to my work, but this is my first time using it as my main OS. I am still very much a noob when it comes to linux.

So far it’s been great though. I am running Linux mint.

I am having 2 issues I can’t seem to solve, though. The taskbar (or I guess as Linux is calling it, the Panel) was only on one monitor rather than both. I managed to put a second one on my other monitor, and I enabled the “show windows from all workspaces” option on both panels. But it isn’t behaving like I have come to expect using the Windows one.

For example, both panels have the icon for Firefox. If I have Firefox open on my main monitor, and click the firefox icon on my second monitor’s panel, it just opens a new window instead of bringing the existing firefox window into focus.

An example of why this annoys me that sometimes I am playing a game that is full screen, and the flow i have over a decade of experience with is that i could click that firefox logo on the second monitor to bring up the window i already have open.

Is it possible to just have 2 identical panels that function the way the taskbar does on windows?

I am willing to switch from cinnamon to a different DE if thats what it takes. I tried installing xfce, but it seems like the issue is exactly the same there too. Not sure if switching to a different DE will help.

Or is the solution to just use a different applet than the default one in the panel?

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this, this is the only linux forum I am aware of.

EDIT: Strangely, it seems like this issue is only occurring on the second monitor. If an application is open on the second monitor, but I click the icon on the first monitor’s panel, the behavior I want happens, it just puts the existing window in focus. Not sure why that is, the applets on both panels are identical as far as I can tell.

  • jjsca@infosec.pubOP
    2·
    5 months ago

    Oh my god. CobiWindowList just completely solved my issue. You are my hero. Thank you so much for this.

    I don’t want to piggyback with an unrelated issue, but i have one other linux issue I am wondering if you can help with.

    I have 2 monitors on my desk, and a big TV on the wall on the other side of the room. I have an HDMI cable running along the wall to connect it to my computer. I rarely use the TV, I only turn it on when I want to play games in bed / not actually at my PC.

    I have it disabled in Linux and that works as expected. However, I have noticed that that “setting” doesn’t kick in until I have passed the login screen. And for some reason, on the login screen, it really wants the powered off TV to be the primary display. So when I am on the login screen, I can’t actually see the login prompt.

    I am wondering if there is a way to make that display stay disabled always unless I manually enable it. Or an alternate fix, make the correct monitor be the primary display while on the login screen.

    • yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.mlEnglish
      2·
      5 months ago

      Have you found the display settings in Cinnamon? There should be a way to toggle primary screens similar to what you’re used to on Windows (perhaps w/ some quirks).

      I also used Linux Mint with Cinnamon for several years, but it’s more than a year since I’ve switched to Fedora, so my memory’s a little fuzzy.

      • jjsca@infosec.pubOP
        2·
        5 months ago

        Yes, I did that immediately on loading into the OS for the first time. I set the correct one as my primary display, and disabled the one I don’t want it to use. It works fine when logged in, but i suspect it isn’t loading those settings until it gets into the user account and thats why it isn’t respecting what I set.