Launcher placement can be achieved via System Settings -> Displays or via command line.
GUI way
Under System Settings -> Displays find the Launcher placement option
Command line way
The placement is determined by two things:
- Which monitor is the primary ?
- What value is set in
/org/compiz/profiles/unity/plugins/unityshell/num-launchers
dconf schema.
The dconf
schema is very easy. Value 1 indicates one launcher, value 2 indicates multiple launchers (i.e., place it on all screens) . You can alter that with
dconf write /org/compiz/profiles/unity/plugins/unityshell/num-launchers INT`
or
gsettings set org.compiz.unityshell:/org/compiz/profiles/unity/plugins/unityshell/ num-launchers INT
where INT
is either 0 or 1.
The xrandr
command will tell you what monitors are connected and what is your current primary screen. It will also allow setting and unsetting that with --primary
flag.
$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 2390 x 768, maximum 32767 x 32767
eDP1 connected 1366x768+1024+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 345mm x 194mm
1366x768 60.0*+
1360x768 59.8 60.0
1024x768 60.0
800x600 60.3 56.2
640x480 59.9
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VGA1 connected primary 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 60.0*
800x600 60.3 56.2
848x480 60.0
640x480 59.9
VIRTUAL1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
In the output above I have my external VGA1 screen set as primary , hence launcher will show up there.
For instance, if I wanted to use my build-in monitor as primary, then
xrandr --output eDP1 --primary --right-of VGA1
And the launcher will jump from left screen ( VGA1 ) to my right screen, while preserving the layout.
For more info, read xrandr and dconf man pages.