Battlestations

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Ultrawide or multi-monitor setup? (self.battlestations)

submitted 11 months ago by casualhippo to c/[email protected]

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I have a two monitor set up going right now hooked up to a dual display KVM switch. Sadly, a recent power outage has caused some finicky behavior in either my KVM or my secondary monitor, since it comes in and out. Will get around to debugging my setup once I have some time this holiday season, but I was also debating on switching to a single ultrawide monitor setup. I'm a software engineer by trade, and I get the most use out of the second monitor while working. However, when I'm doing literally anything else, the second monitor just tends to be Spotify, discord, or some background video or podcast.

What's your preference? Anyone switch from one to the other? How do you use your setup?

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I’m also software engineer, and I prefer double or triple monitor setup. I need to have the variability to have different information on each monitor, and flipping between multiple virtual desktops as I need.

Just better maintainability for me.

[–] casualhippo 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yeah its 100% nicer when you can work on one monitor and have info on the other instead of flipping back and forth on the primary. But there's a certain appeal to having just a huge single monitor... Think it would free up some table space and could keep my gaze more centered. I use ubuntu + i3 for both work and play so I'm wondering if a huge monitor could provide enough visual real estate to keep the convenience of two monitors. If I was using Windows or Mac I'd probably be more inclined to stick to dual monitor

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I've not used a ultrawide before as I actually like the natural separation that the 2 or 3 monitors I have brings, it's easy for me to go "this belongs on this screen and that on the other one". I use the tilling in KDE for further breaking windows up if I'm so inclined.

But, if you're already using a tiling manager as your DE then I'd say go for the ultrawide, slightly less desk real estate and you can already get your windows exactly how you want pretty easily with i3, and you can't argue that when you play a movie or game it's going to feel impressive.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

I am a dev also, and I switched to ultrawides 4-5 years ago. Basically with larger monitor you automatically stop running things full screen/maximized, which I have used to do with 16:10/16:9/4:3 screens.

Also having ~3/4 of the width of desktop to IDE and 1/4 to browser when doing web dev is awesome.