Flame switches main UI to secondary monitor with dual setup

Flame Hardware Questions
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OK…I went to the dark side and decided to try dual monitors in Flame, mainly because I am planning to KMV switch between PC’s sooner or later, so I thought why the hell not and give it a try for Flame. In the end I found the dual setup somewhat unwieldy (read: very unfamiliar) so opted for using the second monitor only as the broadcast output and for now I am fine with it.

Strangely enough, after starting Flame again today, Flame apparently decided to switch primary UI to the secondary monitor - and I can’t seem to switch it back.
Research tells me that you should be able to change this in Flame Setup under the Xorg.conf tab and there should be several monitor options but all I have there is a UI Bit Depth option (see screenshot)…

I am on Flame 2023.1, RockyLinux 8.8, so what gives? I tried to fool around in the OS display settings and swapping cables and inputs, but to no avail.

Allrighty thanks happy mondays merry xmas

Xorg
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Oh gosh, it’s been a while. Try typing nvidia-settings in the terminal and opening the Nvidia settings app.

I’m away from the computer, but I think you set the primary monitor in that application.

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Hi Randy, thanks for your reply.

yeah but that’s the weird thing - my “main” monitor is already set as the Primary; and Flame just decides to start the main UI screen on the secondary all of a sudden.
When I, just for testing, assigned the secondary as primary for a while then Flame switches but then the rest of my apps and settings and wacom etc go haywire.

Besides, before the weekend everything was just fine! :wink: Or am I not seeing something??

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Hi Robert,

I don’t have an answer to your question, but I have a question about your question…
What is your setup to allow the other monitor to act as a broadcast monitor? For years we’ve used a traditional broadcast monitor getting and SDI signal from an AJA card, but I’ve never used a ‘computer monitor’ as my broadcast monitor. I’m keenly interested… could you give me the basics of it? Is your ‘broadcast’ monitor connected via Display Port to another output on the GPU? Or is it hooked up in another way? Any info is greatly appreciated!!!

Many thanks,
Naveen

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Have you tried setting the env var?

To use the primary monitor:
DL_QT_FORCE_SCREEN=0

or
To use the secondary monitor:
DL_QT_FORCE_SCREEN=1

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This has happened to me a few times. Usually actually when switching displays while Linux is running, they get swapped around. In the early days I had to reboot. Later I found the settings in nvidia-settings to reset it via software, but it wasn’t intuitive. I think there was something that the UI is not reflecting state, and you switch it back and forth or something. Has been months since it last happened. I worked out my sequence.

I share two Eizo monitors, FSI broadcast, Tangent panel and Wacom between my Linux Flame and my Windows Nuke system.

I tried KVM, but it just never worked really well. So I have a more basic yet more reliable setup.

The way I have it setup is that each monitor has a 2:1 DP switch that switch with a button press. The Wacom is on a basic 2:1 USB switch, and the FSI monitor, I have Linux go into SDI1 and Windows in SDI2, so I can switch on the monitor.

That has been solid for the last year. But when I switch I do make sure that I switch the secondary display first (going from Linux to Windows; primary first going from Linux to Windows), give it a beat to settle in, and then switch the primary display. By observing that order, I never have the problem with Flame monitors being reversed. Essentially at the moment you’re down to one display, it should be your primary monitor.

One more reason that this works better than standard KVM, because there you can’t control the order and timing.

@naveen The ‘Show viewport on 2nd monitor’ feature is insufficient for your use case? You want the second monitor actually treated as broadcast monitor?

Personally I do prefer using an actual broadcast monitor, mostly because it clarifies color management, there’s no interference by the OS or anything else. And you can keep the 2nd screen for the explorer and and other work items.

With this setup, I often also log in remotely from my other desk (Parsec for Windows) and RealNVC for Linux. That helps me avoid switching monitor if I just need to quickly look something up. I really only switch now if I’ll spend the day on Flame or some of the Windows apps.

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Where did you learn about that env variable… a bunch of us have asked for a list of all the variables available for Flame, and they say there is no list which is mind boggling.

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Hi all,

thanks so much for all your replies! I looked into it again and -for some reason- this time it worked swapping the cables from the GPU output, and then, because then the monitor left/right orientation swapped, not in the Linux display settings but in the Nvidia settings, I swapped the “Make this the primary display for the X screen” tickbox from monitor 1 to monitor 2 and hey presto - after restarting Flame it worked!

I tried swapping the GPU output before but did not try the Nvidia settings - so that must’ve been the ticket.

@jarak08 I might not have done it correctly, but setting the env var did not work.
@naveen indeed what @allklier said, you can just hook up a second monitor to the GPU output, and in the Flame Preferences under “Broadcast Monitor” you can choose between DVI/HDMI output and User Interface.

@allklier what you describe is what I want to set up in the near future - that was why I was testing it; I have a NEC monitor, but it has that exact function like you describe or so it sounds…
But the reason I set the 2nd monitor up in Flame as the broadcast monitor is that I actually don’t have a broadcast monitor - I would love to but where I am working we don’t have that typical Flame suite setup; I am on a desk island next to all the Nuke compositors so although I sometimes need Nuke and Resolve which both are working on Linux, I also need Adobe/other Windows stuff on a regular basis so I hope I can get access to a 2nd PC in the near future, and either way the second monitor is a breeze to have just for the screen real estate, and I found it handy to have an extra view output for Flame (and I can of course always toggle to UI in the Prefs).
But also having the option to remotely log in sounds handy as well. So yeah, basically your situation/setup sounds very similar to where I want to go! :slight_smile:

Again, thanks all!!

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I actually use an external switch on the Eizos: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JQDMYMY

On the back side each has a cable to the NVidia GPU on the Linux/Windows system, front side goes to the Eizo. One each per monitor. It’s a quick button push, and by doing them in the right order timing, you can get around the display switching quirks of Linux/Windows. In theory it would also allow to use one monitor for Linux and for Windows temporarily if you needed to.

The Wacom is on this USB switch: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074TYDJK2

Also works pretty well, no issues there.

Only on the FSI are the SDI ports permanently connected, because the FSI has convenient buttons to pick input from either SDI port.

Overall, not as slick as KVM, but much more stable and also not as expensive.

For the keyboard, I use a Bluetooth keyboard that connect to up to 3 systems, so I can switch with a function key which system the keyboard interacts with. That also solves the problem that modern system need a keyboard plugged in during boot. The Bluetooth adapter provides that.

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