This is the documentation of LiLaSS, a tool to setup screens on a Linux-powered Laptop.
LiLaSS is targeted for a specific use-case: The laptop is used both with the internal screen only, and in combination with a single external screen. xrandr is used to detect whether an external screen is plugged in, and to change the configuration according to the user's specification. Furthermore, LiLaSS remembers the configuration used for any particular screen, so that it can offer the same configuration next time. You can even make it apply that configuration automatically.
LiLaSS features an interactive and a batched mode of use. Either way, if LiLaSS is started while no external screen is connected, it enables the internal screen.
It is in the case that an external screen is plugged in that the two modes differ.
Simply run lilass to start the interactive mode. A window will pop up,
allowing you to select which screens are enabled, their resolution, and how they
are positioned relatively to each other. The option --frontend (or -f) can
be used to choose the frontend which opens the window. Currently, the frontends
qt (using Qt5), zenity and cli are available. LiLaSS attempts to choose
an adequate frontend automatically.
If a screen is connected that was already configured with LiLaSS before, the
previously selected configuration will be offered per default. You can pass
--silent (-s) to instead suppress the UI altogether, and just apply the
previous configuration. You can disable the use of the stored screen
configurations by passing --no-db.
Furthermore, you can also suppress the UI in case LiLaSS sees a new screen by
telling LiLaSS directly what to do with that screen: With the flags
--internal-only (-i) and --external-only (-e), one of the two screens is
picked and the other one disabled. With --relative-position (-r), the
relative position of the two screens can be set (left, right, above,
below or mirror). In either case, the preferred possible resolution(s) of
the screen(s) will be picked if applicable. (In mirror mode, LiLaSS instead
picks the largest resolution that both screens have in common.)
If the internal screen ends up being the only one that is used, LiLaSS attempts to turn on your backlight if it was disabled.
In combination with x-on-resize by Keith Peckard, LiLaSS can be run automatically when a screen is plugged in, and automatically re-enable the internal screen the external one is plugged off. As LiLaSS remembers the screen configuration that was used last time, this automatic mode will use the previous configuration if the same screen is connected again.
All this is achieved by running the following on log-in:
x-on-resize --config "lilass -s -r mirror" --start
Of course, instead of -r mirror, you can pick a different default
configuration applied to screens that have not been seen previously. By dropping
this option altogether, LiLaSS will instead pop up and ask what to do when a new
screen is connected.
You can use ~/.config/lilass.conf to tell LiLaSS which are the names of your
internal and external connectors. These are the names as used by xrandr. The
option internalConnector gives the name of the xrandr connector corresponding
to your internal laptop screen. All the others will be considered external
screens, unless you use the option externalConnectors to provide a
(space-separated) list of connectors to be considered external by LiLaSS. Any
connector not mentioned in either option will be completely ignored.
You can find the sources in the
git repository (also available
on GitHub). They are provided under the
GPLv2 or (at your
option) any later version of the GPL. See the file LICENSE-GPL2 for more
details.
If you found a bug, or want to leave a comment, please send me a mail. I'm also happy about pull requests :)