Redshift: Redshift with Bumblebee?

[hjweide]

I recently installed Bumblebee on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS so that I can connect my second monitor to my laptop by means of an HDMI cable. However, now Redshift no longer dims the external monitor, but only the laptop screen. With Bumblebee disabled and using a VGA cable everything works fine. This seems like the opposite of #23. Is there any way to have Redshift run on both monitors? Thanks!

Here is the output of xrandr:

Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 3520 x 1214, maximum 32767 x 32767
LVDS1 connected primary 1600x900+0+314 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 382mm x 214mm
   1600x900       60.3*+
   1440x900       59.9  
   1360x768       59.8     60.0  
   1152x864       60.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VIRTUAL1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1024x768       60.0  
   1360x768       60.0     59.8  
   1152x864       60.0  
   VIRTUAL1.641-800x600   72.2  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   VIRTUAL1.644-680x384   60.0  
   VIRTUAL1.645-680x384   59.8  
   640x480        59.9  
   VIRTUAL1.647-512x384   60.0  
   VIRTUAL1.648-400x300   72.2  
   VIRTUAL1.649-320x240   60.1  
VIRTUAL2 connected 1920x1080+1600+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
   VIRTUAL2.651-1920x1080   60.0* 
   VIRTUAL2.652-1920x1080   59.9  
   VIRTUAL2.653-1920x1080   50.0  
   VIRTUAL2.654-1920x1080   60.1  
   VIRTUAL2.655-1920x1080   60.0  
   VIRTUAL2.656-1920x1080   50.0  
   VIRTUAL2.657-1680x1050   60.0  
   VIRTUAL2.658-1600x900   60.0  
   1440x900       59.9  
   VIRTUAL2.660-1400x1050   60.0  
   VIRTUAL2.661-1280x1024   75.0  
   VIRTUAL2.662-1280x1024   60.0  
   VIRTUAL2.663-1280x800   59.8  
   VIRTUAL2.664-1280x720   60.0  
   VIRTUAL2.665-1280x720   59.9  
   VIRTUAL2.666-1280x720   50.0  
   VIRTUAL2.667-1152x864   75.0  
   VIRTUAL2.668-1024x768   75.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   VIRTUAL2.669-800x600   75.0  
   800x600        60.3  
   VIRTUAL2.670-720x576   50.0  
   VIRTUAL2.671-720x480   59.9  
   VIRTUAL2.672-640x480   75.0  
   640x480        59.9  
   VIRTUAL2.673-640x480   59.9  
VIRTUAL3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

[duelle]

I have a Lenovo T530 that has an integrated GPU (Intel HD4000) and a dedicated GPU (Nvidia NVS 5400). The screen of the laptop itself and the VGA port on the laptop are connected to the Intel GPU and all other ports (e.g., DVI, DisplayPort) are connected to the Nvidia GPU.
My xrandr output looks quite similar to the one above and I am experiencing the same issue:
The monitors connected to the Intel GPU are "dimmed" correctly while those connected to the Nvidia GPU stay "bright". I tried many variants of settings (e.g., xrandr, vidmode, .. as "Methods") but none affected the monitors on the Nvidia card.

[borkaz]

Hi, just my 2 cents - I had the same issue with my ASUS N56VZ (Intel HD4000) i.e. redshift works on my laptop (xrandr LVDS1) display but not on the external HDMI (connected to the Nvidia Geforce 650M). I managed to make it work by simply running "DISPLAY=:8 redshift". DISPLAY :8 is setup for intel-virtual-output.

[hjweide]

Thanks @birq! That command allows me to run redshift on my external monitor, but it introduces two new problems.

1. The cursor on the external monitor remains bright. It seems like the only known solution is to switch to software cursors. See https://github.com/jonls/redshift/issues/11.
2. More strangely, it seems to have broken my caps-lock key. I've swapped caps-lock and escape with setxkbmap -option "caps:swapescape" for easy escape-key access in vim, but now whenever I press caps-lock the indicator light toggles (same for escape).

I can tolerate the first issue (don't really use the mouse), but the second is highly annoying. I'll report back if I can discover the cause of this strange behavior.

[haarp]

Hi, just my 2 cents - I had the same issue with my ASUS N56VZ (Intel HD4000) i.e. redshift works on my laptop (xrandr LVDS1) display but not on the external HDMI (connected to the Nvidia Geforce 650M). I managed to make it work by simply running "DISPLAY=:8 redshift". DISPLAY :8 is setup for intel-virtual-output.

This is not perfect either, as redshift-gtk cannot be used then. It would try to attach to a panel on DISPLAY=:8, which of course is only a dummy display server driving outputs. The main panel on the regular :0 DISPLAY would be unused.

Ideally, one redshift instance on :0 should be able to handle multiple DISPLAYs, which would solve this problem very nicely. Would adding such an option to e.g. the randr method be worth a consideration, @jonls ? It's already possible to set the screen and multiple crtcs. Thanks!