When I plug or un plug a screen on my laptop, I want my system to Automatically detect this change and switch from a single to dual screen setup (or the opposite when unplugging the screen). Here is how I do it:
Xrandr to switch screen layout
First, you need a script that automate the layout change based on the number of screens plugged in. Here is the script I use:
#!bin/sh
# Adapt it to your hdmi or output card
HDMI=`cat /sys/class/drm/card0-HDMI-A-1/status | grep -Ec "^connected"`
if [ "$HDMI" -eq 1 ]; then
/bin/sleep 2s;
# Adapt with the output name and your user name
su -c "DISPLAY=:0.0 /usr/bin/xrandr --output HDMI1 --mode 1920x1080 --pos 1920x0 --rotate normal --output DP1 --off --output eDP1 --mode 1920x1080 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal --output VIRTUAL1 --off" "bacardi55"
else
/bin/sleep 2s;
# Adapt with the output name and your user name
su -c "DISPLAY=:0.0 /usr/bin/xrandr --output HDMI1 --off --output VIRTUAL1 --off --output eDP1 --mode 1920x1080 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal" "bacardi55"
fi
As you can see, commands are fired with my user and display specified in the command. This is because this script will be fired by the system and not within an X session so DISPLAY needs to be precised.
Launch the script when screen is (un)plugged
To achieve this, you’ll need to create an udev rule. Create the file
/etc/udev/rules.d/99-monitor-hotplug.rules and insert the following:
ACTION=="change", SUBSYSTEM=="drm", ENV{HOTPLUG}=="1", RUN+="/path/to/xrandr/script.sh"
And here you go, script should be fired when monitor setup changes :)