Windows won't snap or maximize properly on external display using Marco in 18.04.2

Support & Help Requests
#1

Howdy, I'm using an external display with my Thinkpad X220 and am running Ubuntu Mate 18.04.2. When managing windows within the external display, they do not function as expected when:

  • maximizing the window -- clicking on the maximize button just changes the button from the maximize window icon to the restore window icon without actually changing the size of the window or maximizing it
  • strange window snapping behavior -- when dragging windows around the screen they snap in weird ways to a couple of positions -- one about 150 pixels in from the left side of the screen and another about 1/3 from the left of the screen

This occurs when Marco Window Manager is selected. If I choose another Window Manager, such as Compiz, the windows appear to work normally. My preference is to stick with Marco as I don't need the fancy window compositing.

Is this just a bug that I need to deal with or is there something I can do to fix the behavior with Marco?

Additionally, when using Compiz, the Workspace Switcher applet doesn't display properly that there are open windows on anything but the currently selected workspace. Restarting the system fixed this.

Thanks!

#2

My guess is that your external monitor is either not the same size as your laptop screen, or the position is not quite perfectly aligned one with the other (usually the latter caused by the former). If this is the case, then this is a known bug

What's your screen size/position configuration like?

#3

The internal LCD on the laptop is 1366x768 and the external display is 1680x1050.

One thing I've discovered is that restarting the display manager (by logging out and back in) fixes the issue and then everything works properly.