Losing monitor preferences on restart
#1
I've got XBMC running on an old Macbook. My TV is connected via HDMI and shows up on my Macbook as monitor #2. XBMC is set so the TV is the primary monitor (Fullscreen # 2 option). So far, all is well.

However, if I restart the Macbook without the TV on, all is lost.

The Macbook doesnt see the TV any longer, and reverts to one-screen mode. XBMC launches but doesnt see the configured monitor either, and resets me to windowed mode in monitor 1.

Boo.

How do I set OSX (and/or XBMC) so I know that when I turn my TV on XBMC will be running fullscreen in monitor 2, even though the Macbook may have been rebooted since the last time the TV was on?
Reply
#2
The way XBMC works currently is that it must see all available displays when XBMC starts up. If a display becomes available after XBMC is open, XBMC doesn't know that it's there.
Reply
#3
Thanks for this reply. This is a real impediment to using XBMC as a media center, because it seems to imply that either

- the tv must be left on 24 hours a day, or
- the computer running XBMC must be rebooted every time XBMC is used, or
- the computer must be manually re-set (system preferences for monitor, then restart xbmc) every time it's used

Surely there must be a way to initiate an OSX machine and XBMC so it always keeps the previous configuration? Advancedsettings.xml?
Reply
#4
Eh? If you quit XBMC, connect an external display, launch XBMC, then XBMC should use the second screen if that was how it was set up before. You certainly don't need to reboot the computer or even go into system preferences every time.
Reply
#5
What you're saying is, after a reboot i will need to turn on the tv, quit out of xbmc, relaunch xbmc?

Didn't we invent computers to eliminate that kind of drudgery? Anyway that set of instructions will never pass a girlfriend test.

Also, it doesn't seem to be true. I just did what you said and the first time it worked but when I quit out and restarted XBMC again it came up windowed in monitor 1 instead of fullscreen monitor 2.
Reply
#6
Computers were invented to do calculations for artillery during WW2.

XBMC was invented to be a media center on a dedicated HTPC, rather than being used on a second monitor on a laptop that, for some reason, reboots all the time for no apparent reason.

I have no idea where you are going with all this, but when I use XBMC on my laptop, and I want it to be on a TV, I do this:

Step 1. connect laptop to TV.

Step 2. Turn XBMC on.
Reply
#7
I understand that my tone may have come across as strident and my goals nonsensical. I'm sorry for that.

However I am simply trying to build, as you said, a media center on a dedicated computer.

Where I am going with this:

I'm just trying to arrive at a fully-automated boot sequence for an OSX based machine that will guarantee it's always running XBMC fullscreen on my TV.

Right now I'm unable to get this to happen, due to the problem that started this thread.

Can we just ignore the fact that my dedicated computer happens to be a laptop? Because that's only relevant to me in that it's the OSX based machine I happen to have lying around.
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
Losing monitor preferences on restart0