Switch video output to another monitor from command line

So, you have two video outputs. The first is DisplayPort (eDP). The actual monitor sits on the second video output, which is HDMI. For some reason your Mate desktop sends all the panels and icons to the first output, where you can’t actually see them. The monitor shows you only pristinely clean desktop wallpaper coming from the second video output.

Solution:

• Find out what displays your system thinks it has:

  xrandr --listmonitors

  The result will be something like this:

  0: +*eDP-1 1920/508x1080/286+0+0 eDP-1
  1: +HDMI-1 1920/480x1080/270+1920+0 HDMI-1
  

• Then tell it that the second monitor is the primary one, where you want all your user interface widgets to be:

  xrandr --output HDMI-1 --primary

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