Switching Desktop Environments - taskbar across monitors

[t-ray]

I posted this on another forum, but it got no traction, so i am posting it here.

Currently running Mint14+Cinnamon. It appears that Cinnamon cannot stretch the taskbar across multiple monitors. It may seem silly, but I think this just might be a killer for me. So now I'm on the looking for other DE's that will support such functionality. I'm a linux newbie, so I just don't know.

And this leads me to the next question. I installed Mint after I installed Cinnamon, and now I have duplicate applictions: for example, there are two System Monitors, two Archive Managers, two Calculators, etc... I have removed Mate (I thought), but the duplicate apps remain. So, how do I remove these duplicate apps? And more importantly, if I install another DE, is this going to happen again?

 

[lxskllr]

I can answer question 2. I don't use dual monitors, so I have no experience. When you add desktops, you generally get another set of packages that cover routine system tools. You can pick and choose portions of DEs so you don't get a bunch of extras, but sometimes they're tied tight to extra packages. Gnome is good for that, and I think KDE is also. With KDE you'd probably want to switch to their tools, as they integrate better with the windows/taskbar.

You could go with a window manager, and that wouldn't add a bunch of applications. OpenBox, with lxpanel would give you a Gnomish experience without adding a lot of new programs. It might be a little stripped for your taste though. It doesn't have a lot of "stuff" like Mate or Cinnamon.

To remove the apps you don't want, hunt them down in Synaptic, or whatever you use, and remove them. There may be dependencies with some programs you want to keep, so pay attention when you remove them, or you could lose other stuff. You could also remove them fro the menus, but keep them installed. It'll use disk space, but you wouldn't see them. To check program names if it isn't obvious, open the programs and look at the About menu. That should tell you what the program is called.

 

[mv2devnull]

It appears that Cinnamon cannot stretch the taskbar across multiple monitors.

Your X configuration. What do you have there? In principle, the DE should not know about physical display devices. X gives DE a logical screen to draw on.

 

[t-ray]

Thanks for the feedback. You've confirmed my assumption that I would have to manually remove traces to these other apps. That's the only thing that's keeping from trying other DE's.

I don't *want* to try another DE just for the sake of exploration. I just miss the stretched taskbar from my Windows days. I've read that some other DE's can achieve this functionality... so... I don't know. I guess I'll just live with what I have now.

This is a real live work machine that I use for development all day every day. I don't have much time to tinker with it at the moment. I guess I can try a live cd of another DE over the weekend or something.