How to move multiple screens in Preferences under Previous 3.9

[ZombiePhysicist]

I have a 3 NeXTdimension setup running in Previous 3.9 and it's running pretty great! Thanks @andreas_g.

However, for whatever reason I'm having 2 issues.

First, my mouse is not "locking" inside the previous windows, it is both inside the previous windows and visible in macOS simultaneously and makes it a bit tough to navigate. It used to auto lock inside the window and then you control-click or something like that to get out.

Second. I cannot seem to move the screens inside the OPENSTEP 4.2 Preferences.app > Display panel. I just want to arrange them in a 2x2 grid, but it seems such all in a row as below:


I would think all you have to do is click on the screens inside the Multiple Screen Layout panels and drag them around, but it wont let me click and drag them. Yet I can drag and move the scrollers around and click on the individual screens and push the Locate button and all that works. Is there some trick to it?

Thanks for any pointers

[ZombiePhysicist]

I was thinking of just finding the settings for this in preferences and I did a:

Code Select Expand

dread -l >mysettings
I looked through and didnt see any settings related to screen positions. Also weird, I found this entry in the dread output:

Code Select Expand

Preferences LayoutOrder "Expert DefaultsSystem Time NIST Sound Monitor Canna WindowDepth Mouselagic GMouseScsler Mouse Keyboard Localization PowerManagement FontSearch Fonts Services Menu Password FSSoundPanel MusicKitPrefs PaperType FSAutoLaunch FSSimpleBackup DBPWPreferences"

What's weird about that the first 2 items in the Preferences.app are "Startup Preferences" and "Multiple Screen Layout Preferences" and neither of them show up in that above list. Weird.

Does this have to happen as root perhaps?

[ZombiePhysicist]

Figured it out and got it to work! NOT OBVIOUS.

First, the auto mouse click feature does not work if you enable Previous's right-click and auto scroll for some reason. Only if you disable both does your cursor auto lock into the emulator screens. @andreas_g is this a bug or a feature? Or it might be that you have to enter lock in via the megapixel Previous display and not the next dimension windows?

Second. When I boot the 3 next dimensions the login in screen icon appears in NeXTdimension in slot 2. For whatever reason, you cannot move/arrange the screens when the login icon is in that screen. By moving it to the grayscale megapixel display, and reboot, then when you boot back in, you can just drag the screen arrangement around.

Now I'm making a KeyboardMaestro.app macro that will move all my 4 Previous screens into one big glorious screen just like I always dreamed! Hooray!

[ZombiePhysicist]

So I made a simple macro to just move windows next to NeXTdimension screen in slot 2. I ordered my screens in a 2x2 grid as such:

2 4
6 MP

Where MP is megapixel display.

The macro is below. After you hit the macro it's all in a nice tile. The only problem is hitting the macro somehow unlocks the cursor from Previous and when you click to get back in into the Megapixel display, it brings the macOS window title bar stacked above the other windows as I show in the attachment.

@andreas_g is there a chance we could add a feature to make the windows not have any title bars for such multi screen use?

[ZombiePhysicist]

Confirmed the previous bug. If you select both right click and scroll options in Previous.app then the auto lock into the MegaPixel (only) window does not lock the cursor in macOS.

[andreas_g]

Confirmed the previous bug. If you select both right click and scroll options in Previous.app then the auto lock into the MegaPixel (only) window does not lock the cursor in macOS.

It is intended behaviour that the "control-click is right-click" and "auto-lock" features cannot be enabled at the same time. There would be a conflict if not: The mouse cursor would be unlocked every time you do a simulated right-click.

Therefore if you enable the "control-clock is right-click" feature auto-locking will be automatically disabled. You can lock and unlock the cursor using the shortcut ctrl-alt-M instead.

The scrolling option should not have any effect on auto-lock.

@andreas_g is there a chance we could add a feature to make the windows not have any title bars for such multi screen use?

I'll check if I can create an option to remove the title bar.

[kokomuck]

So I made a simple macro to just move windows next to NeXTdimension screen in slot 2. I ordered my screens in a 2x2 grid as such:

2 4
6 MP

Where MP is megapixel display.

Brilliant!
Thanks for that, really interesting. Just one question: What resolution does your screen have that you can have 4 screens as shown above?

All the best,
Kokomuck

[ZombiePhysicist]

I have a lot of spare pixels! From our other thread in hardware:

https://nextcommunity.net/forums/index.php?msg=11

TLDR 8k display is my primary. But you should be able to see/fit it on any 4k screen

[ZombiePhysicist]

I'll check if I can create an option to remove the title bar.

Thanks so much!

[kokomuck]

I have a lot of spare pixels! From our other thread in hardware:

https://nextcommunity.net/forums/index.php?msg=11

TLDR 8k display is my primary. But you should be able to see/fit it on any 4k screen

Fantastic!!

[andreas_g]

andreas_g is there a chance we could add a feature to make the windows not have any title bars for such multi screen use?

I added a shortcut to hide the titlebar (T). Try the latest branch_softfloat (SDL2) or branch_filesharing (SDL3).

[ZombiePhysicist]

Thank you so much @andreas_g !