Monitor Input Source

A cinnamon applet that allows you to change the input source your monitors are using.

This applet is now available in the cinnamon-spices-applets repo meaning it can be found in the "Applets" tool under the "Download" tab from the cinnamon desktop settings and at the following URL:

https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/applets/view/382

If you like this applet, please go to the above link and "Like it" so that more people might learn of it's existence. Also, the more likes it gets the more encouragement I'll have to continue working on it. Thanks!

Perfect for people who have two computers connected to different input sources on a monitor. Quicker and easier then reaching for the buttons on the monitor

This applet uses ddcutil to communicate with your monitor and send commands that will change the current input source that the monitor is using. This allows you to quickly change the input source for all monitors connected to your PC.

Features

Change the input source for each monitor attached to your PC with just 2 mouse clicks
Checkmark icon on input menu items to indicate which input source is currently active
Setup quick actions to switch monitor inputs with a signle click on the panel icon

How to define a Quick action

Open the menu (left click). Click on the desired input source using one of the following mouse butttons (with or without modifier keys):

Middle, Forward or Back mouse buttons
Shift or Control keys and any mouse button
Shift and Control keys and any mouse button

Once a quick action has been defined, the tooltip text for the panel button will show all the active quick action options

Requirements

The ddcutil package must be installed for this applet to operate correctly. It's recommended that ddcutil 2.0 or better is installed for optimial ease of use and performance, but older versions will work fine if you follow the instructions below.

sudo apt-get install ddcutil

If your package repository does not currently offer ddcutil 2.0 or better (i.e. Linux Mint 21.2 at the moment) then you will need to add your user to the i2c group and then logout and back in again for the change to take effect:

sudo groupadd --system i2c  #If the group does not exist yet

sudo usermod -G i2c -a $USER

See: https://www.ddcutil.com/i2c_permissions/

Even better, install ddcutil 2.0:

See: https://www.ddcutil.com/install/

or build from the source:

https://www.ddcutil.com/building/

Once properly setup you should see information about your monitor(s) when running this command:

ddcutil detect

If you get errors running that command, you might get some clues about what is wrong by running:

ddcutil environment

Installation

For the latest development version:

Clone the repo (or Download the latest repo by clinking on the green "code" button above then click "Download ZIP")
```
git clone https://github.com/klangman/MonitorInputSource.git
```
If you downloaded a ZIP, decompress the zip into a directory of your choice
```
unzip ~/Downloads/MonitorInputSource-main.zip
```
Change directory to the cloned repo or the decompressed ZIP file
Link the "MonitorInputSource@klangman" directory into the "~/.local/share/cinnamon/applets/" directory
```
ln -s $PWD/MonitorInputSource@klangman ~/.local/share/cinnamon/applets/MonitorInputSource@klangman
```
Right click on the cinnamon panel that you wish to add MonitorInputSource to and click "Applets"
Select the "Monitor Input Source" entry and then click the "+" button at the bottom of the Applet window
Right click on the cinnamon panel and use "Panel edit mode" to enable moving the applet within the panel
Right click on the cinnamon panel and disable "Panel edit mode"

Feedback

Please, if you find any issues, feel free to create an issue here on Github. Thanks!

klangman / monitorinputsource Goto Github PK