Hi folks,
it seems to me that the application menu button on the left edge in "Linux/Gnome" mode in the 18.1 Core release disappears when you connect a new monitor. When connecting an unknown monitor you need to redo all scaling settings, which makes sense to me, but you also need to make the menu button visible again for all users, which doesn't make sense to me. For Beginners this could be a problem I guess.
The first monitor was connected with a HDMI cable. The second monitor was first connected with a DisplayPort to HDMI cable and because it didn't work it was then connected with a DVI cable. Meanwhile the cables were both connected at the same time, so maybe the DVI connection was detected as second monitor. In the first setting, the screen was just dark with a mouse pointer, no menu to shutdown the computer, no context menu or anything.
Best.
yeah that happens on 18.x when mutter reconfigs the layout for a new display. the left menu / panel layout sometimes resets per-monitor instead of staying global.
try this:
- unplug the new monitor, set Zorin Appearance back to the Linux/Gnome layout you want, confirm the menu button is there
- plug the second monitor in again, then open Extensions (or Zorin Appearance) and make sure Zorin Menu / the left panel is enabled for that layout
- if the menu is still gone: Settings -> Displays, make the primary the screen you want the menu on, log out/in once
- last resort reset the shell panel bits: open a terminal and run
dconf reset -f /org/gnome/shell/extensions/ then re-apply your Zorin layout from Appearance (youll lose custom extension tweaks)
the dark screen with only a pointer when both DP-HDMI and DVI were connected at once is just a bad/confused output. one cable at a time until displays are stable, then add the second.