Linux @lemmy.ml Jediwan @lemy.lol 6 mo. ago

Changing PC settings if laptop is docked/a second monitor is connected?

I have a laptop that spends some of it's time docked to a monitor and keyboard/mouse. I would like to know how to change some settings depending on if it's connected to the dock or not. Is there a program that can help with this?

Some possible use-cases include:

Changing size of the taskbar to smaller/bigger
Changing the behavior of the taskbar to auto-hide
Changing the font size smaller/bigger
Changing power settings performance/battery saver
Enabling/disabling auto brightness
Enabling/disabling keyboard backlight

These are just a few things I can think of but can provide more.

Something like Android's Tasker but for Linux would be great.

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22 comments

Udev rules and a bash script
- I'm a bit (maybe a lot) of a noob to Linux
  
  What are Udev rules and bash scripts?
  
  A bash script is like a shell script in Windows. It is a text file that runs multiple commands in order. As if you opened the terminal and typed them in yourself.
  
  Udev rules I need to learn about but based on context I have to assume it's a tool for running scripts when specific events happen (like a monitor being plugged in)
  
  indeed udev rules will monitor devices and on device change a action can be set, what desktop manager are you using? udev quick how to guide / a more in-depth
  
  I've also got to thank you for those guides
  
  I'm going to use the hell out of Udev now that I know it exists
  
  I’d suggest editing these scripts with a tool like VS Code so you can remember exactly what you did.
  
  Half the fun of fixing my code later is trying to figure out what the hell I was thinking when I wrote my code lol
  
  You might also be interested in cron/crontab. You can schedule scripts/software to run at specific times of day, week, month, year etc.
  
  Also if you want to learn more about the linux command line, three super useful commands for you are 'man', 'help' and 'apropos'.
  
  man followed by a command, like 'man find' will show you the manual pages for the command 'find', showing you how to use it.
  
  In some cases man wont work for some commands, in those cases try 'help theCommandThatDidntWorkWithMan'.
  
  apropos followed by a query like 'apropos network' will show you any commands that have 'network' in their short description to help you find commands that you might want to use for something.
  
  I'm using GNOME thanks that link looks helpful
  
  gnome might be tricky to interface with over shell commands, and sadly i use sway so i am limited with advice, checking ubuntu forums would be a good start for you though.
  
  I never knew that was called bash, not sure how I missed the name up to this point lol
  
  And Udev sounds like something I'm going to get a hell of a lot of use out of given my love of Tasker on Android (basically have it set to do specific things when certain triggers occur (like connecting or disconnecting to or from specific Bluetooth devices, reading specific NFC tags, etc)). I just never thought of trying to set something up like that on my desktops.
  
  bash is one of many ways to interface with linux from shell/terminal, it is what you use to install updates in terminal and can be used to create scripts for automation.
  
  udev is like an admin tool, udev rules allows a user to apply rules to systems, like if keyboard is removed launch x-application.
  
  Google is helpful when you have questions 😉
  
  It seems that you need to read up on the basics of Linux if you don't know what a bash script is.
  
  Asking others for help is also useful when you have questions. 😉
  
  Yeah, if you feel like waiting for an answer when you could easily do it yourself in two seconds.
  
  Google is helpful when you have questions
  
  Haha, what's it like living in 2012 still?
  
  You just suck at searching for stuff apparently.
  
  Astounding, apparently you can counter the findings of this paper which proves beyond reasonable doubt that google is progressively getting worse when it comes to returning reliable and accurate search engine results.
  
  https://downloads.webis.de/publications/papers/bevendorff_2024a.pdf?ref=404media.co
  
  I'm sure the scientific community would be really glad to see the evidence you have to the contrary, I'll even peer review your paper for you, let me know when you have a draft ready.
  
  Just because it's becoming less useful doesn't mean it's useless. I search for stuff every day and can find the answer I'm looking for in under a few minutes.
  
  You know what? That is actually some sound reasoning and I think that is an acceptable response.
  
  I intended my original comment to be more a a shot at google than yourself, but I can see why you came back with what you said as a result, and then I got salty about it so I apologize.
  
  Apology accepted 🙂
  
  Google gets a lot of hate, and they, as a company and as a search engine have gotten worse over the years, but they still do a lot of stuff right. I never took it personally, just giving an example.
- Thanks. I know my way around bash scripts but I guess it's time to learn Udev rules. Are you aware of any examples I can find online?

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