Gaps forming on edges of screen

[nickistre]

(1) Issue/Bug Description: When in tiling mode, it seems that there is a gap that forms around the edges of the screen over time when I step away from my system and come back to it (perhaps during screen blanking time, but this has proven difficult to reproduce easily other than "step away for a while". I'll try to include screenshots of what I was seeing in comments later). Note that this gap is around the edge of the screen (and between the toolbar and windows), but not between windows themselves.

This seems to be happening for months now, but it's been simple enough to fix (toggling tiling mode off then on will eliminate this gap, and I've just discovered that opening a new app on a blank workspace will also reset this gap on all workspaces.)

So far, I am able to replicate this with a USB-C->DisplayPort cable to the external monitor. Using an HDMI->HDMI does not seem to have these issues.

(2) Steps to reproduce (if you know): I'm not sure how to exactly reproduce this issue, but I can specify my configuration just in case:

I'm running multiple monitors on this Adder WS (2019/1st gen). The laptop screen is set to 1920x1080@120Hz, and the external screen is set to 3840x2160@60Hz and plugged in via USB-C -> DisplayPort cable. This happened whether the "Gaps" setting is at 0 or 1, but I've not heavily tested other values. I do have active hint turned on. I'll try working with that off to see if that makes a difference after I get some initial screenshots. (UPDATE: Active hint doesn't affect this)

I don't remember noticing this if i had just the laptop screen or the external monitor running, but I'll try to make a better effort to notice in these situations.

(3) Expected behavior: No gaps beyond what is being set in the "Gaps" setting around the screen edges.

(4) Distribution (run cat /etc/os-release):

VERSION="20.04 LTS"
ID=pop
ID_LIKE="ubuntu debian"
PRETTY_NAME="Pop!_OS 20.04 LTS"
VERSION_ID="20.04"
HOME_URL="https://pop.system76.com"
SUPPORT_URL="https://support.system76.com"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://github.com/pop-os/pop/issues"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://system76.com/privacy"
VERSION_CODENAME=focal
UBUNTU_CODENAME=focal
LOGO=distributor-logo-pop-os

(5) Gnome Shell version: 3.36.3

(6) Pop Shell version (run apt policy pop-shell or provide the latest commit if building locally):

  Installed: 0.1.0~1602257816~20.04~6fb9b76
  Candidate: 0.1.0~1602257816~20.04~6fb9b76
  Version table:
 *** 0.1.0~1602257816~20.04~6fb9b76 1001
       1001 http://ppa.launchpad.net/system76/pop/ubuntu focal/main amd64 Packages
       1001 http://ppa.launchpad.net/system76/pop/ubuntu focal/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

(7) Where was Pop Shell installed from: Installed with Pop!_OS 20.04.

(8) Monitor Setup (2 x 1080p, 4K, Primary(Horizontal), Secondary(Vertical), etc): Primary: 1080p, horizontal. Located on bottom half of left-edge of secondary monitor. Latop monitor. Secondary: 4k, horizontal. External monitor connected via USB-C -> DisplayPort.

(9) Other Installed/Enabled Extensions: (Typing down from "Extensions" section in Gnome Tweaks):

• Alt tab: raise first window
• Always show workspaces
• Clipboard Indicator
• Desktop icons
• Gsconnect
• Nasa apod wallpaper changer
• Nothing to say
• Pop battery icon fix
• Pop shop details
• Removable drive menu
• System76 power
• Ubuntu appindicators
• Weather in the clock
• System-monitor

(10) Other Notes: This is a pretty minor annoyance with a simple workaround fix, but it's been happening everyday to me (a gap forms when I leave the system alone to go eat lunch, and if i leave the system running overnight).

With USB-C->DisplayPort, the monitor seems to blink or change modes several times when being woken up compared to with the HDMI->HDMI connection. I'll try to dig in the log in both cases to see if there's any differences between them.

I will try to acquire and test with miniDisplayPort -> DisplayPort and USB-C -> HDMI

[nickistre]

I just came back from lunch, and woke up my system to this. You should be able to see the small gap showing between the edges of the screen (and the toolbar) and windows. I have the shell settings showing Gaps being set to 0, and there are zero gaps between windows.

[nickistre]

Updated description to show that this does not seem to occur if I use an HDMI->HDMI connection to the external monitor. So far, I only have an USB-C->DisplayPort cable otherwise that has this occurring.

[emirror-de]

Hi there, I am experiencing the same issue. I have an external 4k Monitor connected via USB-C <-> USB-C. After screen blank for a certain amount of time, the gaps show up. After disabling and enabling the tiling mode, they disappear. But the tiling order of the windows is lost which is annoying. I am on Debian testing, with additionally having KStatusNotifierItem/AppIndicator Support extension enabled.