I had a setback this week with my hardware. I was filling out unemployment documentation on my multi-display desktop while searching for remote work-from-home careers and suddenly my primary (left) display began flickering off and on. Then I heard a hissing, crackling sound, and could smell burning/smoke from the display. It looks like the capacitors were failing. This was the last thing I needed in the midst of my unemployment, especially when I'd need the home setup working to work from home in the future.
I unplugged it for safety, then drove from thrift store to thrift store all over the city trying to find a matching 22" 1080p 16:9 display with DVI or DisplayPort inputs. The largest monitors at the thrift stores I found were 19" WXGA+ displays.
So I bit the bullet and ordered a 10-year old used 1080p monitor off of eBay. I got it for $55 after tax with free 2-day UPS shipping within my same state and they accepted returns if I had issues.
I wasn't familiar with the differences between DVI-I And DVI-D so I feared I had accidentally ordered a display which wouldn't work with my hardware, but thankfully it was a match. I just had to set the input mode, confirm the 1080p resolution configuration in Ubuntu, swap the orientations of the left and right displays, and set the new device as the primary display to get my sidebar to appear at the left side. I tweaked the brightness and contrast, (sadly I no longer have a SpyderX Colorimeter to calibrate my displays for print output), and it looks like I'm back in action.
Hopefully the new-used display lasts me a good few years.
