Dual-monitor set-up -- How can I rotate one monitor's view to portrait?

qajaq · 10-17-2008, 02:03 PM

I've recently installed Fedora Core 9 (x86-64), and downloaded the nVidia driver that allows me to use dual monitors. The monitors are (1) a ViewSonic VA1930wm, as primary, and (2) a ViewSonic VA520, connected to a dual-monitor PCI card (PNY Verto GeForce FX5200 dual-VGA). I have been using these monitors in a WinXP system with the VA520 turned to vertical (90 degrees CCW). However, I have not found anyplace in the nVidia Display Settings that allows me to do that in Fedora. Any ideas?

hlingler · 10-18-2008, 09:17 AM

You can do this with the xrandr command-line utility (much safer than the nvidia-settings utility anyway). See: man xrandr.

V

qajaq · 10-18-2008, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hlingler

You can do this with the xrandr command-line utility (much safer than the nvidia-settings utility anyway). See: man xrandr.

V

Thanks for the lead -- it looks as though that might be the command I need, I read the manpage, and I ran xrandr -verbose for further guidance. Both of them appear to indicate that the command I need to run is something like:

xrandr --output <output> --rotate right

...where "output <output>" (according to the manpage) selects an output to reconfigure, using either "the name of the output or the XID." I made the assumption that "<output>" was to be replaced by the name or XID, and that the angle-braces were not to be used in the actual command. Correct me if either of those assumptions is wrong.

The manpage doesn't give me a clue (nor could I find one elsewhere) what exactly is meant by "the name . . . or the XID." The nVidia display manager (Applications > System Tools > Display Settings) identifies the monitor that I wish to change as "CRT-1 - (ViewSonic VA520-2)" so I tried using the following permutations of the command line:

xrandr --output CRT-1 --rotate right
xrandr --output 'ViewSonic VA520-2' --rotate right

Neither command had any effect at all on the display, either immediately or after re-booting.

I could use some further guidance on using this command, if anyone has further knowledge of it.

hlingler · 10-18-2008, 05:50 PM

All correct, except for the "output" designator. The designator is shown with the output of xrandr -q:

Code:

~]$ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 175, current 1280 x 960, maximum 1280 x 960
default connected 1280x960+0+0 0mm x 0mm
[...]

You should see TWO screens. Choose which one to rotate, and:

Code:

xrandr --output Screen[0 OR 1] --rotate right

Type the command as either Screen0, or Screen1, no brackets. If that syntax fails, try Screen 0 (space between).

V

P.S. If you're running KDE desktop, krandrtray gives a nice systray GUI to manage this stuff.

qajaq · 10-18-2008, 08:16 PM

I tried that to no avail. The system appears to make a critical distinction between a "screen" and an "output" (or monitor). The manpage for xrandr gives the following notice under the "-screen snum" argument:

"Note this refers to the X screen abstraction, not the monitor (or output)."

The "X screen abstraction" is the whole video display, stretched across both my monitors, which is simply "Screen 0". The two monitors are apparently identified as "outputs" and each is a subset of the single "Screen 0".

What I need to learn is either (a) how to gain control (specifically, to rotate) one of those monitors ("outputs") independently of the other, or (b) how to split the video output into two "Screens", each corresponding to one of my monitors.

bsmith121 · 10-25-2008, 11:55 AM

Maybe this example will help ...

Here's the output of xrandr -q on my machine. It's one virtual screen spread across two monitors.

Code:

xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2304 x 768, maximum 2304 x 768
VGA-0 connected 1024x768+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 312mm x 234mm
   1024x768       85.0*+   85.0     75.1     75.0     70.1     60.0  
   832x624        74.6  
   800x600        85.0     85.1     72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2  
   640x480        85.0     85.0     75.0     72.8     75.0     60.0     59.9     60.0  
   720x400        85.0     70.1  
   640x400        85.1  
   640x350        85.1  
DVI-0 connected 1280x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 370mm x 222mm
   1280x768       59.9*+
   1280x720       75.0     60.0  
   1024x768       75.1     75.0     72.0     70.1     60.0  
   832x624        74.6  
   800x600        72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2  
   640x480        75.0     72.8     72.8     75.0     66.7     60.0     59.9  
   720x400        70.1  
S-video disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

And this is the code I use to set one of my screens to 1280x768:

Code:

xrandr --output DVI-0 --mode 1280x768 --right-of VGA-0

qajaq · 10-26-2008, 09:58 AM

This is what I see when I run xrandr -q:

Code:

Screen 0: minimum 2464 x 900, current 2464 x 900, maximum 2464 x 900
default connected 2464x900+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   2464x900       50.0*

qajaq · 10-26-2008, 10:22 AM

While poking around in /etc/X11, I found an xorg.conf.rev-nvidia file that has the same sort of format as the plain xorg.conf file. I made a backup copy of the original xorg.conf, then copied the nvidia version to overwrite xorg.conf.

When I re-booted, the system would boot only as far as the command-line log-in screen. And whether I logged in with my ordinary user-name or as root, I could not get the GUI. I tried running startx and got the following messages:

Quote:

Fatal server error
Caught signal 11. Server aborting

giving up
xinit: Connection refused (errno 111): unable to connect to X server.
xinit: No such process (errno 3): server error

After recopying the original xorg.conf back into place, re-booting, then trying the nvidia revision again, I logged in (at the CLI) as root and tried running xrandr -q and got the message:

Quote:

Can't open display

The xorg.conf.rev-nvidia file looks like this:

Code:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder58)  Thu Jul 17 18:39:42 PDT 2008

# Xorg configuration created by livna-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Default Layout"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" 1440 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    ModulePath      "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules/extensions/nvidia"
    ModulePath      "/usr/lib64/xorg/modules"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "AIGLX" "on"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# keyboard added by rhpxl
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
    Option         "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "ViewSonic VA520-2"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 62.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 75.0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "ViewSonic VA1930wm-3"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 82.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 75.0
EndSection

Section "Device"

# Removed Option "TwinView" "True"
# The second option -- "True" -- was added 10/18/2008 in an attempt to get individual control of two monitors.
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce FX 5200"
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
    BusID          "PCI:4:6:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce FX 5200"
    BusID          "PCI:4:6:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard1"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT-1: 1024x768 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

I don't have a clue why this file is creating the fatal error when the plain xorg.conf allows the GNOME desktop to work. Any ideas?

jason102 · 11-22-2008, 01:59 PM

Hi, I'm going to dig this up again. Anyone have any more success stories doing this?

I have one 1680 x 1050 display and a smaller 1024 x 768 LCD panels. I'm thinking about getting another wide screen monitor to replace my smaller square one.

However, I'd first like to attempt flipping the screen on my smaller panel so I know it can be done before investing in a brand new display.

The output I get when using the xrandr -q command is:

Code:

xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 2704 x 1050, current 2704 x 1050, maximum 2704 x 1050
default connected 2704x1050+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   2704x1050      50.0*

I have 2 screens but it only shows the one above. I installed my graphics drivers using EnvyNG, the Nvidia software, including the Nvidia X Server Settings manager. I have the dual screen setup working fine, but I'd love to be able to do this and flip the right monitor.

Anyone with a similar configuration and similar xrandr -q output get this to work?

NOTE: Basically I have 1 virtual desktop which spans across both screens. Perhaps that's why it shows only 1 screen...?

mlmckaig · 07-27-2009, 06:18 AM

It seems this thread has been dead for a number of months, but I am trying to accomplish the same setup as qajaq and jason102. Has anyone been able to configure 1 monitor landscape and the other portrait?

I have been reading a number of Linux boards looking for a way to do this but haven't found it yet. The instructions in this post http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=26747 allowed me to rotate my entire virtual screen, which effectively rotated the display on both monitors. I would like to be able to rotate just one Monitor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jason102

Hi, I'm going to dig this up again. Anyone have any more success stories doing this?

I have one 1680 x 1050 display and a smaller 1024 x 768 LCD panels. I'm thinking about getting another wide screen monitor to replace my smaller square one.

However, I'd first like to attempt flipping the screen on my smaller panel so I know it can be done before investing in a brand new display.

The output I get when using the xrandr -q command is:

Code:

xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 2704 x 1050, current 2704 x 1050, maximum 2704 x 1050
default connected 2704x1050+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   2704x1050      50.0*

I have 2 screens but it only shows the one above. I installed my graphics drivers using EnvyNG, the Nvidia software, including the Nvidia X Server Settings manager. I have the dual screen setup working fine, but I'd love to be able to do this and flip the right monitor.

Anyone with a similar configuration and similar xrandr -q output get this to work?

NOTE: Basically I have 1 virtual desktop which spans across both screens. Perhaps that's why it shows only 1 screen...?

I am running Mint 7 Main Edition. Here is the output of xrandr -q

Code:

mint ~ $ xrandr -q
Screen 0: minimum 2960 x 1050, current 2960 x 1050, maximum 2960 x 1050
default connected 2960x1050+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   2960x1050      50.0*

I appreciate any help anyone can offer.

jason102 · 07-27-2009, 11:15 PM

Hi, you can find a solution by reading the 2 pages of this thread in the Ubuntu Forums (see post #4):
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=976120