Computer details: System76 built from ASUS vintage2 barebones motherboard. 2.2GHz AMD with 1.5GB ram. Onboard VIAchrome video chip connected to a Dell 17" LCD monitor. I just added an Nvidia MX4000 PCI card and a Hyundai 15" LCD monitor. Is it possible to use both at the same time in Linux?

First I tried SalineOS and Debian testing. Both failed.

Then I tried editing Xorg.conf (on SalineOS) using some instructions I found in the Gentoo wiki. X didn't start and I had to delete xorg.conf from the command line.

Next I tried Xorg -configure from the command line and got an error message saying the number of screens doesn't match the number of devices found. No clue what that means.

Next I booted Vector live CD. Second monitor was lit and X allowed me to move my mouse pointer over there, but it was a big jagged X instead of an arrow. No wallpaper and I couldn't click anything nor could I get a right-click menu. Again I tried editing xorg.conf which caused xserver to fail.

Finally, I installed Windows2000 (which made me feel sick, defiling my hard drive with MS). Both monitors work. I get one desktop spread across both monitors and I can move applications from one to another. Satisfied that my motherboard is capable of using both displays at the same time, I formatted the hard drive (the only know cure for MS) and re-installed Saline.

Does anyone know how to make linux use onboard video _and_ a pci video card at the same time? The two drivers involved are openchrome and nouveau.

Why guess what's wrong?
How about posting the actual messages that you got from /var/log/Xorg.0.log or Xorg.0.log.old?

1 members found this post helpful.

[ 157.238]
X.Org X Server 1.10.4
Release Date: 2011-08-19
[ 157.268] X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
[ 157.278] Build Operating System: Linux 3.0.0-1-amd64 x86_64 Debian
[ 157.288] Current Operating System: Linux linux.net 2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64 #1 SMP Tue Jul 26 10:35:23 UTC 2011 x86_64
[ 157.310] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64 root=UUID=764df010-5649-4532-9366-ec466bfc5850 ro vga=788 quiet nomodeset nouveau.modeset=0
[ 157.334] Build Date: 24 August 2011 08:53:55AM
[ 157.346] xorg-server 2:1.10.4-1 (Cyril Brulebois <kibi@debian.org>)
[ 157.376] Current version of pixman: 0.22.2
[ 157.388] Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
[ 157.412] Markers: (--) probed, (**) from config file, (==) default setting,
(++) from command line, (!!) notice, (II) informational,
(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.
[ 157.449] (==) Log file: "/var/log/Xorg.0.log", Time: Sun Sep 25 20:09:31 2011
[ 157.462] (II) Loader magic: 0x7d8500
[ 157.462] (II) Module ABI versions:
[ 157.462] X.Org ANSI C Emulation: 0.4
[ 157.462] X.Org Video Driver: 10.0
[ 157.462] X.Org XInput driver : 12.2
[ 157.462] X.Org Server Extension : 5.0
[ 157.463] (--) PCI: (0:4:11:0) 10de:0185:0000:0000 rev 193, Mem @ 0xfb000000/16777216, 0xc0000000/134217728, BIOS @ 0x????????/131072
[ 157.463] (--) PCI:*(0:5:0:0) 1106:3108:1106:3108 rev 1, Mem @ 0xd0000000/67108864, 0xfd000000/16777216, BIOS @ 0x????????/65536
[ 157.463] List of video drivers:
[ 157.476] nouveau
[ 157.488] intel
[ 157.500] openchrome
[ 157.513] fbdev
[ 157.525] vesa
[ 157.537] (II) LoadModule: "nouveau"
[ 157.537] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/nouveau_drv.so
[ 157.537] (II) Module nouveau: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 157.537] compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 0.0.16
[ 157.537] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[ 157.537] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0
[ 157.537] (II) LoadModule: "intel"
[ 157.537] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/intel_drv.so
[ 157.581] (II) Module intel: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 157.581] compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 2.15.0
[ 157.581] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[ 157.581] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0
[ 157.581] (II) LoadModule: "openchrome"
[ 157.581] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/openchrome_drv.so
[ 157.581] (II) Module openchrome: vendor="http://openchrome.org/"
[ 157.581] compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 0.2.904
[ 157.581] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[ 157.581] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0
[ 157.581] (II) LoadModule: "fbdev"
[ 157.581] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
[ 157.588] (II) Module fbdev: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 157.588] compiled for 1.10.1, module version = 0.4.2
[ 157.588] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0
[ 157.588] (II) LoadModule: "vesa"
[ 157.588] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/vesa_drv.so
[ 157.595] (II) Module vesa: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 157.595] compiled for 1.10.2, module version = 2.3.0
[ 157.595] Module class: X.Org Video Driver
[ 157.595] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0
[ 157.595] (II) NOUVEAU driver Date: Thu Mar 24 02:13:12 2011 +1000
[ 157.595] (II) NOUVEAU driver for NVIDIA chipset families :
[ 157.595] RIVA TNT (NV04)
[ 157.595] RIVA TNT2 (NV05)
[ 157.595] GeForce 256 (NV10)
[ 157.595] GeForce 2 (NV11, NV15)
[ 157.595] GeForce 4MX (NV17, NV18)
[ 157.595] GeForce 3 (NV20)
[ 157.595] GeForce 4Ti (NV25, NV28)
[ 157.595] GeForce FX (NV3x)
[ 157.595] GeForce 6 (NV4x)
[ 157.601] GeForce 7 (G7x)
[ 157.601] GeForce 8 (G8x)
[ 157.601] GeForce GTX 200 (NVA0)
[ 157.601] GeForce GTX 400 (NVC0)
[ 157.601] (II) OPENCHROME: Driver for VIA Chrome chipsets: CLE266, KM400/KN400,
K8M800/K8N800, PM800/PM880/CN400, VM800/P4M800Pro/VN800/CN700,
CX700/VX700, K8M890/K8N890, P4M890, P4M900/VN896/CN896, VX800/VX820,
VX855/VX875, VX900
[ 157.602] (II) FBDEV: driver for framebuffer: fbdev
[ 157.602] (II) VESA: driver for VESA chipsets: vesa
[ 157.621] (++) Using config file: "/root/xorg.conf.new"
[ 157.634] (==) Using system config directory "/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d"
[ 157.647] (==) ServerLayout "X.org Configured"
[ 157.647] (**) |-->Screen "Screen0" (0)
[ 157.647] (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor0"
[ 157.647] (**) | |-->Device "Card0"
[ 157.647] (**) |-->Screen "Screen1" (1)
[ 157.647] (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor1"
[ 157.648] (**) | |-->Device "Card1"
[ 157.648] (**) |-->Screen "Screen2" (2)
[ 157.648] (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor2"
[ 157.648] (**) | |-->Device "Card2"
[ 157.648] (**) |-->Screen "Screen3" (3)
[ 157.648] (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor3"
[ 157.648] (**) | |-->Device "Card3"
[ 157.648] (**) |-->Screen "Screen4" (4)
[ 157.648] (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor4"
[ 157.649] (**) | |-->Device "Card4"
[ 157.649] (**) |-->Screen "Screen5" (5)
[ 157.649] (**) | |-->Monitor "Monitor5"
[ 157.649] (**) | |-->Device "Card5"
[ 157.649] (**) |-->Input Device "Mouse0"
[ 157.649] (**) |-->Input Device "Keyboard0"
[ 157.649] (==) Automatically adding devices
[ 157.649] (==) Automatically enabling devices
[ 157.649] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
[ 157.649] Entry deleted from font path.
[ 157.649] (WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic" does not exist.
[ 157.649] Entry deleted from font path.
[ 157.649] (**) FontPath set to:
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi,
/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType,
built-ins,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi,
/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi,
/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType,
built-ins
[ 157.649] (**) ModulePath set to "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
[ 157.649] (WW) Hotplugging is on, devices using drivers 'kbd', 'mouse' or 'vmmouse' will be disabled.
[ 157.649] (WW) Disabling Mouse0
[ 157.649] (WW) Disabling Keyboard0
[ 157.649] (EE) [drm] No DRICreatePCIBusID symbol
[ 157.662] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/openchrome_drv.so
[ 157.662] (!!) VIA Technologies does not support this driver in any way.
[ 157.662] (!!) For support, please refer to http://www.openchrome.org/.
[ 157.662] (!!) (development build, compiled on Wed May 4 20:46:34 2011)
[ 157.662] (II) Loading sub module "fbdevhw"
[ 157.662] (II) LoadModule: "fbdevhw"
[ 157.692] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
[ 157.704] (II) Module fbdevhw: vendor="X.Org Foundation"
[ 157.704] compiled for 1.10.4, module version = 0.0.2
[ 157.704] ABI class: X.Org Video Driver, version 10.0
[ 157.704] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/drivers/fbdev_drv.so
[ 157.704] (II) Loading /usr/lib/xorg/modules/libfbdevhw.so
[ 157.704] (**) FBDEV(1): claimed PCI slot 4@0:11:0
[ 157.704] (II) FBDEV(1): using default device
[ 157.704] (WW) Falling back to old probe method for vesa
[ 157.704] Number of created screens does not match number of detected devices.
Configuration failed.

AFAIK it is possible to get 2 different video cards (from different chipset manufacturers) going, but I've never seen it done.

If your MX4000 has 2 video ports, just use both of them. Most MX4000s didnt have 2 video ports though.

Unless I've got the wrong model, your computer does have a PCIe x16 slot- I'd consider getting a cheap PCIe card with 2 video ports, it would be far easier to setup.

1 members found this post helpful.

Yes, I think it does have a PCIe slot. also an agp slot. Will try your suggestion. Thank you.

The EE error means it can't find some DRI (hardware acceleration) library which should be part of xorg.
Might you have tried the nVidia driver at some point on this system?
If it wasn't cleanly uninstalled it will have left your system in a bad state.