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extended desktop, not session desktop over 2 monitors

Hi,

I'm new to linux and have managed to succesfully set up 2 monitors on my NVIDIA 5900 PCIe card using Fedora core 3.

What I would like to do is have an extended desktop like I do in windows XP where a single desktop is split over two screens.,

Currently I seem to have 2 independant desktop sessions, which is better than nothing but I cannot drag and drop my windows from the left monitor over to the right for example or drag a single application over 2 screens.. For an application to appear in the right monitor I need to open it in the right monitor.

Currently, I run 2 screens of 1024x768 and I guess my aim is to expand this to 2048x768, if that make sense.

Any help is appreciated,

cheers.

Check out the:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/linux_readme_install.html
For all kinds of parameters, but I think the 2 that apply are:
Option "TwinView" "true"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"

Or LeftOf depending on your setup.

Cool

I use nVidia's twinview for my dual-head setup, although I run both monitors at 1280x1024. This gives me a 2520x1024 'virtual' desktop that I can drag apps back and forth between...

Here is the relevant part of my xorg.conf:

Code:

Section "Device"

    Identifier  "NVIDIA"

    Driver      "nvidia"

    Option      "AGPFastWrite" "True"

    Option      "RenderAccel" "True"

    VideoRam    262144



    # twin-view

    Option "TwinView"

    Option "MetaModes"    "1280x1024,1280x1024; 1024x768,1024x768"

    Option "HorizSync"    "30-110"

    Option "VertRefresh"  "50-160"



    # Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate

EndSection



Section "Screen"

    Identifier  "Screen 1"

    Device      "NVIDIA"

    Monitor    "My Monitor"

    DefaultDepth 24



    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      8

        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      16

        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      24

        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

EndSection



Section "ServerLayout"



# The Identifier line must be present

    Identifier  "Simple Layout"

    Screen "Screen 1"

    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"

    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"



EndSection

Notice that if you use twinview rather than xinerama, the two displays are handled at the hardware level rather than software, and so the config is placed in the 'Device' section of xorg.conf.

Note also that your apps (WM etc...) still need to be compiled with xinerama support so that they 'know' where the desktop boundaries are. ie: so apps don't start up in between screens, and so when you maximize an app it maximizes in one screen rather than both...

thanks bulliver, thats the kind of thing i am looking for :D i will give it a shot and post the results.

ok i tried setting up that in my conf file and it only displays a single monitor with those settings.

then i copied yours exactly and the same things.

there must be something else missing or something i am doing wrong....but what you doing on your pc is what i want to acheive.

Do you have the Nvidia drivers actually installed? This would mean you have an entry in your conf file that says "Driver nvidia" instead of "Driver nv"
And during X startup you see a nice NVIDIA startup logo across your entire screen(s).

Cool

yes the nvidia driver is installed i am using the nvidia driver in the config.

Like i said before, i have got 2 screens working just fine but they seem to be independant sessions, which is ok but it's not really any use to me as i want to drag and drop between each monitor as i see fit. currently, the only way to open up in the left monitor is to use the menu in the left monitor to run a program and the same for the right monitor.

what i want to achieve is a single stretched desktop which would be like having 2048x768 resolution.

the config file above only switches on my left monitor.

When I first used an nvidia card with 2 outputs, the default for me (after making the minimal changes in the config, such as driver=nvidia) was the desired effect for you :) It may be that your window managers aren't setup for xinerama, as noted by Bulliver. I'm not sure how you could check this on FC3, but if you were to compile your window managers by hand (again not sure of your level of experience, so this is just a suggestion) you could ensure the xinerama compile option was enabled, and see if that makes the difference.

Good Luck!

Cool

ok I guess Xinerama is the problem. i'll try and find how to do that.

i'm completely new with Linux. i've tried kernel compiles and it always go wrongs :(

right i got it working exactly how i want with

Option "Xinerama" "on"

So thats good. Is there anyway to replicate this in twinview?

Well, I'm thinking your card must not have twinview. Are you absolutely sure? I think that not all dual-head nVidia cards actually have it.

I just ask because I have the nVidia Geforce 5700 dual-head card, and all I had to change to get it working is add those lines I posted above...

Anyway, if the xinerama method is working for you then why not just leave it?

yeah i will leave it at that if nothing else works. I heard twinview was hardware drawn while xinerama was software meaning its slower.

I have the Geforce 5900 PCIe card. it certainly has twinview support in windows and the "twinview" mode gave me dual monitors last time, just 2 seperate desktop sessions.

cheers for all the replies. I have a satisfactory solution but if i can get it working in twinview i woudl prefer that. I noticed i can't change screen res or refresh rate of the monitors in gnome anymore.

Quote:

I heard twinview was hardware drawn while xinerama was software meaning its slower.

Me too, which is why I use it. I have never actually tried just Xinerama though, so I cannot compare the speed. I can say that I have noticed _zero_ slowdown of my desktop using twin-view.

Quote:

I have the Geforce 5900 PCIe card. it certainly has twinview support in windows and the "twinview" mode gave me dual monitors last time, just 2 seperate desktop sessions.

This is very strange. Time to see what the Nvidia README has to say about this....

EDIT: I just had a look at ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Li...629/README.txt

and the only lines you _require_ to get twin-view running are:

Code:

    Option "TwinView"

    Option "MetaModes"    "1024x768,1024x768"

    Option "HorizSync"    "30-110"  # change to value of 2nd monitor

    Option "VertRefresh"  "50-160"  #  "          "      "        "        "

In your device section. So if it doesn't work? Bug? Flaky hardware? Who knows.

can you show me your complete config file? thanks.,

Sure, this is a copy of my real-live xorg.conf (sans comments):

Code:

Section "Module"

    Load        "dbe"  # Double buffer extension

    SubSection  "extmod"

      Option    "omit xfree86-dga"  # don't initialise the DGA extension

    EndSubSection

    Load        "type1"

    Load        "freetype"

    Load      "glx"

EndSection

Section "Extensions"

    Option "RENDER" "Enable"

EndSection

Section "Files"

    RgbPath    "/usr/lib/X11/rgb"

    FontPath  "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"

    FontPath  "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"

    FontPath  "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"

    FontPath  "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"

    FontPath  "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"

    FontPath  "/usr/share/fonts/local/"

    FontPath  "/usr/share/fonts/TrueType/"

EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier  "Keyboard1"

    Driver      "kbd"

    Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"

    Option "XkbModel"  "pc101"

    Option "XkbLayout"  "us"

EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier  "Mouse1"

    Driver      "mouse"

    Option "Protocol"    "IMPS/2"

    Option "Device"      "/dev/psaux"

    Option "Buttons"      "5"

    Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"



    Option "Emulate3Buttons"  "false"

EndSection

Section "Monitor"

    Identifier  "My Monitor"

    HorizSync  30-110

    VertRefresh 50-160

EndSection

Section "Device"

    Identifier  "Standard VGA"

    VendorName  "Unknown"

    BoardName  "Unknown"

    Driver    "vga"

EndSection

Section "Device"

    Identifier  "NVIDIA"

    Driver      "nvidia"

    Option      "AGPFastWrite" "True"

    Option      "RenderAccel" "True"

    VideoRam    262144

    Option "TwinView"

    Option "MetaModes"    "1280x1024,1280x1024; 1024x768,1024x768"

    Option "HorizSync"    "30-110"

    Option "VertRefresh"  "50-160"

EndSection

Section "Screen"

    Identifier  "Screen 1"

    Device      "NVIDIA"

    Monitor    "My Monitor"

    DefaultDepth 24

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      8

        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      16

        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      24

        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        ViewPort    0 0

    EndSubsection

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"

    Identifier  "Simple Layout"

    Screen "Screen 1"

    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"

    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"

EndSection

nope it's no go. I just get 1 monitor on all the time and no dual view.

this config gives me what I need but only with XINERAMA turned on

Code:

# XFree86 4 configuration created by pyxf86config







Section "Files"



# RgbPath is the location of the RGB database.  Note, this is the name of the 

# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db").  There is normally

# no need to change the default.

# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)

# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of

# the X server to render fonts.

        RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"

        FontPath    "unix/:7100"

EndSection



Section "Module"

        Load  "dbe"

        Load  "extmod"

        Load  "fbdevhw"

        Load  "glx"

        Load  "record"

        Load  "freetype"

        Load  "type1"

#        Load  "dri"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"



# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))

#        Option        "Xleds"                "1 2 3"

# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.

#        Option        "XkbDisable"

# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the

# lines below (which are the defaults).  For example, for a non-U.S.

# keyboard, you will probably want to use:

#        Option        "XkbModel"        "pc102"

# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:

#        Option        "XkbModel"        "microsoft"

#

# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.

# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:

#        Option        "XkbLayout"        "de"

# or:

#        Option        "XkbLayout"        "de"

#        Option        "XkbVariant"        "nodeadkeys"

#

# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and

# control keys, use:

#        Option        "XkbOptions"        "ctrl:swapcaps"

# Or if you just want both to be control, use:

#        Option        "XkbOptions"        "ctrl:nocaps"

#

        Identifier  "Keyboard0"

        Driver      "kbd"

        Option            "XkbModel" "pc105"

        Option            "XkbLayout" "se"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Mouse0"

        Driver      "mouse"

        Option            "Protocol" "IMPS/2"

        Option            "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

        Option            "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

        Option            "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"



        Identifier  "LG"

            HorizSync  30 -70.0

            VertRefresh 60-160



EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier "Dell"

        HorizSync        30-70.0

        VertRefresh        60-160

Endsection



Section "Device"

    Identifier  "NVIDIA 5900 0"

    Driver      "nvidia"        

    BusID        "PCI:1:0:0"

    Option      "NoLogo" "True"

    Option      "RenderAccel" "true"

    Option      "TwinView" "true"

    Screen        0

EndSection



Section "Device"

    Identifier  "NVIDIA 5900 1"        

    Driver      "nvidia"

    BusID        "PCI:1:0:0"

    Option      "NoLogo" "True"

    Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"          

    Option      "RenderAccel" "true"        

    Screen        1

EndSection



Section "Screen"

    Identifier  "Screen0"

    Device      "NVIDIA 5900 0"

    Monitor    "LG"

    DefaultDepth 24



    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      8

        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      16

        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      24

        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      32

        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubsection



EndSection



Section "Screen"

    Identifier  "Screen1"

    Device      "NVIDIA 5900 1"

    Monitor    "DELL"

    DefaultDepth 24



    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      8

        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      16

        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      24

        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubsection

    Subsection "Display"

        Depth      32

        Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

    EndSubsection

EndSection



Section "DRI"

        Group        0

        Mode        0666

EndSection



Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier    "Default Layout"

            Screen 0 "Screen0"

        Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf  "Screen0"        

        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

          InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

Option "Xinerama" "on"

EndSection

Well, I don't know what to tell you. www.nvidia.com has a Linux forum for troubles with Nvidia drivers and hardware. Maybe someone there can help?