Monitor Clone not wanted on Ubuntu 7.04

KrGAce · 08-22-2007, 10:03 PM

Hello all,

I apologize in advance if this has been answered but I cannot find an answer anywhere. I have installed Ubuntu 7.04 and it seems to be working fine, however I have two Acer X221W monitors and the desktop I am seeing is 1024X768 when I know these monitor will do 1600X1200. How do I change the default monitor that Ubuntu picked. If it helps, my video card is an ATI 9800

Also, the monitors are cloned (same image on both) how do I use each independently (one big desktop) with these monitors. I appreciate any and all help in advance,and I hope there is an easy to follow solution.

Thanks again,

AceMan

GrapefruiTgirl · 09-07-2007, 07:56 AM

You need to edit your xorg.conf file to do what you want.
I use nVidia, not ATI, so keep that in mind when taking any advice here.
First, as to which monitor is going to be the default, you need to fiddle with which screen is 0 and which screen is 1. This may involve switching the monitor plugs (power-off first) on the video card a few times and playing with the monitor0 and monitor1 AND/OR device0 and device1 settings in the config file.

If you want to use TwinView to achieve your big desktop, as I have currently, then there is only one screen defined in the ServerLayout section.
If you use Xinerama to achieve your big desktop, then you will have screen 0 and screen 1 both, in the server layout.

I recommend reading at www.nvidia.com the README file for configuring xorg with nvidia drivers.
ATI probably offers a similar README file.
Many of the options you need to refer to (like Xinerama, twinview, RightOf, LeftOf, Clone) are similar or identical for nVidia and ATI. Also, read the xorg.conf man pages for much info too.
Below is the relevant parts of my xorg.conf file which give me one big desktop using TwinView, to display on two monitors. If you want to use Xinerama, you will need individual screen, monitor, and device sections for EVERY display. The commented out stuff is for Xinerama.
Note that my second monitor is smaller, and will not do 1600x1200, so I use a virtual size there, so that the smaller screen will actually display the same image as the large 1600x1200 screen, but it auto-scrolls when I am mousing on it, to display the unseen areas. I prefer this over simply having a smaller screen with smaller everything on it. So now, when I move near the right or bottom of the smaller screen, it scrolls like a browser automatically; as I mouse UP the screen, it centers again.
I hope this gets you going; let us know how it goes, and if you need further help!

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier  "darkstarSSI.default.dualscreens"
    Screen 0  "Screen0" 0 0 # KDS
#   Screen 1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0" #E74-1/2
#   Screen 2  "Screen2" RightOf "Screen1" #E74-2/2
#   Screen 2  "Screen2" #TV
    InputDevice "Mouse0"    "CorePointer"
    InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath  "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/:unscaled"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic/"
    FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load  "dbe"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "type1"
    Load  "freetype"
    Load  "glx"
    Load  "fbdevhw"
    Load  "record"
    Load  "v4l"
#   Load  "vnc"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
#   Option "Xinerama" "1"
    Option "TwinView" "1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Keyboard0"
    Driver "kbd"
    Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
    Option "XkbRules"     "xorg"
    Option "XkbModel"    "pc104"
    Option "XkbLayout"      "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier "Mouse0"
    Driver "mouse"
    Option "Protocol"   "IMPS/2"
    Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option "ZAxisMapping"  "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
#   KDS Monitor
    Identifier  "Monitor0"
    VendorName  "KDS"
    ModelName   "Proview"
    HorizSync   30.0 - 86.0
    VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
#   IBM-1 Monitor
    Identifier  "Monitor1"
    VendorName  "IBM"
    ModelName   "E74"
    HorizSync   30.0 - 86.0
    VertRefresh 50.0 - 160.0
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "Videocard1"
    Driver     "nvidia"
    VendorName "eVGA Corp."
    BoardName  "NV44-A2 nVidia GeForce 7100GS TurboCache"
    BusID      "PCI:01:00:0"
    Option "TwinView" "1"
    Screen 0
EndSection
Section "Device"
    Identifier "Videocard0"
    Driver     "nvidia"
    VendorName "eVGA Corp."
    BoardName  "NV44-A2 nVidia GeForce 7100GS TurboCache"
    BusID      "PCI:01:00:0"
    Option "TwinView" "1"
    Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
#   KDS Monitor & IBM #1 Monitor (Screen 0)
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device  "Videocard1"
    Monitor "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth 16
    Option  "RenderAccel" "On"
    Option  "HWcursor"    "On"
    Option  "DamageEvents"	 "True"
    Option  "ConnectedMonitor"    "CRT-0,CRT-1"
    Option  "twinVieworientation" "CRT-1 Rightof CRT-0"
    Option  "metamodes" "CRT-0: 1600x1200 , CRT-1: 1280x1024 @ 1600x1200"
EndSection
# EOF for (main card + KDS & IBM-1 monitors)