I wanted to try out Debian, so I ran the live DVD. I have a computer monitor, plus I have my TV hooked up to the computer as a second monitor.

When Debian Live booted up, my computer monitor was blank, and it was on the TV. Since the TV is across the room, and my keyboard and mouse cant go over there, I could not try it out.

In an installed distro, I can right click and pick, move to other monitor. But on the live DVD, it doesn't see the main monitor.

Why does Debian pick the wrong monitor? Is there anything I can do to make a live DVD show up on the monitor #1?


Thank you,

Chris.

Hi,
quick fix: simlpy unplug the tv for the live dvd?! ;-)

Otherwise you might be able to do it by command line:
xrandr
<Watch what it says about connected monitors>
<Now construct something similar to this command - this is for my 3 monitor setup with one monitor rotated 90°>
xrandr --output DP-0 --mode 1920x1080 --pos 0x315 --output DVI-I-1 --mode 1920x1200 --pos 1920x150 --output DVI-D-0 --mode 1920x1200 --rotate left --pos 3840x-50 --output HDMI-0 --off

HTH
Upuetz

If your problem is not solved by xrandr, enter into BIOS/UEFI settings and try to find if there is any culprit on the settings.

I unplugged the monitor, but the video only worked barley, for a few minutes, then it went away.

I installed it on the HD. I tried to update it, it didn't recignize my password. I have it written down so I wouldn't forget during the install.

Looks like Debain only lasted a couple hours of problems on my computer, so I won't be using it. Linux is great, Debian makes Windows look really good.

Thank you for the help.

Chris.

Hi Chris,
sarcasm in text is hard to recognize - better refrain from using it..
How can the video work but only for a few minutes and "went away"? That is no error description.
There are 2 passwords: one for your user that you created and one for the user "root". When you want to update you have 2 possibilities:
sudo apt-get upgrade <--- now your user password is needed because sudo stands for "superuser do" = do with my normal user what a superuser can do.
Or
su <-- "switch user" and when you don't specify what user to switch to it assumes "root". Then the root password is needed. Afterwards run apt-get upgrade.

HTH or have fun with win 10

Best regards,
Upuetz

Thanks for the reply,

I did both root and user passwords. There was a lot of things that didn't work. I think the reason was using Mint for so long, I thought the commands where the same. I wasn't used to Debian.

I can give it a try again at another time. I'll try Mint 18.

Chris.

its your video card, defaulting to HDMI output first, hdmi and vga combo will always do this
put both devices on the display port 1.2, get adapters

or hdmi to dvi and vga to hdmi

but connect them correctly in the rear of the computer is what is gonna solve this for ya.

for my msi z77a motherboard i can change options in bios that might help also.
to clarify, i can allow the integrated video to run the 2nd monitor. However, i dont use it myself.
if you have 2 cards running you will have 2 displays.

this is a common hardware problem in my experience not so much a linux problem. ive seen this in windows as well

hope i helped.

actually

even hdmi and dvi will produce the same result

you can do HDMI and dp1.2

or both dp1.2

it will default to the digital signal first everytime,

this is standard now on ATI and Nvidia cards

Install "gnome-settings" if it isn't installed. Then use the "display" applet within gnome-settings. Enable both video outputs and adjust whatever it allows, if you know what the setting will do. For LCD flat-panel 60Hz refresh is pretty safe. But the display program should read the EDID in the monitor devices. With nvidia I think you might require the "nvidia-settings" program to get dual display. And if you're using a KVM switch sometimes nothing works but xrandr. I think you can use "cvt" to get the mode lines for xrandr. I use some difficult video devices, so I usually place the xrandr command in a script, because it can be difficult to remember the whole command line.

On this computer I'm using on-board HD Video. I have the computer monitor hooked up to the Digital, the TV hooked up to the analogue. Once I install, I can hook the analogue monitor out, and chose, "switch to other monitor". Everything is fine after that.

With Debian, the video showed it was in a (I can't remember the word) "mode". After a few it went blank. The video wasn't sharp and you can see it had problems.

On the this computer, Windows installs on the right monitor. Every Linux distro does this. Sure Windows can do this, it just doesn’t do it on this computer.

Since Debian is a "little Harder" then Mint, I think they should make a Debian Version that is a little easier. Keep it like it is, but have at least one that's as easy as Mint. I think it would pass Mint be the #1 distro. JMHO.

I can do anything in Mint. Almost none of the "based on debian" commands worked in Debian. It was my mistake, read to may places where it sounded like it was the same. Something must of been wrong, because I could not find hardly anything on the internet. Couldn't learn how to get anything I needed done.

Since I started this post, I switched from LM Cinnamon, to LM Xfce. Xfce was what I was looking for. It reminded me of the old Linux I used years a go. I wouldn't mind trying Debian Xfce, but I don't view it now as good as Debian-ubuntu-Mint-Xfce. I think LM is #1 because it's so good.
It would be nice if I could of learned more about how to manage my way around debian.


Chris.

I wonder if there is good kernel parameter to enable displaying on the desired monitor for debian live DVD, but I am not sure.

Anyway, Mint is better for you and the computer than debian. Please stick to and enjoy Mint.

I just tried LM 18 live to check it out. I got a black screen with the LM logo, no icons, no "Install Linux Mint" or anything. I checked the "other" monitor and had noting. Unhooked the TV (monitor 2) and the icons and install showed up on the computer.

Chris.

Mint is a Debian fork.

Technically, I suppose. Mint is actually a fork of Ubuntu, which is a fork of Debian.

My ThinkPad T420 has had the same issues, Sid and Jessie. If you can't see the TV can still enter the desktop; either [enter] and password and [enter] or username [enter] and password... "I see... "

these may help: http://askubuntu.com/questions/11738...rimary-monitor
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/multihead
live is probably more for the tty results I got from searching "linux two displays shows wrong one on login" about 1,190,000 results (0.59 seconds?) For me is not been a big deal.