Ubuntu 18.04/multi-nvidia card+multi monitor woes

psiphre · 01-05-2020, 08:42 PM

first off, woo linux in 2020! i'm trying real hard to kick windows to the curb this year.

now then... i am bashing my head against getting my desktop to resemble what it did before i made the jump. i have two video cards installed in my pc, and they are both recognized by the system:

Code:

$ lspci | grep -E "VGA"
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 3GB] (rev a1)
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: NVIDIA Corporation GM204GL [Quadro M4000] (rev a1)

my intent here is to use the 1060 to drive my main monitor and the quadro to drive four additional monitors that i use for various things. unfortunately nvidia-settings is useless, and no matter how many times i generate a config file, add it to xinit, put it in xorg.conf.d, make a login script... nothing gets me closer to this goal. xrandr lists only one provider:

Code:

$ xrandr --listproviders
Providers: number : 1
Provider 0: id: 0x1b9 cap: 0x1, Source Output crtcs: 4 outputs: 4 associated providers: 0 name:NVIDIA-0

the advice on the archlinux wiki here doesn't seem to help - i'm not using a driver blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/

Code:

# This file lists those modules which we don't want to be loaded by
# alias expansion, usually so some other driver will be loaded for the
# device instead.

# evbug is a debug tool that should be loaded explicitly
blacklist evbug

# these drivers are very simple, the HID drivers are usually preferred
blacklist usbmouse
blacklist usbkbd

# replaced by e100
blacklist eepro100

# replaced by tulip
blacklist de4x5

# causes no end of confusion by creating unexpected network interfaces
blacklist eth1394

# snd_intel8x0m can interfere with snd_intel8x0, doesn't seem to support much
# hardware on its own (Ubuntu bug #2011, #6810)
blacklist snd_intel8x0m

# Conflicts with dvb driver (which is better for handling this device)
blacklist snd_aw2

# Causes trackpads to stop working on Lenovo 11e 2nd gen (Ubuntu: #1802135)
# and Lenovo x240 to hang on boot (Ubuntu: #1802689)
blacklist i2c_i801

# replaced by p54pci
blacklist prism54

# replaced by b43 and ssb.
blacklist bcm43xx

# most apps now use garmin usb driver directly (Ubuntu: #114565)
blacklist garmin_gps

# replaced by asus-laptop (Ubuntu: #184721)
blacklist asus_acpi

# low-quality, just noise when being used for sound playback, causes
# hangs at desktop session start (Ubuntu: #246969)
blacklist snd_pcsp

# ugly and loud noise, getting on everyone's nerves; this should be done by a
# nice pulseaudio bing (Ubuntu: #77010)
blacklist pcspkr

# EDAC driver for amd76x clashes with the agp driver preventing the aperture
# from being initialised (Ubuntu: #297750). Blacklist so that the driver
# continues to build and is installable for the few cases where its
# really needed.
blacklist amd76x_edac

i don't have any monitors automatically assigned to my second gpu as reported by grep "No modes" ~/.local/share/xorg/Xorg.0.log, and i don't have an xorg.conf file in /etc/X11 or /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d.

i'm stumped and i need help.

orhank · 01-07-2020, 09:02 AM

If I've understood your problem correctly here is my 2cents.
I have 2 video cards and 4 monitors running off of them. This is what I did:
1) run arandr
2) Arrange monitors to your liking by selecting and dragging them to their new positions
3) Outputs --> Select the monitor you want to be your main display --> Check Primary
4) Apply the settings, if you like them click the checkmark just below the menu
5) Layout --> save as filename.sh
6) Exit arandr
6) System Tools --> Preferences --> Startup Applications --> Add --> In Command Field type in the complete path to the file you saved in step 5

This works for me perfectly. I have different layouts for Gnome, WindowMaker and CDE and they work without fail. I hope this helps.

psiphre · 01-07-2020, 11:14 AM

hey, thanks for the reply. in arandr, only the monitors attached to video card #1 are visible/configurable.

orhank · 01-07-2020, 07:10 PM

In my experience arandr sometimes hides monitors beneath others so they overlap. Have you tried to drag them around to make sure that no overlapping occurs?

psiphre · 01-07-2020, 07:23 PM

yes, thank you. here is what it looks like if i drag the monitors around to make sure nothing is hiding behind anything else: http://i.imgur.com/IHoIq7C.png

note that eventually, the goal is to only have one monitor plugged in to this video card, so the one on DVI-D-0 will be on card 2 somewhere. the current setup is just to get a little reprieve for the time being.

also, if i hit the "outputs" menu, it only lists four devices: HDMI-0, DVI-D-0, and DP-0 and DP-1, both of which are not connected (and only one of which actually exists as a physical port; i suspect there may be an unused header on this card). if it were accessing the second card, i would expect to see DP-0 through DP-3 listed on it.

Geist · 01-09-2020, 03:21 AM

If you are using PRIME then nvidia settings are a bit useless, since PRIME is for nouveau and whatnot.
I have mentioned in the other thread (the desktop one) that I don't have a hybrid gpu setup, but maybe try "bumblebee", since both are nvidia.