LinuxQuestions.org - Dual Monitor trouble.

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Dual Monitor trouble.

I'd like to setup dual head for my laptop when I run it at my desk. (So the desktop spans) Whenever I use the 'system-config-display' utility to configure dual head setup, and restart the X server my configuration is messed up to the point that the X server cannot even start.

The only thing I could do was to get the CRT monitor to clone the laptop display by simply plugging the cable in and restarting the X server.

Is there anyway that I can manually edit my xorg.conf file to correctly display both screens as either individual screens or spanning screens and not a clone?

You are going to have to do some reading up on xinerama:
http://www.linux-sxs.org/guis/xinerama.html

Unfortunately, I do not have very good luck with the Fedora Core display configuration panel, however it is easy enough to set it up via editing /etc/xorg.conf.

If you are using and ATI or an Nvidia graphics card, hopefully I can point you to the right direction.

Follow the instructions on

http://www.fedorafaq.org/

in order to install the ati or nvidia graphics drivers. You will need to install the livna repo (directions also in the fedorafaq).

With nvidia based cards you need to use twinview for dual spanning display that comes with the drivers, all I do to enable spanning with nvidia in FC4 is add the following to the device section in xorg.conf. Yours might not look exactly alike however this is a starting point.

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"

#make sure you specify nvidia instead of nv(nv is the generic driver, nvidia is the one from the livna repo)

VendorName "Videocard vendor"
#twin view settings below

BoardName "nvidia"
Option "TwinView" "yes"
Option "MetaModes" "1024x768,1024x768;800x600,800x600"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT-0, CRT-1"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "CRT-0 LeftOf CRT-1"
EndSection

The device, vendorname, and boardname should be different on your setup, I just leave the default names there since I have no need to change them.

For ATI based cards there is something called Xinerama that configures dual spanning display, however on my laptop, I do not have to mess with that, all I have to do is add the following under the device section

Driver "fglrx" #driver from livna repo (fedorafaq.com instructions)
Option "DesktopSetup" "Horizontal" #for some reason all I do is add this to the driver section, press ctrl-alt-backspace to restart X and dual display works using an ATI Xpress 200m

If you have an ati card and this does not work, I would do a google search for Xinerama and xorg.conf

Hopefully you are using an ati or nvidia based card and that this will help you.

I have an Nvidia go5200 fx in my laptop, and I have the latest Nvidia drivers installed.

Thanks accessrichard, I'll try that, and post back the results. I did notice that in the xorg.conf file it was using "nv" instead of "nvidia".

Well I tried the Nvidia TwinView and it kept using the monitor that I want to be second as the default (first monitor). I also tried creating 2 x screens as Nvidia explains (Multiple X Screens).

When I set that all up, I end up getting a black screen with a cursor, and nothing ever loads past that point.

Here's my entire xorg.conf from the Multiple X Screen setup, am I doing anything wrong? (There also were no errors in the Xorg log)

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier    "single head configuration"

        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0

        Screen      1  "Screen1" leftOf "Screen0"

        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

        InputDevice    "Synaptics" "AlwaysCore"

EndSection



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  "synaptics"

        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" "us"

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 "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Synaptics"

        Driver      "synaptics"

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

        Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"

        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier  "Monitor0"

        VendorName  "Monitor Vendor"

        ModelName    "LCD Panel 1440x900"

        HorizSync    31.5 - 100.0

        VertRefresh  59.0 - 75.0

        Option      "dpms"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier  "Monitor1"

        VendorName  "Monitor vendor"

        HorizSync  31.5 - 57.0

        VertRefresh 50.0 - 90.0

        Option      "dpms"

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier  "Videocard0"

        Driver      "nvidia"

        VendorName  "Videocard vendor"

        BoardName  "NVIDIA GeForce FX (generic)"

        BusID      "PCI:1:0:0"

        Screen      0

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier  "Videocard1"

        Driver      "nvidia"

        BoardName  "NVIDIA GeForce FX (generic)"

        # Edit the BusID with the location of your graphics card

        BusId      "PCI:1:0:0"

        Screen      1

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen0"

        Device    "Videocard0"

        Monitor    "Monitor0"

        DefaultDepth    24

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport  0 0

                Depth    16

                Modes    "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport  0 0

                Depth    24

                Modes    "1280x960" "1280x800" "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier  "Screen1"

        Device      "Videocard1"

        Monitor    "Monitor1"

        DefaultDepth 24

        Subsection "Display"

            Depth      24

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

        EndSubsection

EndSection

Never mind, I was able to fix Nvidia Twinview and it's working great.