Hi There,

I would like to know how to configure multiple Virtual desktops for my laptop and another screen. I have already tried setting this up by right clicking the screen and selecting 'Configure Desktop' - I have configured 2 desktops.

The problem is that when I plug in the other screen, both screens always show exactly the same content - not what I was expecting !

My colleague suggested that I need to configure a file called 'xorg.conf'
which can be found in /etc/X11/. I have to say that this file looks pretty scary and so I am wondering if I can get some advice on how to change this file for 2 virtual desktops.

Any gurus in virtual destopping out there ?

regards,

Steven Matthews

You're trying to get the other half of your desktop to show up on the CRT? Correct me if I'm wrong here.

The technology you seek is twinview for Xorg.

Let's see here:

http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/blog..._xorgconf.html

Read this over to get a taste of it, and post results/questions/comments here if you really get stuck.

Good luck, and don't be afraid of hand-editing xorg.conf. Just be careful not to put your Hsync/Vsync stuff out of range - you could do serious damage to your CRT. Take your time, read it over, let us know what's up.

Cheers.

Hi THere ...

Re You're trying to get the other half of your desktop to show up on the CRT? YES

I have read ...

http://www.oreillynet.com/linux/blog..._xorgconf.html

.. and changed the "device" section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf to ...

Section "Device"
BoardName "965 GME/GLE"
BusID "0:2:0"
Driver "intel"
Identifier "Device[0]"
Option "TwinView" "true"
Option "SaXDualHead"
Option "monitor-LVDS" "Monitor[0]"
Option "SaXDualMonitorVendor" "--> VESA"
Option "SaXDualOrientation" "LeftOf"
Option "SaXDualResolution" "1024x768"
Option "SaXDualMode" "Xinerama"
Option "SaXDualHSync" "31-50"
Option "SaXDualMonitorModel" "1024X768@60HZ"
Option "SaXDualVSync" "50-60"
Option "SaXExternal" "Identifier&EXT+DisplaySize&+VendorName&--> VESA+LeftOf&EXT+PreferredMode&1024x768+HorizSync&31-50+ModelName&1
024X768@60HZ+VertRefresh&50-60"
Screen 0
VendorName "Intel"
EndSection

I have also noticed 2 monitor sections ....

Section "Monitor"
DisplaySize 331 207
HorizSync 30-62
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "SAMSUNG LCD MONITOR"
Option "DPMS"
VendorName "SEC"
VertRefresh 43-60
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection


Section "Monitor"
HorizSync 31-50
Identifier "EXT"
ModelName "1024X768@60HZ"
Option "LeftOf" "EXT"
Option "PreferredMode" "1024x768"
VendorName "--> VESA"
VertRefresh 50-60
EndSection

Has Linux detected the second attached monitor here ?


When I run command 'startx' ...

linux-stevenm:/etc/X11 # startx
xauth: creating new authority file /root/.serverauth.2043


Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
If this server is no longer running, remove /tmp/.X0-lock
and start again.

linux-stevenm:/etc/X11 #

What does it all mean ? !

regards,

Steven Matthews

Just to be sure: how did you edit xorg.conf? Did you drop out of the X server, did you switch to a different tty (Ctrl + Alt + F2 for instance) or did you use a terminal or editor inside the graphical environment?

Your problem seems to be that you are issuing the startx command when the X server is already running. You need to stop the X server first, and you don't need to type startx anyway if usually during a reboot you go to the graphical login manager directly (as it standard for the majority of modern distributions).

So, hoping you have saved your old xorg.conf somewhere prior to editing it, restart the system and see whether it works.

Robin

Hi Bitpicker,

I have restarted my laptop with these settings but it still does not work as expected ...

I made a backup copy of xorg.conf and then manually edited the original using gedit ...

Steven M