to someone who has experience with nvidia graphics cards in linux: I have a geforce fx5200 and I am interested in setting up a multiple desktop configuration with full screen overlay (I did this in windows). Can I do this in linux?

Yes you can. I just did it this morning with 2 LCD's and it worked out quite nice. I had to play around with it a bit but it worked.

The way I did it was I just ran "xorgsetup" as root and it detected everything. I booted it up and it worked somewhat. I had to play with a few settings to get it to work as it should but it works.

Remember, save your /etc/X11/xorg.conf so if it screws up, you can restore your old screens again.

So try xorgsetup and see if it detects it all, if it doesn't then come back here and ask away again.

If somebody has a better solution, then go ahead. This is how I did it and it seemed to work!

hmmm yeah... it still doesn't recognize my secondary screen in xserver. It recognizes my second screen in text mode, but not in xserver. I failed to mention, too, that my secondary monitor is simply an NFS TV screen hooked to my graphics card through the S-Video port.

the readme that comes with the nvidia driver is really detailed, telling you what options to add to your xorg.conf.

I managed to get it working with a geforce2 400mx dual view card a while ago, now youve reminded me I need to do it for the card I have in now, also an fx5200.

ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Li...174/README.txt

see : APPENDIX I: CONFIGURING TWINVIEW

So, my config on the other post didn't work huh... I guess I don't know what you mean by "full-screen video overlay"... The config section I posted earlier should get you a 'clone' view on both screens with X running... Post your config section and then tell me what "full-screen video overlay" means...

naa. your post def. worked. I can't run a video overlay (which means that I can run any video and it will automatically blow up the video on my other screen in real time... even if the video is minimized). I could do this in windows, but it really doesn't matter all THAT much. I have dual monitor setup now; I don't like clone view, but I simply drag video over to the other screen and maximize it there. Not real efficient, but it works.


PS, look at the dates: your post was after I posted this one, no worries!

hey jong, just in case you're curious, I did reconfigure the settings a little bit. I'm still working on it, but I think it still may be possible to have a full-screen video overlay with some media players (totem preferences hint towards it):

### [arg]: arg optional
Option "UseEdidFreqs" "TRUE"
Option "CursorShadow" "TRUE"
Option "CursorShadowAlpha" "64"
Option "CursorShadowXOffset" "4"
Option "CursorShadowYOffset" "2"
Option "NvAGP" "3"
Option "TwinView" "TRUE"
Option "Overlay" "TRUE"
Option "OverlayDefaultVisual" "TRUE"
# MetaModes still needs some work...
Option "MetaModes" "1152x864,1024x768"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "Leftof"
Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT, TV"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "30-50"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "60"
Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"

Right on... You do have to do some footwork in the config file... From what I understand, Nvidia might possibly be working on adding config options for this in the "nvidia-settings" program. I could be wrong tho. They should anyway. I feel jipped (is that a word?) when I compare the windows drivers to the linux ones... Just because it's linux doesn't mean that devolpers have to ignore nice GUI interfaces for the configuration of their software.

Is the different metamodes working for you? I have to keep them the same. When I try offsetting them like you are, The larger resoultion (monitor) makes it so I have to move the mouse to the edge in order to scroll. Know what I mean? I can only see a portion of my desktop on the CRT. Have to move the mouse to the edge and then the screen moves in that direction. Really lame. So I have to run both a 1024x768.... Well, keep messing with it. This is one of the vices of Linux. You have to spend a god awful ammount of time tweaking config files just to get the same functionality that you do in windows (if the same functionality exists in the first place). It should only get better with time. One can only hope anyway....

I'm not overly concerned about the twinview thing anyway. I just use it for when my neighbor comes over and we play Enemy-Territory on seperate computers. That way he can glance at the TV and see where I'm at.... Of course, that doesn't work too well if we are on opposite teams...

This is something I haven't been able to get to work yet either (GeForce2 MX400), so I guess I'll give that README a gander.

And yes, jipped/gyped is a word. It's actually a racist term that means getting ripped off by a gypsy (Egyptian nomad merchant).

I agree. I feel that the Linux system is far superior to Windows NT, but the thing is that it's harder to use. Hard things scare people, that's a fact. I think Fedora Core may change all of that, though, since it is a lot more GUI oriented than most Linux distros (this might attract the less-knowledgeable windows users). I guess it's sort of like Debian and Suse in that sense. Give it some time, I betcha Linux will catch on and more powerful (not half-ass) driver interfaces will be developed by hardware companies.

Jong, the metamodes? They seem to work fine in my setup. Just out of curiousity, do you have a flat-panel LCD display? is it plugged into the DVi output? From my experiences in the compsci labs here (they run Solaris) those factors can play havoc on the display of your desktop environment. There are times when 3/4 of the display is just flat out cut off!!

Lemme know

Seiken, I know that the Geforce # mx series was a little odd when it came to desktop cloning and such in Windows. But if you have the latest downloads for Nvidia linux driver, try that configuration that I posted, it should work fine!

mrchaos: yeah, I'm going to play around with it tomorrow. basically, my setup in windows allows my desktop to extend onto my TV. I move my mouse left off my my monitor, and it appears on my TV in the living room (which is the room to the left of my computer room). I can drag a media player over there, make it full screen and watch movies. It is not cloned. I'm trying to do the same thing in Linux. For now, I just reboot into Windows when I want to watch a movie.

yeah, sorry I might have been a bit misleading: the configuration I posted is not clone view, it's a whole separate desktop like you described. You can drag anything you want over there

** Actually, I can't take credit for the configuration, I stole it from Jong a few weeks ago

Interesting... I didn't know that.. It's a good thing I didn't say jewed then..... No offense.. Just kidding....

No, I'm running a Dell Monitor for my desktop and then piping it into my TV via S-video... I'm not sure why I can't get my monitor at a higher res than my TV. If I take the TV factor out of my config, I can get my monitor up to god awfull resolutions. But for some reason it has to match my TV res wich can only go up to 1024x768... Oh well... I've already gotten used to 1024x768...

metamodes (1152x864,1024x768) and (1152x864,800x600) work for mine from what I can tell. I tried (1152x864,640x480) and x server didn't like that

maybe try upgrading the driver?