Set up dual monitor in Linux

I’ve just bought ViewSonic VA2226w from Lowyat, and has been able to use it in dual monitor mode with my XPS M1330 (nvidia based) and Kubuntu. The ViewSonic that I bought is a 22" LCD monitor with resolutions up to 1680×1050 (only just as high as my 15.2" Inspiron 6000′s screen)..

I was using nvidia-config to configure the dual display, and after some trial and error, I come out with this /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" RightOf "Screen1"
    Screen      1  "Screen1" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
    FontPath        "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "LCD"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 75.0
    VertRefresh     60.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "ViewSonic VA2226w"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 82.0
    VertRefresh     50.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8400M GS"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8400M GS"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP: 1280x800 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard1"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

and here’s my work desk at home (after some clean up )

p/s: Hope nobody mind me using the Microsoft keyboard and mouse set

Tags: kubuntu, linux

This entry was posted on Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 9:24 pm and is filed under Information Insemination. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

5 Responses to “Set up dual monitor in Linux”

hey!…
It’s help me a lot…
are you using compiz 3D?

Can you try it using both monitor…

Bonar
01.18.08 at 11:37 pm

Permalink

@Bonar: I’ve tried it on compiz before, and I can say that it works fine, but only if xinerama is not enabled.

shakir
01.21.08 at 3:04 pm

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I have the same viewsonic va226w monitor. I got the resolution set the right way. the color profile isn’t right though. the colors are all washed out and messed up. I have messed with the rgb, contrast, and brightness settings. it must be something else. here is the part of the xorg.conf file that I would like to see from a working setup.

Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Generic Monitor”
Vendorname “ViewSonic”
Modelname “ViewSonic VA2226w”
Horizsync 30-82
Vertrefresh 50-75

modeline “1680×1050″ 146.25 1680 1768 1944 2240 1050 1053 1059 1089 +hsync -vsync

Gamma 1.0
EndSection

any other ideas.

noah
04.13.08 at 12:50 pm

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Very helpful! I now have a ViewSonic VA2226w setup with a Philips CRT 107T 17 inch monitor connected to a GeForce 7300 GT video card, but both display exactly the same content (just duplicates). I want to extend from one monitor to the other – any suggestions? Is the “Twinview” option something to do with it?