Adding a third monitor

I’m new to OpenSuse and trying to figure out how to add a third monitor. I’m not for sure what I need to do or what information I can provide to help guide me in the right direction. Under Yast2, I’ve the hardware information and under display:

> Intel VGA Compatible controller
> GP106GL [Quadro P2000]

  • Bus ID: 1
  • Bus: PCI
  • Class (Spec): VGA-compatible controller
  • Class: Display controller
  • Device Identifier (spec): 70067
  • Device Identifier: 72752
  • Device: GP106GL [Quadro P2000]
  • Driver: nouveau
    > Drivers
    • Active: Yes
    • modprobe: Yes
      > modules
      • modproble nouveau
  • Hwcfg Bus: pci
  • Kernel Driver: nouveau
  • Model: nVidea GP106GL [Quadro P2000]
  • Old Unique Key: a80g.Sxqts2bYtk3
  • Parent Unique ID: vSkL.tMReMYaVig1
    > Resources
    > IO Port
    • Active: Yes
    • Length: 4096
    • Mode: rw
    • start: 12288
      > IRQ
    • Count: 14
    • Enables: Yes
    • IRQ: 127
      > Memory
  • Revision: 161
  • Subvendor Identifier: 69854
  • Subvendor: nVidia Corporation
  • Sysfs ID: /devices/pci0000:00/oooo:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0
  • Sysfs ID: 0000:01:00.0
  • Unique Key: VCu0.Sxqts2bYtk3
  • Vendor Identifier: 69854
  • Vendor: nVidia Corporation
  • modalias: pci:v000010DEd00001C30sv000010DEsd000011B3bc03sc00i00
    Has PCMCIA: No
    Has SMP: Yes

I have the third monitor plugged into what I believe is the GP106L…

I’m not for sure what other information would be beneficial, but if something is needed, please let me know what it is and how to get it.

Thanks SO much! Michael

Welcome to openSUSE – pleased to have you with us.

What we need is:

  1. A mention of which Desktop environment (GUI) you’re using – KDE, GNOME, something else?
  2. The output of “hwinfo --monitor”.
  3. The output of “xrandr --query”.

If you’re using GNOME, openSUSE documentation for multiple monitors is here: <https://doc.opensuse.org/documentation/leap/gnomeuser/html/book.gnomeuser/cha.gnome.settings.html#sec.gnome.settings.hardware.screen.multi>.
If you’re using KDE Plasma, the KDE documentation for multiple monitors is somewhat lacking but, if you inspect the “System Settings” section “Hardware”; “Display and Monitor”, you’ll find the individual setups for all the monitors on your system.

**Just another thought - the type of plug is a HDMI that the monitor is going into - which the existing two are that also, but looks like those are plugging directly into the MB.

  1. **Gnome

2. hwinfo --monitor
Desktop:~ # hwinfo --monitor
21: None 00.0: 10002 LCD Monitor
[Created at monitor.125]
Unique ID: rdCR.944WI+WQf9E
Parent ID: _Znp.de9fdW6gtcA
Hardware Class: monitor
Model: “VE228”
Vendor: ACI
Device: eisa 0x22fa “VE228”
Serial ID: “C7LMQS006040”
Resolution: 720x400@70Hz
Resolution: 640x480@60Hz
Resolution: 640x480@67Hz
Resolution: 640x480@72Hz
Resolution: 640x480@75Hz
Resolution: 800x600@56Hz
Resolution: 800x600@60Hz
Resolution: 800x600@72Hz
Resolution: 800x600@75Hz
Resolution: 832x624@75Hz
Resolution: 1024x768@60Hz
Resolution: 1024x768@70Hz
Resolution: 1024x768@75Hz
Resolution: 1280x1024@75Hz
Resolution: 1152x864@75Hz
Resolution: 1280x1024@60Hz
Resolution: 1280x960@60Hz
Resolution: 1920x1080@60Hz
Size: 477x268 mm
Year of Manufacture: 2012
Week of Manufacture: 27
Detailed Timings #0:
Resolution: 1920x1080
Horizontal: 1920 2008 2052 2200 (+88 +132 +280) +hsync
Vertical: 1080 1084 1089 1125 (+4 +9 +45) +vsync
Frequencies: 148.50 MHz, 67.50 kHz, 60.00 Hz
Driver Info #0:
Max. Resolution: 1920x1080
Vert. Sync Range: 50-76 Hz
Hor. Sync Range: 30-83 kHz
Bandwidth: 148 MHz
Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #10 (VGA compatible controller)

22: None 01.0: 10002 LCD Monitor
[Created at monitor.125]
Unique ID: wkFv.MJkfWrA9TX0
Parent ID: _Znp.de9fdW6gtcA
Hardware Class: monitor
Model: “VE228”
Vendor: ACI
Device: eisa 0x22fa “VE228”
Serial ID: “C7LMQS006018”
Resolution: 720x400@70Hz
Resolution: 640x480@60Hz
Resolution: 640x480@67Hz
Resolution: 640x480@72Hz
Resolution: 640x480@75Hz
Resolution: 800x600@56Hz
Resolution: 800x600@60Hz
Resolution: 800x600@72Hz
Resolution: 800x600@75Hz
Resolution: 832x624@75Hz
Resolution: 1024x768@60Hz
Resolution: 1024x768@70Hz
Resolution: 1024x768@75Hz
Resolution: 1280x1024@75Hz
Resolution: 1152x864@75Hz
Resolution: 1280x1024@60Hz
Resolution: 1280x960@60Hz
Resolution: 1920x1080@60Hz
Size: 477x268 mm
Year of Manufacture: 2012
Week of Manufacture: 27
Detailed Timings #0:
Resolution: 1920x1080
Horizontal: 1920 2008 2052 2200 (+88 +132 +280) +hsync
Vertical: 1080 1084 1089 1125 (+4 +9 +45) +vsync
Frequencies: 148.50 MHz, 67.50 kHz, 60.00 Hz
Driver Info #0:
Max. Resolution: 1920x1080
Vert. Sync Range: 50-76 Hz
Hor. Sync Range: 30-83 kHz
Bandwidth: 148 MHz
Config Status: cfg=no, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
Attached to: #10 (VGA compatible controller)
**

  1. xrandr --query
    **Desktop:~ # xrandr --query

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3840 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
DP-5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 477mm x 268mm
1920x1080 60.00*+ 50.00 59.94 59.99
1920x1080i 60.00 50.00 59.94
1600x1200 60.00
1680x1050 59.88
1280x1024 75.02 60.02
1440x900 59.90
1280x960 60.00
1366x768 59.79
1152x864 75.00
1280x720 60.00 50.00 59.94
1024x768 75.03 70.07 60.00
832x624 74.55
800x600 72.19 75.00 60.32 56.25
720x576 50.00
720x480 60.00 59.94
640x480 75.00 72.81 66.67 60.00 59.94
720x400 70.08
DP-6 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-2 connected 1920x1080+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 477mm x 268mm
1920x1080 60.00*+
1600x1200 60.00
1680x1050 59.88
1280x1024 75.02 60.02
1440x900 59.90
1280x960 60.00
1152x864 75.00
1024x768 75.03 70.07 60.00
832x624 74.55
800x600 72.19 75.00 60.32 56.25
640x480 75.00 72.81 66.67 59.94
720x400 70.08
DP-7 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Not all motherboards with onboard video ports support using those ports at the same time as ports on an add-in gfxcard. If the board supports using all at once, then the BIOS should have options for which to prefer, typically IGP vs. PEG vs. PCI in various combinations.

Even when multiple ports are supported by hardware and BIOS, it can be perplexing to figure out what options might be required to have them all working. One test to make is booting to multi-user instead of GDM, and bypassing Plymouth, by appending

 plymouth.enable=0 3

to Grub’s linux line. You might find as I often have that different combinations of displays light up on the framebuffer vttys than in the login GUI or DE. It’s not been uncommon for me to find only one or two light up until the greeter shows up, or have one or two go black when the other lights up as KMS switches the framebuffer mode.

Please provide output from:

inxi -Gxx

run from Gnome terminal or Xterm. You may need to install it first, either:

sudo zypper in inxi

, or get it directly from its developer who updates it far more often than openSUSE packagers, sometimes more than once a month.

Not for sure if I’m doing the plymouth.enable part right…

However, I found that unplugging the two monitors that are working and put them into the card, it still boots up and both monitors are working. This changed the result of the xrandr --query

Desktop:~ # xrandr --query
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3840 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 477mm x 268mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+  50.00    59.94    59.99  
   1920x1080i    60.00    50.00    59.94  
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1680x1050     59.88  
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1440x900      59.90  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1366x768      59.79  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1280x720      60.00    50.00    59.94  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   720x576       50.00  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    60.00    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
DP-3 connected 1920x1080+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 477mm x 268mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1680x1050     59.88  
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02  
   1440x900      59.90  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
DP-4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-6 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1-7 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Now this is the results for the inxi -Gxx (had to install it)


Desktop:~ # inxi -Gxx
Resuming in non X mode: glxinfo not found. For package install advice run: inxi --recommends
Graphics:  Card-1: Intel Device 3e92 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:3e92
           Card-2: NVIDIA GP106GL [Quadro P2000] bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:1c30
           Display Server: X.org 1.19.6 drivers: i915,nouveau tty size: 176x51 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Desktop:~ # 

Once I get back from a meeting, I’ll play around with the plymouth.enable part…

I did go into the Bios and found:

Dell OptiPlex 7060

Settings

  • General
  • System Configuration
  • Video
    • Multi Display : Enabled
    • Primary Display - Auto
      .
      .
      .

Hi
That doesn’t look like the monitors are plugged into the Quadro display ports and you using the onboard card, can you post the output from;


/sbin/lspci -nnk | egrep -A3 "VGA|Display|3D"

If it’s like this Intel M/B I can have the onboard GPU (Intel) enabled and run three monitors via display port and DVI connectors, but disables video output to the nvidia card (I can see the card and use the cuda cores though).

If the lspci output shows two GPUs, suggest you disable the onboard GPU via BIOS and then connect to the Quadro…

Card-1 is the onboard 8086:3e92 Intel UHD Graphics 630. Card-2 is the GP106GL [Quadro P2000].

Dell BIOS are generally very simplistic compared to motherboards in DIY PCs. On my Optiplex 780, the only choices for Video are Primary, under which are Auto, and Onboard/Card. A PEG card will unconditionally disable the onboard Intel. Does this Quadro have more than two outputs?

Hi
The P2000 has four (4) Display ports AFAIK…

VE228 displays according to Asus have none, but at least affordable adapters exist to enable connecting gfxcard DP outputs to HDMI display inputs. AFAIK, the other direction is typically around 10X as expensive, e.g. https://www.amazon.com/DisplayPort-Converter-FOINNEX-Adapter-Powered/dp/B07G796JF8