The monitors involved:
BENQ: 24" 1920x1200 (LCD - DVI)
Philips: 19" max 1600x1200, (but I just want 1280x1024) (CRT - Analog)
Installation: OpenSuse 11 (64bit) KDE version - switched to GNOME.
The BENQ is supposed to be the main screen and the Philips the secondary, positioned to the left of the BENQ.
The issue is that when I run SaX2 the monitor and graphics card is recognised correctly:
Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GS
Monitor: BNQ BENQ G2400W
Under properties:
If ONLY the BENQ is plugged in, then everything is just fine and the resolution here is set to 1900x1200 and it all works as expected.
If I have both monitor plugged in, strange things happen. everything is still detected correctly for both monitors - activated dual head and clicked the “configure” button. The make, model, specs are correct and it’s all labeled as “second monitor”.
I choose the “Xinerama multihead option” and click the “2:1 L” option under arrangement.
When I click the Test option after having OK-ed everything, the test screen only displays on the Philips - which is meant to be the “second” monitor, according to my selected arrangement option
AND according to what the SaX2 panel labels are telling me. The BENQ is blank, but still displays the cursor when I move the mouse over. Not what I asked for, but no issues.
I save my options, then get back to runlevel 5: all screwed up. Both screens bank (black) with the Philips making flicking noises every 3-4 seconds - trying to display the image, but can’t.
I after a while I realised that the settings are mixed up and the 1920x1200 res is applied to the Philips.
The same thing happens using the nvidia config tool. Even if setting the BENQ as the main screen and trying differnet combinations of screen arrangement.
The ONLY thing that allows me to use both screens is to reverse the settings.
In SaX2 main screen I set 1280x1024 for the BENQ and 1900x1200 for the Philips on the Dual Head config screen and choose “1:2 R” as the arrangement. WEIRD!!!
Now I got the settings to be what I wanted, but in GNOME the Philips is treated as the main screen; containing the panel and desktop icons! Actually, this is now SOLVED: as I wrote the previous sentence I realised I could try moving the panel accross to the other screen and it worked.
All this stuff worked perfectly fine, everything positioned and configures as I wanted it to be with just a few clicks in the nvidia config tool in my brief trial of Ubuntu 8.04.
I tried checking the xorg.conf file to see if I can manually change settings around, but the way the two screens have been configured, I do not understand.
Here it is:
# /.../
# SaX generated X11 config file
# Created on: 2008-06-27T23:51:55+1000.
#
# Version: 8.1
# Contact: Marcus Schaefer <sax@suse.de>, 2005
# Contact: SaX-User list <https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/sax-users>
#
# Automatically generated by [ISaX] (8.1)
# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE!
#
Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/local"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/URW"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/PEX"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/latin2/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/latin7/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/baekmuk:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/japanese:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/kwintv"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/uni:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ucs/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ucs/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/ucs/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/hellas/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc/sgi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/xtest"
FontPath "/opt/kde3/share/fonts"
InputDevices "/dev/gpmdata"
InputDevices "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection
Section "ServerFlags"
Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "on"
Option "ZapWarning" "on"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "kbd"
Identifier "Keyboard[0]"
Option "Protocol" "Standard"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
Option "XkbModel" "microsoftpro"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "Buttons" "7"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Name" "Logitech Cordless Mouse Receiver"
Option "Protocol" "explorerps/2"
Option "Vendor" "Sysp"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Option "CalcAlgorithm" "XServerPool"
DisplaySize 519 324
HorizSync 30-94
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "BENQ G2400W"
Option "DPMS"
Option "PreferredMode" "1280x1024"
VendorName "BNQ"
VertRefresh 43-85
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection
Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes[0]"
Modeline "1920x1200" 154.00 1920 1968 2000 2080 1200 1203 1209 1235 -HSync +VSync
Modeline "3200x1200" 157.50 3200 1344 1504 1728 1200 1025 1028 1072
EndSection
Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
EndSection
Section "Device"
BoardName "GeForce 7300 GS"
BusID "2:0:0"
Driver "nvidia"
Identifier "Device[0]"
Option "SaXDualHead"
Option "TwinView"
Option "SaXDualMonitorVendor" "PHL"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "31-97"
Option "SaXDualVSync" "50-160"
Option "MetaModes" "1280x1024,1920x1200;1280x960,1280x960;1280x800,1280x800;1152x864,1152x864;1280x768,1280x768;1280x720,1280x720;1024x768,1024x768;1280x600,1280x600;1024x600,1024x600;800x600,800x600;768x576,768x576;640x480,640x480"
Option "SaXDualOrientation" "RightOf"
Option "SaXDualResolution" "1920x1200"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
Option "SaXDualMode" "Xinerama"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "50-160"
Option "SaXDualHSync" "31-97"
Option "SaXDualMonitorModel" "PHILIPS 109B6"
VendorName "NVIDIA"
EndSection
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Layout[all]"
InputDevice "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
Option "Clone" "off"
Option "Xinerama" "off"
Screen "Screen[0]"
EndSection
Section "DRI"
Group "video"
Mode 0660
EndSection
Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "on"
EndSection