Menus and Panels on External Moniter

I have been tinkering with xrandr and I managed to set up a dual screen after adding a “virtual” line to the xorg file.

If I run

xrandr --output VGA --mode 1024x768 --left-of LVDS

then the TV becomes my “main” moniter as it where. All my programs launch there by default and the panels and taskbars are on there. I need my laptop to be my main moniter with the tv to the left of it.

The xrandr output is below

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1280 x 800, maximum 2560 x 1600
VGA connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1280x800       60.0 +   58.9
   1280x960       60.0
   1152x768       54.8
   1024x768       60.0
   800x600        60.3     56.2
   640x480        59.9
LVDS connected 1280x800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 331mm x 207mm
   1280x800       60.0*+   60.0     58.9
   1152x768       54.8
   1024x768       60.0
   800x600        60.3     56.2
   640x480        59.9
TMDS-1 connected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
   1280x720       60.0 +
   1280x1024      59.9
   1280x960       59.9
   1360x765       59.8
   1152x864       74.8
   1024x768       84.9     75.1     70.1     60.0
   800x600        84.9     72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2
   640x480        84.6     75.0     72.8     60.0
   720x400        70.1
TV disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Where the LVDS is my laptop moniter and my tv is connected with the VGA.

My xorg.conf file is below

# /.../
# SaX generated X11 config file
# Created on: 2008-08-03T20:26:52+0100.
#
# 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       "AIGLX" "on"
  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" "gb"
  Option       "XkbModel" "microsoftpro"
  Option       "XkbRules" "xfree86"
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
  Driver       "synaptics"
  Identifier   "Mouse[1]"
  Option       "Buttons" "5"
  Option       "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
  Option       "Emulate3Buttons" "on"
  Option       "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
  Option       "InputFashion" "Mouse"
  Option       "Name" "Synaptics;Touchpad"
  Option       "Protocol" "explorerps/2"
  Option       "SHMConfig" "on"
  Option       "Vendor" "Sysp"
  Option       "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
  Driver       "mouse"
  Identifier   "Mouse[3]"
  Option       "Buttons" "5"
  Option       "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
  Option       "Name" "ImPS/2 Generic Wheel Mouse"
  Option       "Protocol" "explorerps/2"
  Option       "Vendor" "Sysp"
  Option       "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection


Section "Monitor"
  DisplaySize  331 207
  HorizSync    30-62
  Identifier   "Monitor[0]"
  ModelName    "AUO LCD MONITOR"
  Option       "DPMS"
  Option       "PreferredMode" "1280x800"
  VendorName   "AUO"
  VertRefresh  43-60
  UseModes     "Modes[0]"
EndSection


Section "Modes"
  Identifier   "Modes[0]"
  Modeline     "1280x800" 83.46 1280 1344 1480 1680 800 801 804 828
  Modeline     "1280x800" 69.75 1280 1328 1360 1440 800 803 809 823 +HSync -Vsync
EndSection


Section "Screen"
  DefaultDepth 24
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      15
    Modes      "1280x800" 
    Virtual    2560 1600
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      16
    Modes      "1280x800" 
    Virtual    2560 1600
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      24
    Modes      "1280x800"
    Virtual    2560 1600 
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      8
    Modes      "1280x800"
    Virtual    2560 1600 
  EndSubSection
  Device       "Device[0]"
  Identifier   "Screen[0]"
  Monitor      "Monitor[0]"
EndSection


Section "Device"
  BoardName    "945 GM"
  BusID        "0:2:0"
  Driver       "intel"
  Identifier   "Device[0]"
  Option       "monitor-LVDS" "Monitor[0]"
  VendorName   "Intel"
EndSection



Section "ServerLayout"
  Identifier   "Layout[all]"
  InputDevice  "Keyboard[0]" "CoreKeyboard"
  InputDevice  "Mouse[1]" "CorePointer"
  InputDevice  "Mouse[3]" "SendCoreEvents"
  Option       "Clone" "off"
  Option       "Xinerama" "off"
  Screen       "Screen[0]"
EndSection


Section "DRI"
    Group      "video"
    Mode       0660
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
  Option       "Composite" "on"
EndSection


I have a feeling I need to edit something in the xorg file but I dont know what.

Now I am asking nicely, please, please help me.

I have been trying to get this sorted for quite a while now and I feel like I have hit a brick wall.

Thanks for looking.

I’ve found the information at this link:

X.Org Wiki - radeonhd

to be very helpful. Although it’s for radeonhd I believe that it should be
generic info from the linked section and down.
As you already have made manual changes to xorg.conf you might as well
edit your own, people may not believe this but my ATI system runs fine with
this tiny xorg.conf:

Section “Device”
Identifier “MyCard”
Driver “fglrx”
EndSection

Section “Screen”
Identifier “MyScreen”
Device “MyCard”
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
Virtual 1280 1024
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section “DRI”
Group “video”
Mode 0660
EndSection

Note that this gives me a US keyboard, I change that in Gnome’s control
center, you might prefer to copy your InputDevice sections from your
existing xorg.conf.

Im in work at the moment, Ill give it a go when I get home and update you on the result.

Cheers

The snippet which I am guessing your referring to. Under the heading of 10.9. “My Gnome/KDE/whatever panel shows up on the wrong monitor” states that it is a radeonhd specific option. I tried anyway but with no luck.

I am relatively new to openSuse, but I think I remember a time when this would have been configured in sax2, in the xinerama area, but now any change made to sax2 doesnt apply after x restart but anything done with xrandr or krandrtray works right away.

How can it be so difficult to set this up. Its really annoying me now, because it should be simple but its not.

Either that or the solution is staring me right in the face and Im not seeing it, not for lack of looking though.

Any other ideas before I give up and move to Ubuntu

:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Shameless Bump.

Does anyone have any ideas, or even a link to a page which actually explains all of the xorg.conf lines as well as the options?

You shouldn’t have to edit the xorg.conf with openSUSE. sax2 worked okay for me back in the ATI days (now I have an nvidia card and I use the nvidia settings). Have you tried it with sax2?

I did much hand (and keyboard) baning work trying to get dual monitor support for X on my FreeBSD box. Maybe it will help you too:

Daemon Dancing in the Dark: Getting Jiggy with my dual monitors

Mully-Dude wrote:

>
> Shameless Bump.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas, or even a link to a page which actually
> explains all of the xorg.conf lines as well as the options?
>
>

The xrandr command you used said to make the VGA the ‘main’ (screen 0).

xrandr --output VGA --mode 1024x768 --left-of LVDS

Screen 0 is always considered ‘main’… you desire to configure the VGA
output as screen 1

xrandr --screen 1 --output VGA --mode 1024x768 --left-of LVDS

I don’t really know if that will work though, conceptually, it should.
The --screen x option determines which screen to manipulate, and if not
specified, defaults to 0.

Please try this.

Loni


L R Nix
lornix@lornix.com

I think this might work, It seems promising. But when I put this into the terminal I get

Invalid screen number 1 (display has 1)

Im guessing a second screen has to be added to the xorg.conf file, maybe?

Mully-Dude wrote:

>
> I think this might work, It seems promising. But when I put this into
> the terminal I get
>
> Invalid screen number 1 (display has 1)
>
> Im guessing a second screen has to be added to the xorg.conf file,
> maybe?
>
>
Hmmm, drat!!!

When you enable the VGA->TV output, is your screen one really wide screen?
or two screens? Can you drag things from one to the other?

Kind of sounds like it’s set up as a Xinerama type display, which is
considered a single ‘screen’ (0), really wide or tall, depending on how you
align the monitors.

My other thought was to ‘flip’ the placement of the VGA-TV in relation to
the LDVS, maybe make it ‘–right-of LVDS’. It might be something as
stupid as ‘left monitor is main’. The ‘logical left’ of course. So when
you enable the VGA->TV, and put it to the left of the existing monitor, the
system decides that since it’s ‘leftmost’, it gets tagged as the main
display for new programs and such.

{Smile} Got nuttin’ to lose… right?

Loni

L R Nix
lornix@lornix.com

I do have it set up in xinerama mode, ie I can drag windows between them.

I think this is what is happening. I have it set up so that the TV is to the logical left of the laptop. Which works ok, apart from the fact that I need to drag windows to the right to move it to the physical left :confused:

Is there any way to change this, or will I just have to live with my tv being on the wrong ‘virtual’ side?

Mully-Dude wrote:

>
> I do have it set up in xinerama mode, ie I can drag windows between
> them.
>
> I think this is what is happening. I have it set up so that the TV is
> to the logical left of the laptop. Which works ok, apart from the fact
> that I need to drag windows to the right to move it to the physical
> left :confused:
>
> Is there any way to change this, or will I just have to live with my tv
> being on the wrong ‘virtual’ side?
>
>

So I gather this ‘fixed’ the main screen issue? (you didn’t seem to say)

Ummm, other than performing some sort of moebius strip transform on
yourself, no, I can’t think of a good solution.

You might think of this as a ‘feature’… yeah!

I’d say it’s a bug, but a relatively small one, since things DO work, just
weirdly. It may be something relating to the ‘relative’ newness of
mainstream dual screens, with VGA being the ‘main’ output, and the LDVS and
others being added later. But I’m just theorizing.

I just had some weird hairbrained ideas on how to flip things around and
over and upside-down… and I won’t type them because you might want me to
explain them and they only work in my world where the sky is a beautiful
lavender.

Loni


L R Nix
lornix@lornix.com

so to sum up - what commands should i use to make my laptop screen to be the default one for gnome, could not get it working.