I just got a new Lenovo M92p (https://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Lenovo-ThinkCentre-M92p-2992-Core-i7-3770-3.4-GHz-none/2753427.aspx). When following their directions on multi monitor it works just fine in Windows 7. However, I like to work from a Suse box and manage the systems from a VM I have and I am not getting Suse 12.2 to allow multi monitors. The “Hardware Information” is showing two display controllers. The Intel HD 4000 that is built into the i7 and then the ATI expansion card that is a 7450.
It will currently not work out of the box. You will have to manually configure it. And there are a couple of different ways you could do it*
Unfortunately, it is too complex a topic to try to condense and provide a thorough explanation of what you are actually attempting to do in a few sentences or paragraphs (I don’t have time to do that). It is also an area under Linux that can be a huge PITA/hell.
How many monitors do you have and to which graphics adapter are you attaching them? (this will play a role in which way would be the most appropriate to configure your setup)
If you want to figure out how to configure your system for this, it a good place to start is to get a good understanding of what is conveyed by the X Server Displayname / Display Environmental Variable, as well as the Xorg.conf terminology. Also, in your research, take care to note that much of the information that you find on the web is slightly incorrect because of the misuse of terminology – its a case of the devil’s in the details (i.e. a place where common vernacular and contextual discrimination meet in a head on collision, with contextual discrimination being the big loser). Also note that much of what you will find may be slightly incorrect because it suffers from historic associations that are no longer applicable – i.e. the good old days of the computing stone age when there was a 1:1 correspondence between devices, monitors and Screens – the nouveau wiki addresses this: nouveau Wiki - MultiMonitorDesktop
(as separate X Window Screens within a single X server Display; separate X servers, such as with a multiseat config; or separate X servers, with a single seat and configure synergy to share the kb/mouse between the two servers). Each has its rather fair share of draw backs and behavioural oddities.
Here’s a little conceptual digram of a single X server Display with two separate X Window Screens, with multiple monitors (“M”)attached to each of those Screens
____________
| |
| M M |
| |
| V M |
| M M |
|___________|
Think of the rectangle as the X sever Display (:0) – it is comprised of a X Window Screen, or, as in this case, a collection of X Window Screens
Within the rectangle denoting the X server Display, draw a rectangle around the two MMs at the top – this will denote this X server Display’s X Window Screen 0 (:0.0)… and then similarly draw another box/rectangle around the VMMM…denoting Screen1 (:0.1)
Screen0 has two monitors (monitor 0, monitor 1) attached to it, and both are driven by graphics adapter0, which uses xorg driver_name?
Screen1 has three monitors (monitor 2, monitor 3, monitor 4) attached to it and are driver by graphics adatper1, which uses xorg driver_name? … the “V” denotes part of the virtual space comprising this Screen, as X Window Screens have to be rectangular … and oh, it makes for such fun when applications open within the V space (NOT!) …hint- that was an example of an oddity
You can move windows between monitors within a Screen … but you can NOT move windows between Screens … there are a few things like Xpra and such that can help in this regard
You can have separate Window Managers for both Screens if you wish to configure that
Within each Screen, you can use xrandr to configure your monitors layout, though multi-monitor support is not available … cause randr currently doesn’t support multiple screens … this fact leads to a lot of annoyances - like where windows and system notifications open, how windows maximize, cursor size changes … etc etc. trust me, you’ll find them (ps - compositing seems to help play a part for a number of them)
Here’s an example of a configured xorg.conf to drive that (the additional monitors omitted to save space, and the driver added as well as the important busid part in the device section):
Anyway, hopefully in about a year’s time proper support for multiple Screens will make its way into randr and associated parts of the x server, and we shall see similar out of the box support and capabilities as are now in Windows 7. Until then, you have to pick your poison (way/method you are going to go about driving all you monitors) and live with the oddities that each entails.
I’ll add that, currently, if you want to drive a number of monitors at once, the easiest way and one which will produce a desktop experience that most are familar with is to just use a single graphics adapter that is capable of driving x number of display devices. Once you add a second adapter, you’re into the current world of hurt somewhat explained above.
That is what I am assuming. This is my first time trying to do multiple adapters as well as with AMD at all. I have done this with Nividia in SLI but not like this… I will have to mess with it and see what I get. Don’t feel like running Win7.