x server is not being reasonable...

hey all

im a complete noob to linux, installed opensuse 11.0 yesterday.
trying to get dual view working. im messing around with nVidia x server settings, i configure my secondary display the way i want to, setting it to function as a seperate X screen, im not really sure what it means but the other option: twin-view is not what i want. anyway, setting it to a separate x sreen requires a restart, and when i try to apply the changes it tells me the same thing, so i save the configuration file and restart the x server (what ever that is) by login out and back in. but now all the configurations are back to the default ? how do i get it to work ??
my prmary display is a samsung syncmaster monitor, the secondary is my tv. and my gfx card is an nVIdia fx 5200.

i’d grateful for any kind of help.

In fact, Twinview is almost certainly what you want. It’s the one that lets your 2 displays act as one display. Separate X screens makes them operate independently which is a pain.

A couple of things to remember:

1] Never use SaX2 (the Yast X manager). It just messes up nVidia settings. Always use nvidia-settings.

2] Run nvidia-settings as root. Do this via either kdesu or gnomesu. Be sure to click the “Save to X Configuration file”

thanks a lot for the tips, running nvidia settings through kdesu actualy lets me to save the settings which is nice. but tween view is not working out for me. i want the 2nd display to be an extension of my desktop but i dont want the tasknbar and maximized windows extending to it. i only use it to watch movies, its not located next to my primary monitor…

Those aren’t X server setting, but rather KDE settings. For the Task Bar, right click on it, Configure Panel…, then Arrangement. The Screen options, set the Xinerama
screen to be 1. For the windows, I’m not sure, as I haven’t seen it, but Configure Desktop…, Display, Multiple Monitors has a bunch of options.