Ubuntu :: Multiple Monitors Multi-Display Not Working Well?
Jun 22, 2011
I'm trying to get 4 monitors working in Ubuntu 11.04 the way I would like to. I have two Radeon video cards with two monitors connected to each. With proprietary ATI drivers and the Catalyst Control Center I'm able to see all the monitors and Have Multi-Display setups, but they're separated for each video card. I can move items to and from Monitor 1 to Monitor 2, and Monitor 3 to Monitor 4. I'm not able to move windows from 2 to 3 or 4. The two separate display setups have their own set of workspaces too. I've tried enabling xinerama, but when I log back in after a restart the screen is just black and I'm forced to reboot manually. The two separate displays wouldn't be that much of a problem except that my keyboard doesn't seem to work on any application opened on monitors 3 and 4 after I've clicked on something in Monitor 1 or 2.
Below is one of the configs I've been messing around with:
I'm using a NVIDIA 9600M GT on my laptop running Ubuntu 10.10. The laptop has a 16:10 display, I also connected my 16:9 LCD TV via HDMI. I would like to use them as clones. The problem is, as my TV has a different aspect ratio than my laptop display, the image does not fully fit on the TV. For example, when using a resolution of 1280x800 (16:10), one tenth of the width of that image is missing on my TV, as it has an aspect ratio of 16:9.
In Windows, the NVIDIA software stretches the image so that it appears a little distorted on my TV, but at least I see everything. Is it possible to do that in Ubuntu?
I have an ATI Radeon HD 3300 on-board video chipset, and an ATI Radeon HD 4350 PCI card. What I want is to have both displays available from one mouse/keyboard. I want to play media on one and have the other as my main desktop.The problem is that with Xinerama enabled, KDE desktop effects do not work (KDE says XComposite and XDamage are not available, even though I explicitly enabled them as extensions in the xorg.conf file), and performance is quite bad. Without Xinerama enabled, performance is great, desktop effects work great, but there's a lot of trouble with full-screen video, and the KWin window manager does not apply in the second display (although I can run a second instance of KWin on :0.1).
xrandr: screen cannot be larger than 1920x1920 (desired size 3200x1080)
Googling about this error i found a old post,it could be outfated that sugested editing xorg.conf. I created a xorg.conf using "Xorg -configure" and i modified the screen section to this:
As described in further detail below I am looking for some help in Ubuntu 10.10 with a multi-monitor + multi-gpu setup using both ATI and Nvidia video cards installed within the same system (que scoffs and jeers). Is it possible to sucessfully run both ATI and NVidia GPU's and Drivers simultaneously in Ubuntu 10.10 (think multi-monitor environment)? I am asking b/c I am having trouble figuring out how to manage my video cards - particularly ATI - within a multi-monitor + multi-gpu video card environment.
Here's the setup:
Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat x2 - NVidia 6800XT SLi GPU's + 2 DVI outputs/per card (Serviceable card for my needs) x1 - ATI Rage XL PCI Card + 1 VGA output (Yes, ancient hardware...I know)
I'm starting to have A LOT of opened windows in my machine. Sometimes within a project, I have e-mail/task management/personal e-mail/twitter, and a lot of different opened applications/terminals in my Linux workstation.Sometimes it would be interesting to have different workspaces to projects instead of this configuration I have nowadays that are classes of work (bad name, I know, but I think you got the idea).I'm starting to think about using two monitors: one with Corporate Management, Work and Personal. The second monitor is only the development state: each workspace here is about a project being worked on instead of groups of works like before. A workspace may be implementing different classes for example.
My question is: I just want to change to a second monitor using the mouse. I want to still be able to change workspaces in the same monitor using keyboard shortcuts. The keyboard shortcuts wouldn't change monitors, just worskpaces on the same monitor. All the tutorials I read (like this one) only tells how to use multiple monitors but doesn't answer my question about keyboard shortcuts.Does Linux (Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx or Debian 5.0.5 Lenny) support this envisioned setup (Different workspaces in a way that keyboard workspace switching only works in the current monitor) ? If so, how?I haven't tested this setup, that's why I'm asking. In this question the user says it works exactly how I want it to behave, can someone else confirm it?
So essentially, I have 3 monitors and i'm attempting to run 2 different window managers/sessions at once split up on the monitors. It is intended to be like this:
Code: [GNOME/Compiz - Screen0] - Left Monitor[code]......
I use Kubuntu 10.04. I want to use multiple monitors in an extended way. When i connect a monitor to my laptop, i get the same desktop view on both monitors. When i go to system settings - display - multiple monitors, i see the message: "This module is only for configuring systems with a single desktop spread across multiple monitors. You do not appear to have this configuration".
We are working on a project to create a display wall of 8 monitors arranged as 2 high by 4 wide. Each monitor is connected to a single machine and all machines are networked with a master machine with its own, seperate monitor.
Our goal is to get the 8 machines to share a single desktop, with the master machine acting as the server. We have looked at using Xinerama or NMM, but we are unsure about how to get started configuring the multi-machine, multi-head display.
I'm planning on getting an HDTV soon, and I'd like to be able to hook it up to my computer so that I can watch movies on it through my computer. I don't want to have dual monitors in the traditional sense where my desktop is spread across two screens. Rather, I just want my desktop to appear exactly the same on both my monitor and TV.
Is this possible? And if so, what would be the best way to go about doing this? My video card has two DVI ports, so I was planning on running a cable from the unused port to my TV and using a DVI-VGA adapter. Or would I be better off getting a TV with an S-video port, which I also have on my card, and connecting it that way
I'm running Ubuntu 10.10 x64 as a guest in VirtualBox on top of Windows 7. I recently bought a second monitor, and I want to set up my Ubuntu guest to use both monitors. I configured VirtualBox to give two displays to the VM, and two windows are displayed when I run the VM, however, the Ubuntu guest only uses the primary screen and does nothing with the second--the second screen is just black.
When I go to the monitor settings, only the one monitor is detected (as an "unknown monitor") I have the latest guest additions installed and the driver under System-Administration->Additional Drivers is shown as installed and working correctly. I don't have any issues with the single display--it shows in the correct resolution, and works fine if I set it to fullscreen or seamless mode. Any thoughts on getting Ubuntu to detect the other screen?
I've been using linux for roughly 12 years now but I've always avoided linux on the desktop since touching X back in the day was quite a hassle. I recently decided that rather than keeping my windows desktop full of 15 PuTTY instances, I should rock the *nix desktop.
I started by installing Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop. It detected my two monitors handing off a pci express card just fine. I decided to install the ATI drivers when it prompted me - the proprietary drivers would let me select to use the monitors separately, but would always just default back to mirroring the screens. I was unable to get it to stop that, so I had to go back to the open source drivers. Which is fine, I don't really need the 3d accel. Roll forward a week, I ordered another video card to add another screen. I purchased another ATI card, since word on the street is that same-vendor chipsets play best together. This one had to be PCI, if this matters.
dmesg reports the new card is fine and happy, but the Monitors GUI thing doesn't detect any monitors off the new card, or report anything about it. So: what should I do to make the second video card get noticed?[URL]...
Got Ubuntu installed with not much trouble, tho I found the install CD not as helpful as it might be. Anyway, I have three monitors and want to get them running, same as in XP. Is there somewhere I can read up on this? At the moment my worst card is on the lowest PCI slot, and as I understand it, that makes it always the default, but XP has no trouble with that. Ubuntu's monitor setup page tells me 'unknown monitor' and seems unhappy with the graphics abilities of the card, but lspci reports all three cards correctly, so they are 'visible' at least.
I'm running a lenovo laptop with an nVidia Quadro FX 570M and Ubuntu 9.10.
I cannot get my external monitor to work properly for me (using nvidia-settings). It basically creates a single continuous monitor space across both the external and the inbuilt monitor (maximising a window, covers BOTH monitors and the gnomepanels run across both monitors)
I think its related to my xorg.conf settings, which are as following, Can any one help: (It used to work for me when I was using ubuntu 8.4)
I just abandoned Windows 7 for Ubuntu. I am trying to setup my monitors on my desktop. I have 3 monitors (i have 2 graphics cards with 2 monitors per graphics card -- so potential for 4 monitors).
Currently I have 2 of the monitors working, but they only mirror each other. I tried going in to System-Preferences-Monitors to configure them the way I want to, but nothing i do stops them from mirroring each other.
i would like to know if there is anything like this out there or in development and if not i think there should be. i feel that one of the areas that ubuntu still lacks majorly is when it comes to handling multi display.most people these days are using notebooks and are moving around a lot, and if your like me working as a software dev you need to be able to work from home running a different external display next to your internal, then when you get to work you need to maybe run two external displays or maybe a totally different display next to your internal, sometimes you'll need to connect to a projector in a meeting and do a demo.
At the moment, there is no easy way to do this unless you have a half an hour everytime to configure your displays manually,which goes without saying that its not quite what anybody is looking for.i'm looking for something that works similar to OSX's display manager.where you plug in a screen and poof, its there. and then mayb you can configure what your system should do when that specific monitor is plugged in and it will remember that configuration. so for instance you have a internal 15" with a res of 1440x960 then you want to plug in your 1080p 24", so boom it picks it up but its not configured yet.so it jus mirrors by default, then you decide ok, when this screen is pluggd in, i want it to extend my desktop onto it, and make it the primary monitor. ok cool so its set,so now when you plug it out, your system detects that your display setup has changed, then does a recheck of your active displays, and sets up the appropriate configuration, in this case only the internal is available so it will just go back to the internal, setting it back as the primary and moving all the windows that was on the external back to the internal.i think this would be a invaluable feature for a mobile professional.
I'm having an issue with Vmvware workstation on Ubuntu 11.04. Well, I had many issues, but most of them have workarounds. I can't find any info on this issue. When I have multiple displays enabled (nvidia prop) and launch workstation 7.1.4, my second monitor will become disabled. The unity menu will also stretch out and basically the computer becomes unusable. I have to restart.
i just installed ubuntu last night, with dual boot towards xp and ubuntu 9.1 on my pc. But was wondering if there is a way to switch bettween the two withOUT rebooting.
I have been using an XFX 5770 with Windows 7 in EyeFinity and running a 5760x1080 resolution. My setup is as follows for Windows
x3 Viewsonic VA2223WM monitors (vga/dvi only)
I have two monitors connected connected with DVI and my 3rd monitor is connected with a DVI to Active Display port adapter, bizlink brand. This works wonderfully in Windows 7.
I cannot get my 3 displays to function properly in Ubuntu. I have tried removing the display port adapter and connecting my 3rd monitor with a DVI to HDMI cable and still no success. I can only use any of my 3 monitors in a dual configuration...how do I get the 3rd extended? Using the ATI driver that was auto downloaded for me...
I am currently using and working on Fedora 10 and have couple of monitors set up to itNow, I want to display different content on different monitors (not the same content on all monitors). It should keep displaying Pictures and/or videos with a certain intervals of time as soon as the fedora loads. How should make this happen.
How to get AWN to run on two monitors? I want a bar on each monitor. I used to be able to start two instances using a shell script below but that doesn't seem to be working now.
Playing around more with this and it looks like avant no checks to see if there is another instance running and will not start if there is. That is a bummer. Any way to change this?
dccrens@cavermax-ubuntu:~$ DISPLAY=:0.0 avant-window-navigator & [1] 15569 dccrens@cavermax-ubuntu:~$ ** (avant-window-navigator:15569): WARNING **: Another instance of Awn is running [1]+ Done DISPLAY=:0.0 avant-window-navigator
I was scrolling through some multi-monitor problem topics and I guess everywhere has been having all kinds of issues. Nevertheless, I'm going to try and get mine solved. I have a laptop and I can get my monitor up and running, switch between default and not, and move it above/right/left without an issue. But if I unplug it, or boot up unity without my laptop connected to the monitor, I cannot get any functionality. The screen is distorted (as if unity is trying to display my monitors 1080p on my laptops smaller screen, or maybe even the 3268x1080p format that my dual setup runs with).
Is this a known bug or are there fixes out there that allow unity to self-adjust depending on whether my monitor is attached or not?
The following describes odd behavior in my opinion, but I'm not sure where this question belongs. How can a monitor affect the loading of application SW? Can I get some help to fix the following problem here?I installed lxde on a P3 with a Gem 17" CRT monitor. LXDE runs on top of opensuse 11.4. On a P4 box I installed kde with 11.4, both from the same DVD. The P4 OS was installed using Vivitron 1776 17" CRT monitor.
Both boxes use qinternet for connection to DSL. Qinternet is set to autostart and its icon displays in the taskbar system tray. I bought a ViewSonic E70 17" CRT monitor for the P4 and put the Vivitron on the P3.Now the P3 displays the qinternet icon in a small terminal instead of loading it into the system tray as before. Of the three 17" CRT monitors I have, only with the Gem will the P3 (LXDE) system display qinternet in the system tray.The P4 system (KDE4) can run any of the monitors and still put the qinternet icon into the system.Qinternet is a binary file, but if i "less" it, I can see references to kinternet, so I think it's KDE4 SW. LXDE may be the culprit, or maybe the behavior will involve xorg
how is the support for multiple, two or more, monitors in ubuntu (10.04) when using a graphic cards from AMD(/ATI), for example the HD 5770. (Which I'm currently using). I know that DP is required to use three monitors on a regular card. But other than that, will it work? Am I to expect a lot of work to be able to get it working? Or will it simply be impossible? (And yes, I know that AMDs(/ATI) drivers aren't always the best... Although changing to a card from nvidia at this moment isn't possible)
The background to my question is that I'm thinking about buying another monitor, same model as the current one I'm using, and later on perhaps expand to buy another one.Tried to search for it but wasn't able to find how the support would be in linux, and ubuntu in particular, since most I found is about the windows support, which should work quite easy and therefore isn't relevant.
I've been running Ubuntu 10.04 since it came out using two monitors, on the extended desktop option (the way I want it to be) with no problems. Today I unplugged the HDMI cable from my laptop and used it for my ps3 and now when I put the HDMI back in it will only run in the mirror desktop option. This is not acceptable to me as my 2nd monitor is a 50inch tv with a much higher resolution than my laptop.
When I uncheck the "Same image in all monitors" box it says to log out and back in. Doing this changes nothing(neither has restarting), it is still a mirrored screen.
When I click the detect monitors button absolutely nothing happens. Before today the detect monitors button did work.
How can I go about fixing this?
Edit: Also I just watched a show on the laptop and theres a lot of screen tearing, this didn't happen before.
I'm about to start a new build for my primary machine at home. The plan is to load up a server/workstation motherboard (ASUS KGPE-D16) with two 8-core chip, as much RAM as it will take (32GB) and to put two graphics cards in it. One to power my main 24" monitor (ideally via HDMI) and the other card to power two screens, one 24" on each left and right side via DVI (unless I can find a dual-HDMI card that meets my needs).
Does that make sense? Here's my question for this awesome group of intelligent individuals: What video card model should I choose? Obviously, I'd like them to match so I can SLI / CrossFire if I really want to, but what setup should I plan on to have a good experience managing multiple displays on multiple video cards?
Oh, and budget is probably up to about $300 per card, maybe a little more if it makes a lot of sense.I'm not alone in having tons of problems with trying to get multi monitor support in the last few versions of Ubuntu, and honestly it's the only reason why I'm still running Windows7: the multi monitor support is just SO DAMNED easy! I shouldn't have to spend this much energy thinking about video card model- it should just work, shouldn't it?
