How to do dual monitor on linux? (Ubuntu)

[aceO07]

Is there an easy want to set this up?

I'd also love to have gnome (or kde) link a specific desktop to the projector, and also so I could see that desktop on on my monitor as well, with a different resolution just for that desktop. But just having like MS Windows is fine too, where it extends my desktop.

edit: For my brain farts and the poor sentences it created.

 

[Nothinman]

If you have an nVidia card the TwinView stuff in their non-free drivers has a lot of options, I just used it to extend my desktops but I didn't put much time into any other configurations.

 

[aceO07]

That's too bad, I just got an ATI. It does have linux software from ATI, I'll have to look deeper into it. The first time I looked it didn't have anything that seemed to do the trick.

 

[silverpig]

You can do it with ati as well. I think it's called Big Desktop or something. Just google for it and you'll find plenty of instructions.

 

[aceO07]

So I've installed the latest ati drivers from ati/amd website for linux and everything is slow now. I did figure out dual-head mode, but it's not really worth it if everything is slow.

Dragging windows is slower and lags. Firefox scrolling is horribly slow. I've googled and it doesn't seem like anybody has an answer..

Unfortunately, I AM using the lastest driver released just yesterday. So it might be a while before new ones come out again. I have used the version prior to this too and same results. Using the generic vesa driver seems ok, but gl stuff is slow and colors aren't are good.

 

[silverpig]

Don't use those, just use the ubuntu package manager to install them. I have a 9700 mobility in my laptop and everything runs great.

 

[aceO07]

Originally posted by: silverpig
Don't use those, just use the ubuntu package manager to install them. I have a 9700 mobility in my laptop and everything runs great.

Actually I just got it working this morning. I tried Ubuntu's restricted drivers, but it just didn't work (failed) and gave me a max of resolution of 800x600.

I managed to find a wiki with instructions to set up the ATI drivers from the ati website with Ubuntu and it seems to be working good so far. Unfortunately the installer that ati provides just doesn't do what it needs to do. If only they can get some of this stuff worked out, it'd make Linux much easier to use.

 

[aceO07]

Now to figure out how to link the projector screen to a desktop that can also be seen on one of the monitor virtual desktops.

 

[silverpig]

Originally posted by: aceO07
Now to figure out how to link the projector screen to a desktop that can also be seen on one of the monitor virtual desktops.

That would be a cool thing for sure. It seems as though there should be a way to do it.

And yeah, ATI is bad for linux. It's always much easier and nicer to work with nvidia.

 

[f1sh3r]

I tried setting up a 2nd monitor on my laptop with an intel chipset. Totally screwed up my xorg.conf o well, easy to fix at least.