Setting Primary Monitor on NVIDIA card

mjheagle8 · 2012-01-19 21:43:08

Hi all,

I have a dual monitor setup with an NVIDIA graphics card, and I want to set one monitor as primary. I am using TwinView.

When the laptop boots without the 2nd monitor attached, the laptop monitor is obviously used as the primary, but when the 2nd monitor is attached, it is used as the primary. This results in improper resolution and annoyance.

Any tips?

The "Primary" option in man xorg.conf.d looked to be useful, but im not sure it is correct to use with my twinview setup.

here is my 10-monitor.conf:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier      "DualScreen"
    Screen        0 "Screen0"
    Screen        1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    Option          "Xinerama" "1"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier      "Monitor0"
    Option          "Enable" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier      "Monitor1"
    Option          "Enable" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier      "Device0"
    Driver          "nvidia"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier      "Device1"
    Driver          "nvidia"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier      "Screen0"
    Device          "Device0"
    Monitor         "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option          "TwinView" "0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth 24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier      "Screen1"
    Device          "Device1"
    Monitor         "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option          "TwinView" "1"
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth 24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Thanks in advance for any and all help!

Gusar · 2012-01-19 22:01:42

Your xorg.conf is weird. Why are you using Xinerama? You don't need multiple Monitor, Screen and Device sections and all that, all you need is a single Device section. Where you use the options TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder and TwinViewOrientation. Look at Nvidia's documentation for more info.

hokasch · 2012-01-19 22:25:23

Also have a look at disper, works great here.

mjheagle8 · 2012-01-19 22:38:24

Gusar wrote:

Your xorg.conf is weird. Why are you using Xinerama? You don't need multiple Monitor, Screen and Device sections and all that, all you need is a single Device section. Where you use the options TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder and TwinViewOrientation. Look at Nvidia's documentation for more info.

i set up my config as instructed in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Nvidia#TwinView

are those instructions incorrect?

i am reading nvidia documentation now, thanks for the tip.

@hokasch:
disper is saying

Xlib:  extension "RANDR" missing on display ":0".

every time i run it.
it seems like i'm making some noob mistake

Last edited by mjheagle8 (2012-01-19 22:40:55)

Gusar · 2012-01-19 22:59:32

mjheagle8 wrote:

i set up my config as instructed in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Nvidia#TwinView
are those instructions incorrect?

It seems you used a mix of those instructions. It says there quite clearly to go for either xinerama (which has drawbacks) or twinview. But the twinview instructions there (running nvidia-xconfig) is something I'd actually not do, because that puts outdated stuff into the file. All you need something like this:

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Nvidia Card"
    Driver        "nvidia"
    Option        "TwinView"                   "1"
    Option        "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder"  "DFP-0, DFP-1"
    Option        "TwinViewOrientation"        "DFP-1 RightOf DFP-0"
EndSection

Adjust the display names appropriately, in my example I'm guessing that DFP-0 is the internal display and DFP-1 the external, which may or may not be the case.

Last edited by Gusar (2012-01-19 23:00:37)

mjheagle8 · 2012-01-20 01:06:50

Gusar wrote:

mjheagle8 wrote:
i set up my config as instructed in https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Nvidia#TwinView
are those instructions incorrect?
It seems you used a mix of those instructions. It says there quite clearly to go for either xinerama (which has drawbacks) or twinview. But the twinview instructions there (running nvidia-xconfig) is something I'd actually not do, because that puts outdated stuff into the file. All you need something like this:
Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Nvidia Card"
    Driver        "nvidia"
    Option        "TwinView"                   "1"
    Option        "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder"  "DFP-0, DFP-1"
    Option        "TwinViewOrientation"        "DFP-1 RightOf DFP-0"
EndSection
Adjust the display names appropriately, in my example I'm guessing that DFP-0 is the internal display and DFP-1 the external, which may or may not be the case.

okay, i used a slightly modified version of that and it worked as intended, thanks.

i still have the issue of grub and the arch boot using the second monitor during boot, which i would like to fix if possible. is there a kernel or grub setting i could use to change this? or should i be looking in the bios?

Arch Linux

#1 2012-01-19 21:43:08

Setting Primary Monitor on NVIDIA card

#2 2012-01-19 22:01:42

Re: Setting Primary Monitor on NVIDIA card

#3 2012-01-19 22:25:23

Re: Setting Primary Monitor on NVIDIA card

#4 2012-01-19 22:38:24

Re: Setting Primary Monitor on NVIDIA card

#5 2012-01-19 22:59:32

Re: Setting Primary Monitor on NVIDIA card

#6 2012-01-20 01:06:50

Re: Setting Primary Monitor on NVIDIA card

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