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mark_1

Member

Registered: 2014-02-15

Posts: 10

[SOLVED] laptop with 2 external monitor

Hi all, I know there are tons of threads about multihead, I think I have read them all...

I would like to extend my laptop monitor to the left with a VGA monitor, and to the right with another VGA monitor, but that monitor is connected through a VGA-HDMI adapter, since my laptop has a VGA and an HDMI output.
I'm running Cinnamon, if this can help.

Now this is my xrandr output when all three are active:

Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 3926 x 1024, maximum 32767 x 32767
LVDS1 connected primary 1366x768+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 340mm x 190mm
   1366x768      60.02*+
   1280x720      59.86    60.00    59.74  
   1024x768      60.00  
   1024x576      60.00    59.90    59.82  
   960x540       60.00    59.63    59.82  
   800x600       60.32    56.25  
   864x486       60.00    59.92    59.57  
   640x480       59.94  
   720x405       59.51    60.00    58.99  
   680x384       60.00  
   640x360       59.84    59.32    60.00  
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 340mm x 270mm
   1280x1024     60.02*+  75.02  
   1152x864      75.00  
   1280x720      60.00    59.94  
   1024x768      75.03    70.07    60.00  
   832x624       74.55  
   800x600       72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    60.00    59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
VGA1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 340mm x 270mm
   1280x1024     60.02*+
   1280x960      60.00  
   1024x768      60.00  
   800x600       60.32  
   640x480       59.94  
   720x400       70.08  
VIRTUAL1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

and I can make them working running

xrandr --output LVDS1 --auto --output VGA1 --auto --left-of LVDS1 --output HDMI1 --auto --right-of LVDS1

Now the problem:
Left and right monitors (VGA1 and HDMI1) are showing the same things. Actually, HDMI1 is the exact copy of VGA1.
Is there a way to extend my laptop monitor on both sides?

Thank you all,
Marco

TL;DR
use

xrandr -q --verbose

. If the informations about the 2 screens have "Clones:<the other display output>" you cannot do this, unless you can stretch the screen output over the border, using the monitor OSD.

Last edited by mark_1 (2018-02-21 09:53:01)

drcouzelis

Member

From: Connecticut, USA

Registered: 2009-11-09

Posts: 4,092

Website

Re: [SOLVED] laptop with 2 external monitor

I don't know, but aren't there some laptops that only have ONE video out even though they have TWO ports? Meaning if you plug in two monitors they will always show the same output...

What is your laptop and video card model?

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,317

Re: [SOLVED] laptop with 2 external monitor

#1
Use three xrandr calls:

xrandr --output LVDS1 --auto
xrandr --output VGA1 --auto --left-of LVDS1
xrandr --output HDMI1 --auto --right-of LVDS1

#2

xrandr -q --verbose

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mark_1

Member

Registered: 2014-02-15

Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] laptop with 2 external monitor

Thank you for the help.

Btw, my laptop is an old Asus K54C, running with the integrated VGA in the Intel i3-2350M.

I'm still googling about this, but I think that even if there are 2 video output, they are clones...
this thesis is encouraged by the output of

xrandr -q --verbose

that is:

HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
	Identifier: 0x44
	Timestamp:  1912857
	Subpixel:   unknown
	Clones:     VGA1
	CRTCs:      0 1
	Transform:  1.000000 0.000000 0.000000
	            0.000000 1.000000 0.000000
	            0.000000 0.000000 1.000000
	           filter: 
	aspect ratio: Automatic 
		supported: Automatic, 4:3, 16:9
	Broadcast RGB: Automatic 
		supported: Automatic, Full, Limited 16:235
	audio: auto 
		supported: force-dvi, off, auto, on
	non-desktop: 0 
		range: (0, 1)
	link-status: Good 
		supported: Good, Bad
VGA1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (0x107) normal (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 340mm x 270mm
	Identifier: 0x45
	Timestamp:  1912857
	Subpixel:   unknown
	Gamma:      1.0:1.0:1.0
	Brightness: 1.0
	Clones:     HDMI1
	CRTC:       1
	CRTCs:      0 1
	Transform:  1.000000 0.000000 0.000000
	            0.000000 1.000000 0.000000
	            0.000000 0.000000 1.000000
	           filter: 
	EDID: 
		00ffffffffffff0022f0562801010101
		1214010368221b8ceef7c5a3554c9b25
		125054a1080081408180010101010101
		010101010101302a009851002a403070
		1300540e1100001e000000fd00324c18
		530e000a202020202020000000fc004c
		45313731310a202020202020000000ff
		00334351303138515252470a20200087
	non-desktop: 0 
		range: (0, 1)
	link-status: Good 
		supported: Good, Bad
  1280x1024 (0x107) 108.000MHz +HSync +VSync *current +preferred
        h: width  1280 start 1328 end 1440 total 1688 skew    0 clock  63.98KHz
        v: height 1024 start 1025 end 1028 total 1066           clock  60.02Hz
  1280x960 (0x108) 108.000MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width  1280 start 1376 end 1488 total 1800 skew    0 clock  60.00KHz
        v: height  960 start  961 end  964 total 1000           clock  60.00Hz
  1024x768 (0xe2) 65.000MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width  1024 start 1048 end 1184 total 1344 skew    0 clock  48.36KHz
        v: height  768 start  771 end  777 total  806           clock  60.00Hz
  800x600 (0xe9) 40.000MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width   800 start  840 end  968 total 1056 skew    0 clock  37.88KHz
        v: height  600 start  601 end  605 total  628           clock  60.32Hz
  640x480 (0xee) 25.175MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width   640 start  656 end  752 total  800 skew    0 clock  31.47KHz
        v: height  480 start  490 end  492 total  525           clock  59.94Hz
  720x400 (0x109) 28.320MHz -HSync +VSync
        h: width   720 start  738 end  846 total  900 skew    0 clock  31.47KHz
        v: height  400 start  412 end  414 total  449           clock  70.08Hz

Looking at the "Clones" row, it shows that HDMI is the clone of VGA and vice versa...

Is there a way to software-bypass this or is an hardware features?

seth

Member

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 51,317

Re: [SOLVED] laptop with 2 external monitor

No, I'm afraid it's the same logial output, so unless you could eg. use a 2560x1024 resolution and make one monitor display only the left part and the other one the right part of the output (by using the monitor OSD to control the image; stretching and shifting it by extreme measures) there's nothing you can do about this, sorry.

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mark_1

Member

Registered: 2014-02-15

Posts: 10

Re: [SOLVED] laptop with 2 external monitor

No, I'm afraid it's the same logial output, so unless you could eg. use a 2560x1024 resolution and make one monitor display only the left part and the other one the right part of the output (by using the monitor OSD to control the image; stretching and shifting it by extreme measures) there's nothing you can do about this, sorry.

I was trying to do this without luck. Cannot extend over the max resolution neither of the external monitor...

Thank you for the support.