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#1 2009-02-04 01:40:16

void.pointer
Member
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: 2008-07-30
Posts: 239

Dual Monitors: How to position monitors vertically?

Hi,

I'm currently using Gnome and NVIDIA drivers. Below is a rough sketch of how my monitors are positioned on my desk:

#############################
#                           #
#                           ########################
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
####################################################

Forgive the ugly ASCII art. The left box is my primary monitor and the left one is my smaller secondary monitor. The problem is that I am unable to shift the secondary monitor "down" to match how my physical setup is. As far as NVIDIA is concerned, they are positioned like this:

####################################################
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
#                           #                      #
#                           ########################
#                           #
#############################

Which is of course, incorrect. This results in my mouse cursor jumping "downward" when I move the cursor across the boundary into the second monitor. Using the application at "Applications > System Tools > NVIDIA X Server Settings", I cannot position the second monitor absolutely to shift it down myself. My left monitor is 1920x1200 and my smaller right monitor is 1680x1050. I tried to set the position of the secondary (smaller) monitor to +1920+150, which should position it exactly where it needs to be, but when I accept this option it resets it back to +1920+0.

I'm out of options! Anyone have any advice?

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#2 2009-02-04 02:00:14

Procyon
Member
Registered: 2008-05-07
Posts: 1,819

Re: Dual Monitors: How to position monitors vertically?

Could you try in xorg.conf / ServerLayout with
Screen 1 "Monitor2" Relative "Monitor1" 1920 150

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#3 2009-02-04 02:05:43

void.pointer
Member
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: 2008-07-30
Posts: 239

Re: Dual Monitors: How to position monitors vertically?

Procyon wrote:

Could you try in xorg.conf / ServerLayout with
Screen 1 "Monitor2" Relative "Monitor1" 1920 150

Mine currently looks like:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

I'm not sure how to change it like you ask. The second line looks like the one to change but it is using "Screen0" instead of "Monitor2".

And the entire xorg.conf if you are interested:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder62)  Tue Jan  6 09:44:34 PST 2009

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL 2007WFP"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 7950 GT"
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option         "BackingStore" "False"
    Option         "DamageEvents" "True"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-1"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0, DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Last edited by void.pointer (2009-02-04 02:06:27)

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#4 2009-02-04 02:30:50

Procyon
Member
Registered: 2008-05-07
Posts: 1,819

Re: Dual Monitors: How to position monitors vertically?

Oh, I see you use twinview. I don't know then. I was thinking of the manual way.

You could give it a try, it's not too hard

Section "ServerLayout"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 1920 150
...

You will have to make a new Screen1, which needs a new Monitor1 and  Device1

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "Screen1"
   Device "Device1"
   Monitor "Monitor1"
...

Section "Device"
   Identifier "Device1"
   Driver         "nvidia"
   VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
....

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor1"
....

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#5 2009-02-04 02:45:57

void.pointer
Member
From: Dallas, TX
Registered: 2008-07-30
Posts: 239

Re: Dual Monitors: How to position monitors vertically?

Procyon wrote:

Oh, I see you use twinview. I don't know then. I was thinking of the manual way.

You could give it a try, it's not too hard

Section "ServerLayout"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 1920 150
...

You will have to make a new Screen1, which needs a new Monitor1 and  Device1

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "Screen1"
   Device "Device1"
   Monitor "Monitor1"
...

Section "Device"
   Identifier "Device1"
   Driver         "nvidia"
   VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
....

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor1"
....

What about the "Screen", "Device", "Monitor", and "InputDevice" sections I already have in there? Can I delete those and just put in what you had suggested? Sorry I'm really new to this. Is TwinView not recommended? I prefer to use a GUI frontend to edit settings like this, which is typical considering I come from a Microsoft Windows background.

I hate to ask this of you, but if you could give me exactly what I need to put into my xorg.conf I would really appreciate it. I realize you take your own free time to help me out, so I do feel rather selfish/lazy for asking this of you. You've been really helpful so far and I really appreciate it.

I guess the last thing I'd ask at this point is what you originally had thought I meant if you did not suspect I was talking about "TwinView". Is there another mode other than "TwinView" that provides Gnome a way of handling 2 monitors as 2 completely different work areas (In other words, i can drag windows onto one or the other)?

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#6 2009-02-04 03:24:52

Procyon
Member
Registered: 2008-05-07
Posts: 1,819

Re: Dual Monitors: How to position monitors vertically?

If you don't use twinview or xinerama, you will lose a lot of abilities such as dragging a window from one monitor to another, so perhaps this is not a good idea.

You can give it a try anyway of course, just to see if you can get the layout working at all: You see you just have to modify ServerLayout and add the sections I mentioned.

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder62)  Tue Jan  6 09:44:34 PST 2009

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 1920 150
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL 2007WFP"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 7950 GT"
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option         "BackingStore" "False"
    Option         "DamageEvents" "True"
EndSection

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

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

Section "Device"
   Identifier "Device1"
   Driver         "nvidia"
   VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 7950 GT"
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option         "BackingStore" "False"
    Option         "DamageEvents" "True"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor1"
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Well... I think that's it. I can't try it out of course.

Dependant on the WM, without Twinview the second monitor may just be blank. You can move the mouse though and see if the layout is correct.

You can do that with just Xorg :1 after you edited it, without having to restart gnome.

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#7 2009-02-04 14:15:06

Procyon
Member
Registered: 2008-05-07
Posts: 1,819

Re: Dual Monitors: How to position monitors vertically?

I looked at a guide

I think you only have to change metamodes, like this:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 1.0  (buildmeister@builder62)  Tue Jan  6 09:44:34 PST 2009

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DELL 2007WFP"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 7950 GT"
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option         "BackingStore" "False"
    Option         "DamageEvents" "True"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-1"
      Option      "MetaModes" "1920x1200 +0+0, 1680x1050 +1920+150"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

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