Arch Linux

murffatksig

Member

From: Atl

Registered: 2004-05-17

Posts: 358

Laptop and dual monitor [SOLVED!]

I've got a dell d630, and it works great.  At work, I have a docking station with two monitors connected to it.  One is vga, one is dvi.  In winblows the display will switch to both monitors.  However, in linux, I only get one monitor and the laptop display.  How do I get it to goto both monitors? 

Here's my xorg.conf.  http://murff.net/xorg.conf.txt

Last edited by murffatksig (2008-01-31 05:12:30)

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wuischke

Member

From: Suisse Romande

Registered: 2007-01-06

Posts: 630

Re: Laptop and dual monitor [SOLVED!]

Please see if "xrandr" recognizes all outputs as connected and try to enable them with xrandr. (Something like 'xrandr --output TMDS-1 --mode 1280x800' should do the job, iirc).

Also uncomment all monitor lines in your xorg.conf.

     #   Option          "monitor-VGA" "vga"
        Option          "monitor-LVDS" "lvds"
    Option         "monitor-TMDS-1" "dvi"

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Laptop and dual monitor [SOLVED!]

If you have an intel card, this site: http://intellinuxgraphics.org/dualhead.html might help you. It did for me.

murffatksig

Member

From: Atl

Registered: 2004-05-17

Posts: 358

Re: Laptop and dual monitor [SOLVED!]

Please see if "xrandr" recognizes all outputs as connected and try to enable them with xrandr. (Something like 'xrandr --output TMDS-1 --mode 1280x800' should do the job, iirc).

Also uncomment all monitor lines in your xorg.conf.

     #   Option          "monitor-VGA" "vga"
        Option          "monitor-LVDS" "lvds"
    Option         "monitor-TMDS-1" "dvi"

When I run xrandr -q I see all three devices.  I originally had all three uncommented.  At the end of the day (I can't boot to arch in the middle of the day... yet)I'll uncomment all of them, then I'll try

 'xrandr --output TMDS-1 --mode 1280x800'

If you have an intel card, this site: http://intellinuxgraphics.org/dualhead.html might help you. It did for me.

Yea, I spent some time on that site yesterday, but I still havent gotten it working.

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"Oh, they have the internet on computers now."

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Laptop and dual monitor [SOLVED!]

Yea, I spent some time on that site yesterday, but I still havent gotten it working.

So you do have an intel card?

What I did was to only put the virtual desktop size in xorg.conf.

Then using xrandr I got what I wanted.

There is a simple GUI for xrandr which work quite ok. It's called URandR and its in aur. You could give it a try.

murffatksig

Member

From: Atl

Registered: 2004-05-17

Posts: 358

Re: Laptop and dual monitor [SOLVED!]

I got it working,

I used

hwd -x

to generate a config file.  Then I added the Virtual desktop size to the ride Depth.  At that point, when I boot, the DVI monitor and the laptop monitor were on.  To get the VGA monitor on, I had to use xrandr to turn the LCD monitor off, then i could use

xrandr --output VGA --auto

to get the VGA monitor working.  Then i used

xrandr --output VGA --left-of TMDS-1

to have it extend my desktop (instead of mirroring the DVI  monitor).

btw, urandr would tell me my intel card was not supported. 

Thanks for all the help.

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"Oh, they have the internet on computers now."

unexpectedly

Member

Registered: 2008-04-29

Posts: 8

Re: Laptop and dual monitor [SOLVED!]

Oh wow, murff, you are my hero. for work, i've got a d630 that i'm about to switch from kubuntu to arch.

if you would please, i'd love to hear your thoughts about these two questions i have (after reading your post):
- what exactly was the command you used when you said "xrandr to turn the LCD monitor off" ?
- do the monitors both have to be the same size?

given my frustrations with kubuntu and trying to get the lcd turned off, i configured my desk around a docking station whereupon i leave the laptop lid closed (so lcd stays off) and then i have a dvi 24" monitor. if i could use a vga 19" off to the side, i would definitely find a way to put things on it! ... mwuhahaha: or use my samsung monitor with the built in CATV tuner and PiP.......

Thanks!
Chris

I got it working,

I used

hwd -x

to generate a config file.  Then I added the Virtual desktop size to the ride Depth.  At that point, when I boot, the DVI monitor and the laptop monitor were on.  To get the VGA monitor on, I had to use xrandr to turn the LCD monitor off, then i could use

xrandr --output VGA --auto

to get the VGA monitor working.  Then i used

xrandr --output VGA --left-of TMDS-1

to have it extend my desktop (instead of mirroring the DVI  monitor).

btw, urandr would tell me my intel card was not supported. 

Thanks for all the help.