Multi-head set up in xmonad

zowki · 2009-11-22 14:59:55

My window manager is xmonad. I have a laptop (primary display) with a 1280x800 resolution and a external monitor (secondary display) with a 1280x1024 resolution. I get dual display working great in Windows XP but when I plug in the monitor to the laptop and boot up Arch Linux, I get a 1024x768 screen resolution on both monitors and they are both showing the same thing. How can I set up each monitor with xinerama to run at native resolution and show different workspaces?

Edit: After some research I found you need to multiple graphics cards to get xinerama working. Is there any other method I can use to get a multi-head setup?

Last edited by zowki (2009-11-22 15:10:13)

Cyrusm · 2009-11-22 15:20:25

I would probably suggest Xrandr. some of the benefits include being able to change your screen configuration on the fly. for my laptop I've written a couple aliases for when I'm using my laptop with a second monitor, alone, or hooked up to a projector for presentations. you can also configure xrandr settings in your .xinitrc or xorg.conf.

here's a link: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Xorg_RandR_1.2

llcawthorne · 2009-11-22 16:07:04

Like he said, xrandr is probably best for you on a laptop where you might be disconnecting and reconnecting and doing who knows what. I have no real experience with it though.

I am pretty sure you don't necessarily need multiple cards for Xinerama. Multiple card entries in the xorg.conf for a single card with multiple outputs looks something like this (at least on my nvidia):

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia" 
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8800 GT"   
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"     
    BusID          "PCI:2:0:0"
    Screen         0
EndSection
    
Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 8800 GT"
    Option         "NoLogo" "True"
    BusID          "PCI:2:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

xrandr is probably the best way to do what you want though, so I would try it.

anrxc · 2009-11-22 16:08:41

Edit: After some research I found you need to multiple graphics cards to get xinerama working. Is there any other method I can use to get a multi-head setup?

That is false. All you needed to research was the Wikipedia article on Xinerama. I wrote a small guide for awesome users a while back which covers XRandR, TwinView and Xinerama. Maybe it will help you: Using Multiple Screens.

jelly · 2009-11-22 17:11:22

zowki wrote:

My window manager is xmonad. I have a laptop (primary display) with a 1280x800 resolution and a external monitor (secondary display) with a 1280x1024 resolution. I get dual display working great in Windows XP but when I plug in the monitor to the laptop and boot up Arch Linux, I get a 1024x768 screen resolution on both monitors and they are both showing the same thing. How can I set up each monitor with xinerama to run at native resolution and show different workspaces?
Edit: After some research I found you need to multiple graphics cards to get xinerama working. Is there any other method I can use to get a multi-head setup?

Wich video card do you have? With nvidia i use TwinView because it works nice with XMonad else just use xrandr if the resolution is not your natieve one the card cant rpboaly spawn a bigger one

zowki · 2009-11-22 17:31:25

I have Intel 915GM graphics. I'm going to try out xrandr and see if it works.

Edit: xrandr did the trick for awesome wm but not for xmonad. In xmonad I can't control the workspace being displayed on the laptop screen, it always shows the last workspace I switched from. xmobar does not extend to the laptop screen either.

Heres what I did:

xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1280x1024 --left-of LVDS1

Last edited by zowki (2009-11-22 17:46:52)

zowki · 2009-11-23 09:09:07

I decided not to bother with xmonad and use awesome wm instead. So this is kind of solved.

Last edited by zowki (2009-11-23 09:13:15)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-11-22 14:59:55

Multi-head set up in xmonad

#2 2009-11-22 15:20:25

Re: Multi-head set up in xmonad

#3 2009-11-22 16:07:04

Re: Multi-head set up in xmonad

#4 2009-11-22 16:08:41

Re: Multi-head set up in xmonad

#5 2009-11-22 17:11:22

Re: Multi-head set up in xmonad

#6 2009-11-22 17:31:25

Re: Multi-head set up in xmonad

#7 2009-11-23 09:09:07

Re: Multi-head set up in xmonad

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