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Median

Member

Registered: 2011-06-03

Posts: 60

[SOLVED] Setting primary monitor with TwinView

Good day to you all.
I have been sitting with this problem for surely 5hrs+ and i haven't been able to solve it yet. How the hell do i set up TwinView so that my left monitor becomes the primary monitor instead of my right one?

My xorg.conf is the following:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 270.41.19  (buildmeister@swio-display-x86-rhel47-07.nvidia.com)  Mon May 16 23:52:12 PDT 2011


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

Section "Files"
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"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    Option      "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "true"
    Option         "MetaModes" "nvidia-auto-select, nvidia-auto-select"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes         "1920x1200"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

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

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "true"
    Option         "MetaModes" "nvidia-auto-select, nvidia-auto-select"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
       Modes         "1440x900"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

So basically, Screen0 would be my primary screen, and Screen1 would be the secondary screen and be right of Screen0 but somehow the intended Screen0 becomes Screen1 and therefore is put right to my secondary monitor and my secondary monitor becomes the primary one.
And before you suggest anything, i've tried using nvidia-settings as root and everything, but it still refuses to save the configuration to xorg.conf. And even after saving the nvidia configuration file and putting "nvidia-settings --load-config-only", it doesn't load. All settings are reset and i need to go into nvidia-settings again and redo it manually. Even though it works, it's a bit of a hassle everytime i need to do that, i rather just go into xorg and edit it manually.

Last edited by Median (2011-06-03 15:33:07)

George.Harmony

Member

From: Off The Wire

Registered: 2010-04-30

Posts: 97

Re: [SOLVED] Setting primary monitor with TwinView

As per the manual

Option "Primary"  "bool"
              This optional entry specifies that the monitor should be treated as the primary monitor.
              (RandR 1.2-supporting drivers only)

It would go int the monitor section of the monitor you want to be primary.

To look it up use

man xorg.conf

If that doesnt work you can do it manually by switching which connectors the monitors are attached to on the card and reset your xorg.conf.  Sometimes its just easier then screwing around with optons that may or may not work.

If you want more help you should also post your Xorg.0.log so we can see what is going on when you start X

Last edited by George.Harmony (2011-06-03 11:44:36)

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Median

Member

Registered: 2011-06-03

Posts: 60

Re: [SOLVED] Setting primary monitor with TwinView

Doesn't work. Does the nvidia proprietary drivers even fully support RandR 1.2 yet anyway?

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: [SOLVED] Setting primary monitor with TwinView

Doesn't work. Does the nvidia proprietary drivers even fully support RandR 1.2 yet anyway?

Nope, just randr 1.1 and TwinView. I think they'll jump on randr 1.4, because it'll add a feature they need/want. However, TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder should work. I think it doesn't in your case because your xorg.conf is weird. You shouldn't need multiple Screen sections with TwinView. In fact, you shouldn't need any. All you need is the Device section, remove everything else. Then you need to make sure that the name of the display is really DFP, I'm quite sure it's DFP-1 or maybe DFP-0. Hmm, are both flat panels? Then one is DFP-0 and the other DFP-1 probably. You should see which is which in nvidia-settings. Try this as xorg.conf:

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Device0"
    Driver        "nvidia"
    Option        "TwinView" "on"
    Option        "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0, DFP-1"
    Option        "TwinViewOrientation" "DFP-1 RightOf DFP-0"
EndSection

Switch around DFP-0 and DFP-1 as necessary.

Last edited by Gusar (2011-06-03 12:13:28)

Median

Member

Registered: 2011-06-03

Posts: 60

Re: [SOLVED] Setting primary monitor with TwinView

You were correct with not needing multiple screen sections with TwinView, but you do need to specify at least one screen section. Otherwise it won't work.
Anyway, i kinda solved it with your solution by adding those options to the screen section instead.

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Default Layout"
    Screen         "Default Screen" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Files"
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"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Unknown"
    HorizSync       28.0 - 33.0
    VertRefresh     43.0 - 72.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Default Screen"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0, CRT-1"
    Option         "TwinViewOrientation" "CRT-1 RightOf DFP-0"
    Option         "TwinView" "True"
    Option         "MetaModes" "nvidia-auto-select, nvidia-auto-select"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Modes      "nvidia-auto-select"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

At least it works fine now! Thanks.