Dual monitor with linux

[wheel]

All the talk about dual monitors has got me thinking about doing that for my desktop (running Mandrake linux).

I'm curious how difficult this is to set up in Linux - is it fairly straightforward?

Also, I'm not sure I'm getting exactly how this functions. Is it like running two computers - I switch my mouse and keyboard control between the two monitors? Or is it more like having one big monitor that's split, so as I roll my mouse it rolls across from one screen to another (i.e. I could end up with half a window on one monitor and half on another for example).

[sja65]

I don't know how it works with Mandrake, but it is fairly straight forward editing the X config file.

There are several options as to how you use the space. The most common is one big desktop (This is what I do with 3 monitors on 2 graphics cards). I think you can also set it up as multiple desktops (I haven't tried this).

[MattyMoose]

This is the setup I have for two monitors which are actually considered as two separate "screens", which won't let me drag a window from one monitor to the other, but I can move the mouse between them. I do this because one's a 19" at 1280x1024 and the other is 15" at 1024x768.

The other ways of doing things is through "xinerama", which will stretch everything over the two monitors, and the other is "replication", which is pretty boring. ;)

The 19" is plugged into the regular D-Sub, and the 15" is in the DVI.

Hope that helps you. :)

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "X.org Configured"
 InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
 Screen  "Screen0"
 Screen  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
 #Option "Xinerama" "on"
EndSection
Section "Files"
 RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
 ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
 FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
 FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
 FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
 FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
 FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
 FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection
Section "Module"
 Load "extmod"
 Load "glx"
 Load "dri"
 Load "dbe"
 Load "record"
 Load "xtrap"
 Load "type1"
 Load "freetype"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Keyboard0"
 Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
 Identifier "Mouse0"
 Driver "mouse"
 Option "Protocol" "auto"
 Option "Device" "/dev/sysmouse"
 Option "ZAxis Mapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "19inch"
 VendorName "DEL"
 ModelName "Dell E193FP"
 Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "15inch"
 VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0
EndSection
Section "Device"
 Identifier "Card0"
 Driver "ati"
 VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
 BoardName "RV350 AP [Radeon 9600]"
 BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
 Screen  0
EndSection
Section "Device"
 Identifier "Card1"
 Driver "ati"
 VendorName "ATI Technologies Inc"
 BoardName "RV350 AP [Radeon 9600]"
 BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
 Screen  1
EndSection
Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Screen1"
 Device "Card1"
 Monitor "15inch"
 DefaultDepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 24
  Modes "1024x768"
  #Virtual 1280 1024
 EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Screen0"
 Device "Card0"
 Monitor "19inch"
 DefaultDepth 24
 SubSection "Display"
  Depth 24
  Modes "1280x1024" 
 EndSubSection
EndSection