I had always wanted a dual monitor setup. It helps you get more things done. Especially in cases when you have to read the manual and configure something at the same time. If you don’t believe me, Slashdot has some research to prove it. So how do you get it to work?
At the moment, Ubuntu doesn’t come pre-installed with a wizard(like Windows) where you can configure your screen. You have to install the drivers by yourself. To do that just follow the tutorial from this Linux Fanatics. It demonstrates you how to get Envy, which sets up the drivers for you automatically.
After that, you got the wizard to help you configure your monitors. Well, that should work for some. But not for me. In the end, I had to configure my xorg.conf. So here’s my xorg.conf
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
screen "Default Screen" 0 0
Inputdevice "Generic Keyboard"
Inputdevice "Configured Mouse"
EndSection
Section “Files”
EndSection
Section “Module”
Load “glx”
Load “v4l”
EndSection
Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Generic Keyboard”
Driver “kbd”
Option “CoreKeyboard”
Option “XkbRules” “xorg”
Option “XkbModel” “pc101″
Option “XkbLayout” “us”
EndSection
Section “InputDevice”
Identifier “Configured Mouse”
Driver “mouse”
Option “CorePointer”
Option “Device” “/dev/input/mice”
Option “Protocol” “ImPS/2″
Option “ZAxisMapping” “4 5″
Option “Emulate3Buttons” “true”
EndSection
Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Digital Panel”
Gamma 1
EndSection
Section “Monitor”
Identifier “Analog Panel”
Gamma 1
Option “RightOf” “Digital Panel”
EndSection
Section “Device”
Identifier “Failsafe Device”
Driver “nvidia”
Boardname “vesa”
Option “AddARGBVisuals” “True”
Option “AddARGBGLXVisuals” “True”
Option “NoLogo” “True”
EndSection
Section “Screen”
Identifier “Default Screen”
Device “Failsafe Device”
Monitor “Digital Panel”
Defaultdepth 24
Option “Monitor-DVI0″ “Digital Panel”
Option “Monitor-VGA0″ “Analog Panel”
Option “AddARGBVisuals” “True”
Option “AddARGBGLXVisuals” “True”
Option “NoLogo” “True”
Option “TwinView” “true”
Option “TwinViewOrientation” “RightOf”# “LeftOf” “Above” “Below” “Clone”
Option “UseEdidFreqs” “True”
Option “MetaModes” “1280×1024,1280×1024″
SubSection “Display”
Depth 24
EndSubSection
Most of the times, xorg.conf is found under /etc/X11/xorg.conf Edit it as a super user, then press Ctrl-Alt-Backspace to restart X windows. And your dual monitors should be up!
My hardware setup
- Nvidia 8400GS 256mb
- 1 Acer 17 inch monitor for VGA
- 1 Samsung 19 inch monitor for DVI
