[Mageia-discuss] Dual Monitors

[John]

On Tue, 27 Dec 2011 16:48:13 -0500
TJ wrote:

> Hmmm. I sent this earlier, but it's not showing yet, so I guess it was 
> lost somewhere. If not, and I'm just not seeing it, please forgive the 
> duplicate posting...
> 
> Currently using a Samsung P2350 1920x1080 monitor with the DVI port of 
> an AGP 8x nVidia Geforce 6200OC video card from BFG. I'm using the 
> proprietary driver from the repositories, and everything is working
> great.
> 
> My nephew has a spare 19-inch flatscreen monitor, make, model, and 
> resolution unknown to me, that he is willing to give to me to get it out 
> of his house. I am considering connecting this to the D-sub port of the 
> card as the second monitor, but in portrait mode. Not sure what I'd use 
> it for, but the idea sounds intriguing.
> 
> Two questions:
> 
> 1. Is this possible in Mageia?

Definitely :-) However there are a few 'gothas' to be aware of.

> 2. How difficult is it?

It's not too hard, you have to use the proprietry drivers for your video
card. You have to expect to a few (possibly many) reboots before you get
it running the way you want.

I have only done this with Nvidia hardware, I don't know about others.

I suggest you obtain the the actual drivers for you card from Nvidia as a
fallback. (I don't need to use them at present but have in past)

As in every thing do make sure you backup your /etc/X11/xorg.conf BEFORE
you start - it's a real pain to have to restart your video configuration
if you mess up :-)

Be aware that KDE and Gnome behave differently in this area. KDE 4.6 in
Mageia 1 does not support separate (independant) desktops, Gnome does sort
of, but it's messy getting it to work. Independant desktops DOES work in
current cauldron.

John (JohnR)