Two graphics cards and three monitors - how to?

[Colin Law]

On 16 October 2011 10:24, Johnny Rosenberg <gurus.knugum at gmail.com> wrote:
> 2011/10/16 Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com>:
>> Has anyone any suggestions on this problem?
>>
>> Colin
>>
>> On 14 October 2011 21:17, Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>> I am trying to convert my son to ubuntu and is now trying it
>>> (Oneiric).  Unfortunately he "needs" three monitors.  He has an
>>> onboard ATI Radeon HD3300 graphics controller with a monitor on it and
>>> an NVidia Gforce GTS250 with another monitor and a TV.  With the
>>> onboard controller enabled in bios then only that monitor works.  If
>>> he disables that one then he is able to use the nvidia controller with
>>> the other monitor and the tv
>>>
>>> I have googled for how to get all three going and while there are a
>>> number of hits that look hopeful they are mostly rather old so I don't
>>> know how relevant they are now.  Can anyone point me in the right
>>> direction?  I fear a dose of xorg.conf is approaching, which is an
>>> area in which I have very little experience.
>>>
>>> Colin
>
> Sorry for not having a working solution, but did you install the
> NVidia proprietary drivers? I don't know if there are any proprietary
> drivers for the ATI card as well to install.

Yes, done all that, the problem seems to be in persuading it to use
both graphics controllers at the same time.

>
> A bit off topic:
> The need for many monitors is usually somewhat less with most
> GNU/Linux-distributions than with Windows, if you get used to take
> advantage of the multiple desktops. There are a few Compiz-Fusion
> features to enable to make the experience even better.
> But nevertheless, I agree that three or more monitors still is very
> nice to have…

He uses two of them at the computer and the third is the TV (not
physically by the computer), used for viewing TV online, which seems
to be the way he does a lot of TV viewing now.

Colin