Two graphics cards and three monitors - how to?

[Colin Law]

On 16 October 2011 17:00, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.
>
> I've set up similar in the past. I found that using dissimilar
> graphics cards caused a world of pain. Now, OK, this was on Windows,
> but still.
>
> I'd recommend going all-nVidia, myself, but all-ATI might also help.
> Using a mixture of both means 2 different proprietary binary drivers
> are required, which is not going to be simple or easy, I would expect.
>
> The easiest but most expensive way would probably be to disable the
> onboard controller, remove the GTS250 and replace it with a
> triple-head card. Again, in my limited experience, nVidia's Linux
> support is better than AMD/ATI's.

OK, I was afraid that might be the answer.  The problem (for Ubuntu)
is that it is all working fine with all three monitors in Windows 7 so
if this will not work then I have no hope of converting him to Ubuntu.
 Perhaps this is one of the relatively rare instances where Windows
makes a better job of it than Ubuntu.

Now what I need is someone to take up the challenge to prove me wrong :)

Colin