Two graphics cards and three monitors - how to?

Colin Law clanlaw at googlemail.com
Mon Oct 17 19:39:00 UTC 2011


On 17 October 2011 19:24, Liam Proven <lproven at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 16 October 2011 20:21, Colin Law <clanlaw at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> 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 :)
>
> It wasn't easy when I did it in Windows XP. Default drivers for both
> wouldn't work. Proprietary drivers for both wouldn't work. What worked
> was default driver for one and proprietary for the other. I can't
> remember which way round now. And of course there are issues removing
> a proprietary driver from Windows.
>
> I think the 2-X-servers approach, while it's likely to work, is going
> to be a lot of extra hassle & you won't be able to do simple stuff
> like drag a window from one screen to another.

I had not thought of that, with two X servers there is not going to be
one extended desktop spanning the two monitors, one on each graphics
chipset, so that is no good.

>
> I'd start with disconnecting the TV and try to get just the 2 monitors
> working. Start with, say, just the nVidia. I am guessing you can't
> attach the TV to the onboard video? Is it possible to attach all 3
> screens to the nVidia card - dual DVI + HDMI, something like that?

I believe that the graphics card can only do one monitor and the TV,
though I will double check.
To use a technical term I think we are stuffed.  I don't think it will
work without spending money.

Having said that though, I must check what he gets on Windows in the
way of extended desktop.  Is it capable of extending across different
graphics card I wonder.

Colin




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