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I am currently using Ubuntu 5.04 hoary hedgehog. While I have my dual screen working with it I can't stop dialog boxes opening right in the centre of the desktop (without changing from one big desktop mode and I want to keep that). I need to re-install anyway as I messed a few things up (I have only just converted to linux). What is the best free distro with decent multi monitor support? If Ubuntu, is there a way to resolve my problem? Thanks.
Distribution: Fedora, Debian, OpenSuSE and Android
Posts: 1,820
Rep:
Are you using twinview or xinerama? Which distro to use is really irrelevant to your problem. Any distro with Xfree or Xorg pretty much does multi-desktops the same.
Er...the default that was created with flgrxconfig. I know its not xinerama as I could not get that to work with X. Will it do what I want? I am using the xorg.conf file.
Distribution: Fedora, Debian, OpenSuSE and Android
Posts: 1,820
Rep:
twinview causes the system to believe you have one big monitor, hense causing the behavior you described (windows opening split down the middle). Xinerama informs the system that you have one desktop split across two screens, and therefore windows will open on one or the other. Xinerama is not hard in Ubuntu. Here is my conf file as an example.
# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following commands:
#
# cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.custom
# sudo sh -c 'md5sum /etc/X11/xorg.conf >/var/lib/xfree86/xorg.conf.md5sum'
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
Section "Files"
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server
# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
# paths to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID"
EndSection
Ok - I reformatted and got dual screen working again fairly painlessly. Below is my xorg.conf file. Can you have a look please. I tried adding Option "Xinerama" "on" to the server layout section but that caused it to stop working. I checked in synaptic and xinerama is installed and so are required dependencies so I guess I need more than that one line right?
Here is my file that works exactly as I want it apart from window opening location. Many thanks for your time.
# File: xorg.conf
# File generated by fglrxconfig (C) ATI Technologies, a substitute for xf86config.
# Note by ATI: the below copyright notice is there for servicing possibly
# pending third party rights on the file format and the instance of this file.
#
# Copyright (c) 1999 by The XFree86 Project, Inc.
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
# copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
# to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
# the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
# and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
# Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
#
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
# all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
# THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
# IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
# FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
# THE XFREE86 PROJECT BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY,
# WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF
# OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE
# SOFTWARE.
#
# Except as contained in this notice, the name of the XFree86 Project shall
# not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other
# dealings in this Software without prior written authorization from the
# XFree86 Project.
#
# **********************************************************************
# Refer to the XF86Config(4/5) man page for details about the format of
# this file.
# **********************************************************************
# **********************************************************************
# DRI Section
# **********************************************************************
Section "dri"
# Access to OpenGL ICD is allowed for all users:
Mode 0666
# Access to OpenGL ICD is restricted to a specific user group:
# Group 100 # users
# Mode 0660
EndSection
# **********************************************************************
# Module section -- this section is used to specify
# which dynamically loadable modules to load.
# **********************************************************************
#
Section "Module"
# This loads the DBE extension module.
Load "dbe" # Double buffer extension
# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension
EndSubSection
# This loads the Type1 and FreeType font modules
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
# This loads the GLX module
Load "glx" # libglx.a
Load "dri" # libdri.a
EndSection
# **********************************************************************
# Files section. This allows default font and rgb paths to be set
# **********************************************************************
Section "Files"
# The location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (which are concatenated together),
# as well as specifying multiple comma-separated entries in one FontPath
# command (or a combination of both methods)
#
# If you don't have a floating point coprocessor and emacs, Mosaic or other
# programs take long to start up, try moving the Type1 and Speedo directory
# to the end of this list (or comment them out).
#
# The module search path. The default path is shown here.
# ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
EndSection
# **********************************************************************
# Server flags section.
# **********************************************************************
Section "ServerFlags"
# Uncomment this to cause a core dump at the spot where a signal is
# received. This may leave the console in an unusable state, but may
# provide a better stack trace in the core dump to aid in debugging
# Option "NoTrapSignals"
# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><BS> server abort sequence
# This allows clients to receive this key event.
# Option "DontZap"
# Uncomment this to disable the <Crtl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> mode switching
# sequences. This allows clients to receive these key events.
# Option "Dont Zoom"
# Uncomment this to disable tuning with the xvidtune client. With
# it the client can still run and fetch card and monitor attributes,
# but it will not be allowed to change them. If it tries it will
# receive a protocol error.
# Option "DisableVidModeExtension"
# Uncomment this to enable the use of a non-local xvidtune client.
# Option "AllowNonLocalXvidtune"
# Uncomment this to disable dynamically modifying the input device
# (mouse and keyboard) settings.
# Option "DisableModInDev"
# Uncomment this to enable the use of a non-local client to
# change the keyboard or mouse settings (currently only xset).
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "kbd"
# For most OSs the protocol can be omitted (it defaults to "Standard").
# When using XQUEUE (only for SVR3 and SVR4, but not Solaris),
# uncomment the following line.
# Option "Protocol" "Xqueue"
Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
# These are the default XKB settings for XFree86
# Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
# Option "XkbModel" "pc101"
# Option "XkbLayout" "us"
# Option "XkbVariant" ""
# Option "XkbOptions" ""
# The chipset line is optional in most cases. It can be used to override
# the driver's chipset detection, and should not normally be specified.
# Chipset "generic"
# The Driver line must be present. When using run-time loadable driver
# modules, this line instructs the server to load the specified driver
# module. Even when not using loadable driver modules, this line
# indicates which driver should interpret the information in this section.
Driver "vga"
# The BusID line is used to specify which of possibly multiple devices
# this section is intended for. When this line isn't present, a device
# section can only match up with the primary video device. For PCI
# devices a line like the following could be used. This line should not
# normally be included unless there is more than one video device
# installed.
# Any number of screen sections may be present. Each describes
# the configuration of a single screen. A single specific screen section
# may be specified from the X server command line with the "-screen"
# option.
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "ATI Graphics Adapter"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
#Option "backingstore"
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
ViewPort 0 0 # initial origin if mode is smaller than desktop
# Virtual 1280 1024
EndSubsection
EndSection
# Any number of ServerLayout sections may be present. Each describes
# the way multiple screens are organised. A specific ServerLayout
# section may be specified from the X server command line with the
# "-layout" option. In the absence of this, the first section is used.
# When now ServerLayout section is present, the first Screen section
# is used alone.
Section "ServerLayout"
# The Identifier line must be present
Identifier "Server Layout"
# Each Screen line specifies a Screen section name, and optionally
# the relative position of other screens. The four names after
# primary screen name are the screens to the top, bottom, left and right
# of the primary screen.
Screen "Screen0"
# Each InputDevice line specifies an InputDevice section name and
# optionally some options to specify the way the device is to be
# used. Those options include "CorePointer", "CoreKeyboard" and
# "SendCoreEvents".
Distribution: Fedora, Debian, OpenSuSE and Android
Posts: 1,820
Rep:
You need two "screen" sections, one for each screen. Look at the way my screens section is laid out, with each screen defined and set to a different monitor and device.
Distribution: Fedora, Debian, OpenSuSE and Android
Posts: 1,820
Rep:
If you have a dual headed card, that is how they work. There should be entries in the device section for both heads, using the same hardware address (since the two heads are on one card). It looks strange I know, but the config file above is my current one, and it works great.
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