Looking for triple monitor solution (VGA, HDMI, stock laptop screen)

[lenfried_ga_suki]

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I have an nvidia Geforce gtx 260m graphics card. I was wondering if it would be possible to use a VGA monitor and an HDMI television alongside my laptop screen. I've been trying to get this to work for hours to no avail.

Here's my xorg.conf:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" LeftOf "Screen1"
    Screen      1  "Screen1" 1024 0
    Screen      2  "Screen2" RightOf "Screen1"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "COMPAQ 5017"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 61.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "HannStar Display Corp HSD160PHW1"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 75.0
    VertRefresh     60.0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor2"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "DFP-1"
    HorizSync       14.0 - 68.0
    VertRefresh     48.0 - 62.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 260M"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 260M"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device2"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 260M"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          2
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option	   "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option	   "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {viewportin=1280x720, viewportout=1365x768+0+0}; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {viewportin=1366x768, viewportout=1024x768+171+0}; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {viewportin=800x600, viewportout=1024x768+171+0}; DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0 {viewportin=640x480, viewportout=1024x768+171+0}"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen2"
    Device         "Device2"
    Monitor        "Monitor2"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option	   "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select 1360x768 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Enable"
    Option         "RANDR" "Enable"
EndSection

The best I've been able to do so far is 2 of the 3. Please let me know if you have any more information.

[Rubberman]

With all the displays connected and turned on, have you rebooted and then run the nvidia-xconfig tool?

[gtrawoger]

With all the displays connected and turned on, have you rebooted and then run the nvidia-xconfig tool?

Good suggestion. Also, I found that most nvidia cards before the 5xx (fermi) series could only have two monitors connected at a time.

Try to connect all the monitors and use the nvidia-settings program under root. It should display all the available monitors to the hardware. If it only displays two, most likely that will be the limit of your hardware.

[Rubberman]

Good suggestion. Also, I found that most nvidia cards before the 5xx (fermi) series could only have two monitors connected at a time.

Try to connect all the monitors and use the nvidia-settings program under root. It should display all the available monitors to the hardware. If it only displays two, most likely that will be the limit of your hardware.

Your laptop hdmi connection should support two monitors, and the laptop screen as well. My Lenovo laptop w/ nVidia graphics will do so just fine. However, I don't think you can use the VGA, HDMI and laptop screens at the same time. Also, if your system is like mine, it also has an Intel GPU in the system, which you will have to disable in the BIOS.

[lenfried_ga_suki]

Thanks for the help, guys! You're correct - I can only have two screens connected at once with my nVidia card.

For the record,

I tried nvidia-settings again and got the following error message:

MetaMode 1 of Screen 0 has more than 2 active display devices.

Also, I found a reference [1] for nVidia cards older than the Kepler architecture (released March 22, 2012 [2]) not supporting more than 2 displays.

I don't have the required number of posts to post URLs, but if anyone's really interested:
1) us [dot] download [dot] nvidia [dot] com/XFree86/Linux-x86/302.17/README/configtwinview.html
2) nvidianews [dot] nvidia [dot] com/Releases/NVIDIA-Launches-First-GeForce-GPUs-Based-on-Next-Generation-Kepler-Architecture-79b.aspx

I should've searched a little harder ><