is it possible for me to run 3 monitors?

[manuleka]

i've got a Geforce 7300 GS 256MB Dual out - 1 VGA and 1 DVI and also my mainboard has onboard Video...

at the moment i'm running dual monitor of the Video Card, but i was wondering if it's possible to somehow use the onboard Video as well for a third monitor?

by the way i'm using Fedora 10
Mainboard: P5L-VM1394
ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

[waterhead]

Since they most likely use different drivers, then this would not be possible. If they all have the same chips, like nVidia, then it may be possible. You would have to manually set up the xorg.conf file to do this.

I have heard of this being done with two video cards, one being a PCI card, but it is very difficult to achieve. I don't know if it is possible with on-board video.

[blinky]

Should be able to. the 2 off Nividia card could be 2 seperate X screen or 1 big X Screen (over 2 physical monitor) (I mean logical X screens). The other one (onboard) would have to be a seperate X screen.

Remember you can't drag stuff between the seperate X screens. If you go for a big X screen on NVidia (twinview?) you will be able to drag stuff between those monitors. Plus try to use the same screen resolution on the NVidia screens (especally if you go for large twinview setup).

Frogot to add you will need to set it using a /etc/X11/xorg.conf, the newer dists don't bother with one as X is supposed to able to sort itself out. And you will need the drivers from nvidia (don't think the xorg nv does dual screen - well I've never managed to get it working)

[Rubberman]

I don't think this is possible. I looked on the xorg web site and found nothing that indicates it is currently possible, though there was one comment about a possible future enhancement. If anyone know otherwise, I'd like to hear about it. I am running dual monitors currently, but they are off of the same nVidia card (dual DVI ports).

[manuleka]

i do know it's possible in Windows...

[waterhead]

Hmmm....

I seem to recall another recent post on this subject, but I can't find it.

I see that I was wrong saying it isn't possible. You will need to research this, and a manually configured xorg.conf file is a must. Each video output will have it's own section in that file. It will identify the card by it's BusID. This is the number at the beginning of the line, when you run this command:

lspci

I did find an older post regarding this subject:
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/red...deo-cards.html

Using his (non-working) xorg.config file as an example, he has this.

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Head 1"
Driver "radeon"
VendorName "ATI"
BoardName "ATI Radeon 9200"
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard1"
Driver "radeon"
VendorName "Videocard Vendor"
BoardName "ATI Radeon 9200"
BusID "PCI:1:5:0"
Screen 1
EndSection

I found a good explaination on doing this, on the Ubuntu forums.

HOWTO: Dual Screen in Ubuntu - Two Video Cards - Ubuntu Forums

That thread is old. As previously stated, it may not work anymore because of the new version of Xserver that is used. But it should give you a place to start.

When you install the nVidia driver, it will (should) create a working xorg.conf file. You will then need to modify it. I found this How-To in the README file for the latest nvidia driver.

Chapter*15.*Configuring Multiple X Screens on One Card

I do recommend manually installing the video drivers. Usually getting the latest version is recommended.

Keep us updated on this.

[blinky]

What you will need to add is:

A Monitor2 section for the 3rd monitor
A Videocard2 entry (for the onboard chipset)
A Screen2 entry for 3rd screen definition

plus add a "Screen 2" line to the layout section.

It's about 2-3 years agao I had a dual screen setup using Matrox and Intel chipsets.

here's my xorg.conf, you will have to modify it

plus see Fedora three monitor xorg.conf configuration | David Norman

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
    Option         "StandbyTime" "10"
    Option         "SuspendTime" "15"
    Option         "OffTime" "20"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "enable"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Mode 0666
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    Load           "glx"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath         "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" 1680 0
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

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

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option         "XkbLayout" "gb"
    Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "HP w20"
    HorizSync       24.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     48.0 - 76.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 7600 GT"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Videocard1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 7600 GT"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Videocard1"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: 1680x1050 +0+0; DFP-0: 1024x768 +0+0; DFP-0: 800x600 +0+0; DFP-0: 640x480 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection

    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "true"
    Option         "UseEvents" "false"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Videocard0"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1680x1050 +0+0; DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
EndSection

[blinky]

i do know it's possible in Windows...

Just remember anything windows can do, linux does better

[Rubberman]

Just remember anything windows can do, linux does better

It just might be a bit more difficult. Better does not necessarily mean easier...

[blinky]

It just might be a bit more difficult. Better does not necessarily mean easier...

Nothing in life is easy grasshopper, all we can do is try