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xserver-xorg-video-nv package

11.10 - Nvidia - How to use two screens

Asked by delance

With nvidia-settings, I can set my TV as a second display. I get the background, but a cross when I move cursor in it. I programmed as a second X display (TV has lower resolution than LCD monitor). How can I use it to view video ?

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Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#1

Maybe try setup suggestions there.
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto#Twin_View_or_Dual_Head_displays
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Resolution

Better supporting it is a milestone for Precise.
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/multimedia-desktop-n-xorg-multihead-defaults

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#2

In 11.04 with Gnome 2.3 interface, separate X-Servers worked correctly, which is not the case with Unity 11.10.
I used TwinView which worked correctly, but had after issues when I reset to a single monitor (to use better resolution of LCD monitor).
At each new release, I have new issues on graphic, and I can't say my user experience is improving!
I'm getting tired of this.
I will try gnome-session-fallback.

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Joseph Coffland (jcoffland) said : 		#3

I have the same problem. There are legitimate reasons to use separate x servers with dual screens and an Nvidia graphics card. Many of us have this setup but the Ubuntu team apparently does not test this. With the last 3 or 4 upgrades it has gone from working very to well to completely borked.

Twinview is not a viable option if you have monitors with different vertical pixel counts. For example, I have one 1280x1024 and one 1920x1080 monitor. Twin view cuts off the bottom 56 pixels of my first monitor. Not acceptable. You cannot drag windows from one screen to the other with separate x servers but everything else works and the screens can be different sizes.

Unity barely works with Twinview and not at all with separate x servers. Gnome 3 also fails. Classic gnome is no longer working with this setup as of 11.10.

<rant>
I could get on board with Unity if it worked with dual monitors. This is such a common thing that it's down right pathetic that Ubuntu doesn't test this configuration.

Alienating your user base for the sake of trying to copy OSX is a bad idea. If we wanted OSX we wouldn't be running Ubuntu. Ubuntu is loosing it's grip. If this keeps up it will not be the favored Linux distro for long.
</rant>

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amay82 (andimayer82-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#4

Have the same problem.

Unity: Separate X screens are possible, but have severe problems (no window borders, keyboard input etc. on second screen, corrupt window placement on first screen). TwinView leads to tearing on the second screen when it has another refresh rate (e.g. for TV) and there's no hardware acceleration for the second screen.

Gnome3 doesn't even start: https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=662023

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delance (olivier-delance) said : 		#5

Now, dual screen works with Unity if:
- you use proprietary driver
- you configure via
    gksudo nvidia-settings

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amay82 (andimayer82-deactivatedaccount) said : 		#6

In these nvidia-settings, you can set either TwinView or separate X screens:

- TwinView leads to tearing on the second screen when it has another refresh rate (e.g. for TV) and there's no hardware acceleration for the second screen.

- Separate X screens cause the window manager to place windows below the Unity task bar so you can't use it anymore without dragging every new window while holding the Alt key.