Ed

Multihead X with Xorg, Geforce FX 5200, Samsung 204T

Got Multihead X working today! Here were the two big problems:

   (II) NV(1): Mode "1600x1200" is larger than BIOS programmed panel size of 1 x 1.  Removing.
   (II) NV(1): Not using default mode "1600x1200" (unknown reason)

Solution: use the nvidia proprietary (closed) drivers. Bummer, but I couldn't find any other solution. This was Xorg 6.9.0 on Debian.

Second problem: the second monitor remained blank, no matter what. I could move the cursor "into it", that is, I could move the mouse off the edge of my primary screen... but nothing happened on the new screen 1. It was completely dark. I tried everything for a long time; lots of xorg.conf edits, even using nvidia-xconfig.

Solution: move the cursor into the new screen, press Ctl-Alt-KPminus! That was all! Somehow that activated things magically, and the display appeared. It has been working perfectly all day since then, even after more X restarts.

(Update: April 1. I'm heading out on vacation, so I lent the new monitor to a friend. With a Mac. What took hours on my system took seconds on hers. Plug it in, it works. Want to rearrange the layout? Drag some icons. Want to rotate the monitor? Just click on a Control Panel pulldown. Sheesh. Sometimes it sure is frustrating to be a Linux person.)