Fedora Core 3 (FC3 - Linux) on Sager 9860 - NVIDIA Setup - TwinView Xinerama Mode

This post is one of several documenting the installation and configuration of Fedora Core 3 on my Sager 9860. There is a "table of contents" post here .

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This is the dual monitor mode that most people want. One big-@$$ screen that spans the entire viewable area of two monitors. You can drag a window from one screen to the other. It's very cool. Well here is how to enable that using the built-on screen of the 9860 and an external monitor. In this case, the external monitor is a Dell 2000FP LCD. The default resolution on the 2000FP is 1600x1200.

This xorg.conf file has many little gotchas in it. Here are the notes:

1) Note that the "Screen" entry in the "ServerLayout" section is a little different than you usually see.

2) I think the "ServerFlags" section isn't needed, but I think it's a good idea to have it.

3) I have an external keyboard plugged into the 9860 as well. So I've added a second "kbd" driver. I'm not sure if it is needed or not.

4) I have a second "InputDevice" section for "DevInputMice." This stops Quake3 based games from interpretting a left+right mouse click as a middle click. Very helpful when fragging!

5) The built-on screen for the 9860 is always "DFP-0."

6) You need the "IgnoreEDID" option and the "HorizSync" & "VertRefresh" options. BE SURE YOU SET THEM PROPERLY! You can damage your monitors since you're telling the nvidia driver to ignore what the monitor is "saying" it can handle.

7) Note that the "screen" section is a little different than you're used to seeing.

8) VERY IMPORTANT!!! - The only way to get this to work is to boot your 9860 with the external monitor DETACHED. I run with "init 3" so I boot to a text screen. After the machine is completely booted, then I attach the external monitor, then issue the command "startx." It might work from "init 5" mode, but you'll have to restart X after attaching the external monitor....not sure about this as I haven't tried it. If anyone figures out how to make this work without the process of detaching and attaching the external monitor, I'd love to hear it.

There are some annoyances while running in Xinerama mode:

1) Since my external monitor is "taller" than the 9860's built on screen (1200 vs. 1050) you have to scroll the 9860 screen to see the top and bottom. Do this simply by running the on-screen mouse pointer to the top and bottom of the screen...it will scroll with the mouse.

2) Since the 9860's built on screen is DFP-0, the control panel for KDE (I don't use Gnome...so not sure about that) only appears on that screen. So if you want to launch a program or whatever, you need to launch it on the 9860's screen, then drag it to the external monitor...if that's where you want it. Basically you have to use the 9860's screen as your "main" screen, and the external monitor as the "extra" screen. I really wanted it the other way around.

3) You might try setting the "TwinViewOrientation" param to "Clone." I haven't tried it yet, but this might fix #2 above.