How to set dual monitors as two seperate desktops?

[shaggy999]

I have an issue that's bugging the heck out of me. I'm running Ubuntu 9.04 w/ an nVidia 8800GTX video card, restricted drivers, and dual monitors. My problem is that the two monitors together are seen as one complete desktop of size 2048x768. This results in two irritations:

1) When doing the compiz cube thing I get a cube where the single face of the cube is a big long 2048x768 screen. I would much prefer to have the two monitors as separate faces on the cube.

2) This is the really irritating part. When I run full-screen applications such as zsnes or any other full screen game I end up with a full screen 1024x768 image that is split half-way between the two monitors.

Configuration in the "NVIDIA X Server Settings" is currently set to "Twinview", which I'm sure is part of the problem. But it's the only way I've been able to get the second monitor to activate. Does anybody know of a solution?

Here's my xorg.conf file:



# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings: version 1.0 (buildd@crested) Sun Feb 1 20:25:37 UTC 2009

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

Section "Files"
EndSection

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

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

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

Section "InputDevice"
# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
# HorizSync source: builtin, VertRefresh source: builtin
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "CRT-0"
HorizSync 28.0 - 55.0
VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 8800 GTX"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "1"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-1"
Option "metamodes" "CRT-0: nvidia-auto-select +1024+0, CRT-1: 1024x768_60 +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

[LucidNovelty]

Hi and apologies for reviving this older thread but I'm experiencing the exact same problem as you and I wonder if you ever solved it since I haven't been able to find a solution.

I have a Geforce 8800 GTX. One 22" flat screen LCD and a 17" CRT on the left as extra screen. I have Compiz enabled and don't mind the cube expanding over the two screens. I do mind however, that whenever I maximize a game or a web video player, it takes the resolution of the smallest screen.

When I change the display setup to different x-screen, the resolutions are reversed. That is, on my 1680x1050 LCD, only part of the screen (1024x768, the size of the other screen), is displayed. On the 17" 1024x768 screen, the screen is filled with what looks like an xdisplay size 1680x1050, but of course only displaying part of that.

Anyone else experience this and found a solution?

I've included my xorg.conf as well:



Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "DontZap" "True"
Option "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"

# generated from default
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "HP D8901"
HorizSync 30.0 - 70.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 120.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 8800 GTX"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Configured Video Device"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "Screen"

# Removed Option "metamodes" "CRT: 1024x768 +0+0, DFP: nvidia-auto-select +1287+0"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Device0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "1"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-1"
Option "metamodes" "CRT: 1024x768 +0+0, DFP: 1680x1050 +1287+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection