Unity and dual monitors

[fvillars]

Does Unity/Ubuntu 11.04 allow for the use of dual monitors? I see a number of posts nibbling at the edges of this issue, but I see no clear cut answer.
My own brief experience with this new upgrade (< 24 hours) suggests to me the answer is no. Anyone with a different answer let me know.

[Blasphemist]

It does work, dual monitors and natty. I am using it. See screenshot.

[ewanchic]

Thanks for the screenshot. My co-worker is using a Mac, and is having an issue with one-menu and multiple screens. Your screenshot answered the question: does the menu show up on both screens, and it looks like it does...as it should. Thanks!

It does work, dual monitors and natty. I am using it. See screenshot.

[mr.n.nand]

Hi,

I was able to setup the dual monitor mode. The problem for me is that, Unity is not switching to single monitor mode when the other monitor is disconnected.
Any ideas?

Thanks

[fvillars]

Thanks for the replies. Clearly dual monitors will work under some configurations, but there is one which will no longer work that used to work under 10.10.

If you have

a)two single-headed NVIDIA cards

b) each with a single monitor attached and

c) configured as a single desktop using Xinerama,

This would work under Ubuntu 10.10 and previous versions, but will no longer work under 11.04/Unity.

The reason for this is:

1)Xinerama and Unity are incompatible with one another. If you try to
use them together X will either crash or freeze.

2)The previous NVIDIA workaround, "Twinview", will only work with a single double-headed card, not with two separate cards.

The only solution for those with my particular setup: 2 monitors, 2 NVIDIA cards is:

1)ditch the 2nd card and monitor and go with a single monitor or

2)ditch both cards, buy a new double-headed card and use Twinview to configure or

3)use card/cards by different manufacturer or

4)stick with Ubuntu "Classic", which is what I will do since it works perfectly well and since I am not yet sold on all the bells and whistles of 11.04

[lyndros]

Anyhow if they want to have a real and usable desktop operating system in my opinion Unity is a step back.

I am having exactly the same problems with two ATI graphic cards with a single monitor attached to each one.

[Ken UK]

I am having exactly the same problems with two ATI graphic cards with a single monitor attached to each one.

I would never do that, I am in the same position but I put both monitors in one card. I have never got dual monitors with separate cards to work in Linux, one always show a terminal type display.

Dual monitors works for me without any problems.

[RavensKrag]

The kernel that ships with Ubuntu 11.04 seems to have some regressions with this sort of thing. I'm using 2.6.38-02063804-generic and seems like that is working much better with my hardware.

Here's the terminal commands to DL and install the older kernel.

cd && wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.38.4-natty/linux-headers-2.6.38-02063804-generic_2.6.38-02063804.201104221009_amd64.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.38.4-natty/linux-headers-2.6.38-02063804_2.6.38-02063804.201104221009_all.deb
wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v2.6.38.4-natty/linux-image-2.6.38-02063804-generic_2.6.38-02063804.201104221009_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i linux-image-2.6.38-02063804*

You will then need to reboot, of course.

[orion2001]

Any of you folks with ATI hardware managing to pull off a dual monitor set-up without screen corruption issues?

Just installed 11.04 to take my first attempt at moving towards linux and everything works quite nicely, except my dual-display setup which unfortunately has me going back to Windows 7.

Anytime I try a dual monitor setup (HDTV and LCD Monitor) I invariably get some screen corruption issues. Happens with both Unity and Classic (although less frequently with the latter). I tried both the original Radeon drivers as well as the proprietary drivers pushed by Ubuntu after the install, but with no luck.

Seems like other folks are also having screen corruption issues. Is this something that would eventually be fixed via an update or will I have to get my hands dirty and/or wait for the next version of ubuntu?

[Blasphemist]

Any of you folks with ATI hardware managing to pull off a dual monitor set-up without screen corruption issues?

Just installed 11.04 to take my first attempt at moving towards linux and everything works quite nicely, except my dual-display setup which unfortunately has me going back to Windows 7.

Anytime I try a dual monitor setup (HDTV and LCD Monitor) I invariably get some screen corruption issues. Happens with both Unity and Classic (although less frequently with the latter). I tried both the original Radeon drivers as well as the proprietary drivers pushed by Ubuntu after the install, but with no luck.

Seems like other folks are also having screen corruption issues. Is this something that would eventually be fixed via an update or will I have to get my hands dirty and/or wait for the next version of ubuntu?

Here's something I ran into.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Demystifying...reRequirements

Seems my simple Intel graphics are workable.