What you are looking for is a Xinerama or XRandR layout udippel and not separate X screens. Instructions on how to set it up are available around the place, including this forum somewhere.

Right!
Thanks, I'm there. But there are some bugs still in KDE4.3.2. Since I get the packages from ubuntu, I wonder if it makes sense to file a report? I also have no development environment.

Here are the commands, in case anyone would want to know (your numbers might be different!):
$ xrandr --newmode "1600x1200" 234.76 1600 1720 1896 2192 1200 1201 1204 1260 -HSync +Vsync
$ xrandr --addmode VGA1 1600x1200
$ xrandr --output VGA1 --above LVDS1

And never, ever, click the 'Display' in 'System Settings' not even for viewing the settings. It messes up everything.
If there is a developer for this, I'd like to give my input!

Uwe

I certainly hope this gets fixed... my situation is a little different in that Im running a core quad with OpenSuse11.2 64, the graphics are a pair of NVidia GEForce 8500 GT's PCIe. The two cards run 3 Samsung 204B monitors each at 1600x1200 with Xinerama enabled and the desktop spread across all three monitors.

I ve used KDE for many years and multi monitor setups were easy until now. I would like to upgrade to 4.4 because someone took away the equalizer in Amorak but am loath to do so. I tried cutting and pasting an upgrade using YAST the day before the 4.4 release was out and compiled for different packages...it turned out a disaster and involved several hours of work to get the desktop back..OpenSuse has a 1 click install for 4.4 and its tempting ....but I use my machine in my home office in a semi production environment...and dont want the additional time spent recovering from something that doesnt work....I have seen a lot of people here with problems in multi monitor---any idea about how soon a solution? I read that 11.3 is supposed to be released in June of this year and hope that at least by then that multi monitor problems will be resolved...the new desktop and features are beautiful-- I would like to upgrade but have reservations...

Thanks to all for the excellent forum
Carr

I am in a similar situation to expat1. Have 4 heads running off 2 nvidia cards. Works perfectly under 8.04/KDE3.5.X Have gotten very close with KDE 4 and kubuntu 10.04. THe bottom two screens are working correctly as a separate X screens composing a single desktop with xinerama. Just the upper 2 (2nd card) are running as separate desktops. Feel like this must be some detail I'm missing. Or maybe the depreciation of xinerama. Either way ... would love to get this working and enjoy KDE 4. Any suggestions/info appreciated. xorg.conf follows:

#xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 1024
Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
Screen 2 "Screen2" Above "Screen0"
Screen 3 "Screen3" RightOf "Screen2"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
Option "Xinerama" "1"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "Xinerama" "1"
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 "PNR Planar PL1700"
HorizSync 24.0 - 80.0
VertRefresh 49.0 - 75.0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "DDL LM1702"
HorizSync 30.0 - 80.0
VertRefresh 55.0 - 75.0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor2"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "CMO CMC 17 AD"
HorizSync 30.0 - 82.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 75.0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor3"
VendorName "Unknown"
ModelName "CMO CMC 17 AD"
HorizSync 30.0 - 82.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 75.0
EndSection

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

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 7600 GT"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device1"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 7600 GT"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device2"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 7600 GT"
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Device3"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce 7600 GT"
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection

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

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

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Device1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "metamodes" "DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen2"
Device "Device2"
Monitor "Monitor2"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0"
Option "metamodes" "CRT-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen3"
Device "Device3"
Monitor "Monitor3"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "metamodes" "CRT-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

I'm in a similar situation- I have 5 screens across three GPUs, with separate X screens every two physical screens (there's no other [supported] way to do it and maintain compositing functionality!).





This is one of those areas of KDE4 which has been completely neglected in favor of other features for several major releases, and now that we're coming up on KDE 4.5, I've more or less lost hope for the multiscreen capability seen in KDE 3.5.

I keep hearing that there is "no developer to work on it"- at least one of your developers must be working on Plasma/Kwin and have more than one screen. Switching from TwinView / Xinerama to Separate X screens isn't difficult to test this on.

If it really is a matter of the right developer not having the right hardware, then something needs to be done about that. Lets figure out who needs what and how to get it. Please, please don't leave this out in 4.5. There really are people with no feasible workaround without sacrificing many modern X features they have come to love.

KDE 4.5 is currently in feature freeze, so any large fixes ( especially those containing string changes ) may need to wait until 4.6.

As far as I am aware, none of the Plasma or KWin developers have multi-screen setups.

So to try to understand what this will mean is.....that pretty much with SUSe 11.3 if we use more than 2 monitors and we use KDE then it wont work? Is the problem with KDE or is it with NVidia??? in other words with a ATI graphics environment would separate X screens be possible??

Thanks

If you try to use anything other than Xinerama, then it will likely not work.

Thanks for the replies bcooksley. Do you guys have a system for donating hardware to KDE developers in place? This is probably my only gripe about KDE4, everything else is extremely well thought out and well designed. Right now I'm stuck with spawning konsole windows on the other screens to launch any applications on those displays.

The only complete workaround for this issue is to use Xinerama and Xgl, which is deprecated.

As far as I am aware, no such system exists.

I'll try to test it our by doing the same thing that was in the link that was shared before
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/X.Org/Du ... in_KDE_4.2

From http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/X.Org/Dual_Monitors#Independent_Dual_Head_in_KDE_4.2:

As You know, in KDE 4.2 no longer supports independent desktops.

This functionality has been missing from the earliest 4.0 builds.

Going back through the history of the problem, is there an actual bug filed for this? I don't even see a proper bug for this!

A problem I experience but don't really care about compared to this issue:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=243914
Another problem with KWin which is as close as I've found in relation to this problem:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=227887

I've searched, checked the 'most hated' and 'most severe' lists, nada. This is a *sticky* on the forums and there is no bug? Its like this issue has been evaded for almost two years with no action. KDE 4.5 will most certainly roll out, extremely feature rich, visually appealing, but with a usability bug not present 1.0 versions ago.

People on the fence with 3.5, as well as people eager to try 4.x to get the extra features have -tolerated- the problem thinking/hoping it would get resolved with the next 0.1 point release. This is only 4.0, it'll be in 4.1. Not in 4.1? well, they'll roll it out by 4.2. Oh well, but it'll definitely be in 4.3. Come on, its gotta be in 4.4. Now we're "full circle" with KDE 4.5, and still no fix. Even if you mention 4.6, I'm not too optimistic.

Why can KDE 4 support TwinView/Xinerama, extensions / driver features which were never a part of the original X11 spec, are still to a degree *a hack*, and not support *the standard* way of handling multiple monitors?

If there is no bug for this I'll file one and mark it as critical.

KDE 4 does not support the *standard* way of handling multiple monitors because the core developers in question who have the knowledge to fix the problem don't have the hardware to test it.

As such, the only way this is going to get fixed is by some collaboration between users running self compiled latest trunk from svn and the developers. I believe there is a bug report about this however.

That is the last I heard about getting this issue fixed anyway.

bcooksley wrote:KDE 4 does not support the *standard* way of handling multiple monitors because the core developers in question who have the knowledge to fix the problem don't have the hardware to test it.

As such, the only way this is going to get fixed is by some collaboration between users running self compiled latest trunk from svn and the developers. I believe there is a bug report about this however.

That is the last I heard about getting this issue fixed anyway.

What, can't we chip in to buy these guys a second monitor? You can find a cheap 19" these days for 100€, shouldn't be that difficult.

There is a bug filed for Plasma here:

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=156475

bcooksley wrote:KDE 4 does not support the *standard* way of handling multiple monitors because the core developers in question who have the knowledge to fix the problem don't have the hardware to test it.

Then we need to get them that hardware. I'm willing to sink some cash so that a developer can have a working test case. If there's no system for this, then why not create one? I understand that giving X developer doesn't guarantee Y problem will get fixed, but at this point I'm out of patience and willing to take a bet.

It is also -really- hard to believe that not a single core developer capable of working on this has the hardware for dual display, seeing how the support is there for the nonstandard modes (TwinView / Xinerama). Anyone with a commodity $30 nvidia/ati card or (in most cases) integrated graphics can reproduce this. If core KDE devs are all working using a single 15 inch CRT then that is another big problem .

bcooksley wrote:As such, the only way this is going to get fixed is by some collaboration between users running self compiled latest trunk from svn and the developers. I believe there is a bug report about this however.

Which I am also very willing to do, as I have an excess of displays.

Knowing that this bug exists, I wouldn't have upgraded from 3.5 unless 4.x didn't have some extremely compelling advantages and features. I finally upgraded from 3.5.10 when 4.3 came out, even after I had tried 4.2, 4.1, and 4.0 (and failed to get them to be useful).

Now the most popular distros don't even pack 3.5.x. This is a lose-lose for the current 3.5 users since they have to stay on a legacy stack to work around this. I was on openSuSE 11.1 at work for the longest time and just recently upgraded all of my boxes to 11.3. I used KDE 3.5 on my second display as a workaround to this problem, but it is no longer available in 11.3. What workaround or solution do I have now?

The following script works, somewhat, but cannot use a separate config for each panel.

Code: Select all

#!/bin/sh
 export KDE_MULTIHEAD=true
 /usr/bin/kwin &
 /usr/bin/plasma-desktop --display :0.1 &
 /usr/bin/startkde


If I have 4 screens all with different resolutions (2 displays across for 4 physical screens), every time I start KDE I'll have to resize both panels to fix on their respective displays.

Can we at least, at the very minimum, push to get the above bug reopened and brainstorm on ways to get the relevant devs the hardware they need for this?