Ubuntu – Dual monitors with one above the other

gnomemultiple-monitors

I'm using Gnome 3 and proprietary Nvidia drivers. I have tried to set in nvidia-settings my external monitor to be "above" my main one (it's a laptop). However, when I try to drag a window up from the main display to the external one, it gets stuck and can't move past a certain point. Trying to maximize it changes its decoration so it looks maximized (i.e. no borders, etc), but its size or position doesn't change.

Now, if I set my external monitor to be "to the left" of the main one, it works, which is why I'm suspecting this is a Gnome issue, not an Nvidia one.

Anyone know how to fix this?

Update: some versions:

Gnome: 3.2.2.1
Nvidia: 280.13

Update 2: I can see that Gnome 3.4 is out, and among the release notes is better external monitor support. However, they only mention a small fix that is unrelated to my problem. Can anyone with Gnome 3.4 and access to an external monitor please test this out and tell me if it works? I don't want to go through the hassle of upgrading my Ubuntu installation unless I know for certain it's going to fix the problem.

Best Answer

I will conclude that this is a Gnome bug (which I have filed), since this works in Unity. Also, I have tried using the open source nouveau drivers (which properly support xrandr), and the same thing happens.

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Ubuntu – Dual monitors not working with an Nvidia card

I solved this problem a few minutes ago on my system. For me it worked in the following way:

Installed the post-release nvidia-driver.
Start the nvidia-settings to configure my dual-screen, there you have to use the TwinView (not the seperate X-Config) and don't forget to choose a primary monitor. The problem I encountered during the config was, that I it only seems to work if I choose the left monitor as primary. To Test you can use the Apply-Button. If everything works you can save to X Configuration File.

Here my resulting xorg.conf if you want to read it:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 280.13  (buildd@rothera)  Thu Aug 11 17:28:49 UTC 2011

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

Section "Files" 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: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Samsung SMS22A350H"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS" EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTS 450" EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "1"
    Option         "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-1"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0, DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection EndSection

Ubuntu – Run a wine application fullscreen on a single monitor from dual-monitor setup

There is an easy way to use a windowed mode in Wine:

Start Wine Configuration (winecfg)
Click on the ‘Graphics’ tab
Check ‘Emulate a virtual desktop’
Next to ‘Desktop size’ enter your exact screen resolution.

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