Nvidia TwinView auto switch **SOLVED**

strungoutfan78 · 2013-10-14 14:13:25

I know there are tons of posts here about configuring TwinView, but I haven't been able to find a solution to my particular problem. I have a large LCD monitor that I connect to my laptop when I am at home for a dual screen setup. When I had Debian Squeeze installed, all I had to do was run nvidia-xconfig and setup my screen layout in nvida-settings and everything worked fine. By "worked fine" I mean that when I had the external display connected, TwinView kicked in and gave me my displays exactly how I had configured them. When I was at school or just had the external display disconnected, TwinView would be disabled and I had just my laptop screen at the proper resolution. With #! I expected the same behavior, but this is not the case. Following the same procedure, I get my dual monitor display just fine, but when I have the external display disconnected, openbox starts as if it were still connected, leaving me with a huge void where my mouse cursor can disappear to on one side of the display. The strange thing though is that it appears as if it's just stretching my single laptop display across this huge imaginary monitor. Meaning my wallpaper has gone from my usual dual monitor, separate wallpaper setup to my single wallpaper, single display setup, only stretched across a huge resolution. I'm curious if anyone else has experienced this. I realize I could probably use xrandr, arandr, disper, etc....., but I don't really think it should be necessary, considering this used to "just work" for me on an almost identical system. Any input appreciated. Here's my xorg.conf, where DFP-0 is my laptop screen (not sure why nvidia-xconfig added the "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" line. It makes no difference with or without it.):

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      "AU Optronics Corporation"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 75.0
    VertRefresh     60.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce G105M"
EndSection

Section "Screen"

# Removed Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0; nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "Stereo" "0"
    Option         "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0, DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Last edited by strungoutfan78 (2013-10-15 14:12:37)

tamikan · 2013-10-14 14:49:27

I haven't used nvidia twinview with my dual screen setup and nvidia card but have used this simple command in my autostart

xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080 --output LVDS1 --mode 1366x768 --right-of VGA1 &

that worked flawlessly

iMBeCil · 2013-10-14 16:58:19

@OP:

I also have nvidia, and here is my relevant config:

Section "Screen"
# Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +1680+0"
    Identifier     	"Screen0"
    Device         	"Device0"
    Monitor        	"Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         	"TwinView" "1"
    Option         	"TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         	"Stereo" "0"
    Option         	"nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +1680+0"
    Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-1: 1280x1024 +1680+0"
    Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     	"Display"
    Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Note, several 'metamodes', in particular order!

Compared to your xorg.conf, you are missing:

    Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"

which apparently takes care of single monitor setup.

OTOH, something other might be important, too ...

Let me know if this helps ...

Last edited by iMBeCil (2013-10-14 21:38:53)

strungoutfan78 · 2013-10-15 13:15:19

iMBeCil wrote:

@OP:

I also have nvidia, and here is my relevant config:

Section "Screen"
# Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +1680+0"
    Identifier     	"Screen0"
    Device         	"Device0"
    Monitor        	"Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         	"TwinView" "1"
    Option         	"TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         	"Stereo" "0"
    Option         	"nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0"
    Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +1680+0"
    Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-1: 1280x1024 +1680+0"
    Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection     	"Display"
    Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Note, several 'metamodes', in particular order!

Compared to your xorg.conf, you are missing:

    Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"

which apparently takes care of single monitor setup.

OTOH, something other might be important, too ...

Let me know if this helps ...

You know, I found this in another post somewhere and tried it but it didn't work. I didn't realize it had to be in a certain order though. How exactly does this file get parsed?

Also, what is the difference between these 2 lines?

Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-1: nvidia-auto-select +1680+0"
Option         	"metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-1: 1280x1024 +1680+0"

Aren't these exactly the same aside from specifying the resolution in the second line?

I'll try this again and use the same order. Which is your primary display? DFP-0?

iMBeCil · 2013-10-15 13:30:44

Yes, my primary monitor is the laptop monitor DFP-0.

Let me point out that I am not master of the xorg.conf file ... I used nvidia-settings, and then google (hence '... order is important ...').

But, as far as I understood:

1) first line is for laptop monitor + fairly new 22 or 24 inch, wide LCD (connected via HDMI)
2) second line is for laptop monitor + some old 18" (or is it 19") LCD monitor (also connected via HDMI)
3) third line, DFP-0 only, is for laptop monitor only.

I presume, the old monitor (case 2) is so old that perhaps it doesn't send its resolution correctly. Hence exact resolution in second line.

Furthermore, I googled somewhere that X will try fisrt line, then if it doesn't 'succeed' the second line, and if second one doesn't 'succeed', then the third line. (And so on ...)

Let me point out that connecting monitors via VGA connector doesn't work automatically at all, in the sense that monitor resolution is not recognized, and I have to start nvidia-settings and manually turn monitor on. Monitors connected via HDMI are correctly recognized, and turned on with correct resolution.

Sorry it doesn't work for you. And I am afraid that it is end of my knowledge, and end of my ability to help you with that matter. Perhaps, try to google your problem more intensively ...

strungoutfan78 · 2013-10-15 14:11:55

So I figured it out. After spending the last hour trying every metamode configuration I could think of I decided to just throw out all the metamode lines altogether and replace them with a single line:

Option    "TwinViewOrientation" "DFP1 LeftOf DFP-0"

So simple. I don't know why nvidia-settings wrote the config file like that with the metamodes because I chose "Left Of" when I set it originally. I believe the metamodes are only for absolute configurations. At least it works now. Thanks for getting me on the right track. big_smile

iMBeCil wrote:

Yes, my primary monitor is the laptop monitor DFP-0.
Let me point out that I am not master of the xorg.conf file ... I used nvidia-settings, and then google (hence '... order is important ...').
But, as far as I understood:
1) first line is for laptop monitor + fairly new 22 or 24 inch, wide LCD (connected via HDMI)
2) second line is for laptop monitor + some old 18" (or is it 19") LCD monitor (also connected via HDMI)
3) third line, DFP-0 only, is for laptop monitor only.
I presume, the old monitor (case 2) is so old that perhaps it doesn't send its resolution correctly. Hence exact resolution in second line.
Furthermore, I googled somewhere that X will try fisrt line, then if it doesn't 'succeed' the second line, and if second one doesn't 'succeed', then the third line. (And so on ...)
Let me point out that connecting monitors via VGA connector doesn't work automatically at all, in the sense that monitor resolution is not recognized, and I have to start nvidia-settings and manually turn monitor on. Monitors connected via HDMI are correctly recognized, and turned on with correct resolution.
Sorry it doesn't work for you. And I am afraid that it is end of my knowledge, and end of my ability to help you with that matter. Perhaps, try to google your problem more intensively ...

iMBeCil · 2013-10-15 17:27:44

^ Excellent, glad you found the solution.

I would have never though of this ...

strungoutfan78 · 2013-10-16 13:51:37

iMBeCil wrote:

^ Excellent, glad you found the solution.
I would have never though of this ...

I found it browsing through Nvidia's vague TwinView guide here: TwinView Guide

I say vague because, although the guide is rather extensive, the description of what each option actually does is lacking. (At least for a guy like me, who has little to no knowledge of video card terminology) It is a good resource though.

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#1 2013-10-14 14:13:25