Dual Monitors Help

[brydon]

I'm about to get a new custom built desktop and try making the move to PC-BSD. I really need to run dual monitors from the start and I'm looking for some help to make sure that's possible and any tips that would help me with that.

At this point I'm looking at an Intel D945 processor on an Intel micro ATX 945G motherboard.

So, can I get dual monitors running on PD-BSD in a relatively painless fashion? Is there anything specific I should be changing in my hardware to help this? For instance getting a specific video card that has better support etc?

thanks ahead of time for any help...

[dracheflieger]

I haven't tried it...others have and were successful and will no doubt be along to comment. Here is a list (http://forums.pcbsd.org/search.php?mode=results) from these forums on a search for 'dual monitor'. One thing I am certain of is that you need to install with only one monitor hooked up initially, then you can tweak your x? file to get the other working. Good luck and welcome to the forums.

[jdarnold]

When it comes to customizing X, *nothing* is painless. But it is doable.

The one key piece of information we need is what video card you are going to do it on. I have an ati x850 and have it (mostly) working. I can only get 16 bit color, which is kind of a drag. 32 bit color causes it to crash (I think it is a memory issue). nVidia cards seem to have it better. You can check my blog for my struggles to get it working, and for other links.

[brydon]

Well that's part of why I'm posting now. I don't have a video card yet as I'm still putting together my parts list. I believe the i945G board has integrated video so I'm guessing that I'm looking at adding another card to get the second out or maybe a second card with 2 outs and not use the board's video? Anyway, still figuring that out.

So, any suggestions are welcome especially if there are video cards that are better than others etc.

[brydon]

Another piece of information that may be helpful. One of my monitors will accept DVI, the other is VGA. So currently I can run dual monitors off my Dell laptop. My hunch, or hope, is that I can get a single card that will support dual monitors with a vga and dvi out?

[dracheflieger]

General info...nVidia supports *BSD much better than ATI. Best bet would be to get one with dual outs as mixing ports or cards may be a bitch. I have an EGVA nVidia 6600 GS with dual DVI outs but am only running a 19 CRT with converter.

[TerryP]

Maybe its good I'll never have a chance to try my 5 monitor setup. :-)

Oh well, till then 1 will do.

[jdarnold]

Yeah, you should buy a video card that will let you do dual monitor. My x850 has DVI and VGA, but I use an adapter for the DVI. Another machine has an nVideo with a special dual head cable to run dual monitor. And a third one has an ATI motherboard video with a matrox PCI card, so it could theoretically handle 6 monitors.

But I've only done the dual head with PC-BSD on the x850 machine. And I think I'd have to agree with the idea that nVidia is a better BSD card.

[dracheflieger]

Yeah, you should buy a video card that will let you do dual monitor. My x850 has DVI and VGA, but I use an adapter for the DVI. Another machine has an nVideo with a special dual head cable to run dual monitor. And a third one has an ATI motherboard video with a matrox PCI card, so it could theoretically handle 6 monitors.

But I've only done the dual head with PC-BSD on the x850 machine. And I think I'd have to agree with the idea that nVidia is a better BSD card.

It would be nice to launch a campaign to ATI for FreeBSD drivers but you have to go there, sign up, get your ticket and then make the request, at which time they send you a form letter showing you where to find their drivers, which of course doesn't include*BSD ;-)

[brydon]

Ok, so my best bet is to get an nVidia card with dual outs. I may still have to work some config magic but hardware wise this is my best bet?

thanks for the help, I'll wait a few days before I post my RAID-1 support question.....

[DarkStarAeon]

I'm using a Nvidia 7300LE personally, only one out, but...

on my wifes computer she has an Nvidia GeForce 5600 FX (Inno3D Tornado) and it has worked fine with dual monitors on PC-BSD, Windows, and every Linux distro she's tried, which is most of them.
The card has a DVI and a VGA out.

However, you definitely have to spend some time configuring X to get wide screen resolutions if you plan on using them.

[Solarin]

By the way, one of the easiest ways I found out for configuring weird resolutions & multiple monitors for those of us with nVidia cards is the 'nvidia-settings' tool.

It's available in ports, and I think it's included in the PBI.

Give it a go, lets you change other things relating to your card too, and monitor GPU temperature etc.

8)

[DarkStarAeon]

I never could get that tool to open. But if it works for someone then it sounds very useful.

[Tricky]

I was searching how to get my 2 monitors to work on the same graphics card (mine is a fx5200) one monitor is attached to VGA connector and the other to DVI with a vga adaptor. I couldn't find much help in the forum so here it goes the way to do if after fussing the interweb.
You just have to make another card (equal to the one that exist) another monitor with it's own specifications and another screen acording to the new monitor.
Then you add it up in the ServerLayout.

You can see here how it looks:
http:// portasecreta.com / blog /?p=5
[whitout the spaces]

If you look the xorg.conf it should be easy enough for one to understand what to do.
I thought it would be an headache but it's pretty simple.