[clue-tech] Dual monitors with 2 video cards?

[Ken MacFerrin]

Bruce Ediger wrote:
> I just saw this nifty slashdot article asking for documentary proof
> that using more than 1 monitor "helps" in some fashion:
> 
> http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/05/2321255&from=rss
> 
> I thought to myself, "Hey, I have a motherboard with a built-in S3 "Virge"
> or somesuch, and I have a Matrox AGP video card in it. Can I use both
> video "cards" to drive 2 monitors?"
> 
> Well, is that possible?  Can I use the built-in video and an AGP or PCI
> card at the same time?  Googling around only lead me to a few "how-tos"
> that seem to require special graphics cards, like this:
> http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Dual_Monitors
> http://www.zulustips.com/2007/04/01/dual-monitors-howto.html
> http://aufrecht.org/blog/one-entry?entry_id=23251
> http://flavor8.com/index.php/2006/07/27/howto-dual-monitors-on-linux/
> 
> PS
> Take a gander at this one:
> http://research.microsoft.com/displayArticle.aspx?id=433
> 

Not sure about using the built-in video and AGP at the same time, but
using an AGP and a PCI card together has worked for me in the past..
You'll want to use the Xinerama extension to configure the screen
orientation in X so that you can move between monitors..  IIRC the only
issue is that you can only have OpenGL/3D rendering on one screen at a
time (this may be fixed by now).

Alternatively, you can pick up a dual head Nvidia card fairly cheap
these days and just make life easy by running TwinView.

-Ken