2 VGA ports

[Mas7er Roshi]

- HP Pavilion a1730n
- AMD athlon 64 x2 dual core processor 4600+ 2.40GHz
- RAM 3Gb
- Nvidia GeForce 6150 LE
- 320 Gb Hard drive
- Kubuntu 14.10
- KDE 4.14.1

I recently pulled a lot old VGA port card out of an old PC and put it in my old HP... The HP already had 1 integrated VGA port and the "new" card I put in took over the original...

I don't know how to say that, basically I have to plug the VGA cable Into the card instead of the port on the motherboard to get anything to show up on the monitor and if I do plug it in the motherboard it says

"in power save mode
Press any key on keyboard or move mouse"

My question is not about the ports it's about hooking two VGA cables up to my tower (1 in the card the other in the port on the motherboard) to get two monitors running at the same time...

[oshunluvr]

Not all bios' will allow you to use both the on board and a slot based video card at the same time. The "powersave mode" message means the monitor is getting no signal.

With both monitors plugged in, open a terminal and type xrandr and post the results. Basically, if it shows only 1 VGA port, it's not likely going to work.

[Mas7er Roshi]

Yes it say I only have one VGA-0

Can I get the dual screen to work by getting a VGA splitter and running off the same port?

[Mas7er Roshi]

Or another option (idk if it would work) could I hook the VGA cord to one monitor and the hook the two together with a HDMI cable?

[Mas7er Roshi]

Also the final goal in mind would be getting KDE to work with 2 monitors with the virtual desktop 1 on monitor 1 and virtual desktop 2 on monitor 2

[oshunluvr]

In the future, it would be preferable to copy the text from the terminal and paste it rather than a screen shot.

Based on the output of xrandr, you have 1-VGA, 1-DVI, and 1-TV (s-video) connector and a monitor connected to the VGA port. What's the output of:

lspci |grep VGA



You need to do some research on what you're trying to do:

A VGA splitter might give you two images of your desktop, but what does that do for you?
Hooking 2 monitors together with and type of cable would do exactly nothing. Monitors do not output signals, just receive them.
I'm not sure what you mean by Virtual Desktop but if you're asking for 2 desktops (windows cannot pass from one to the other) that can be done, but first you have to have two working monitors.

[Mas7er Roshi]

In the future I will do that but I'm currently without Internet hooked to the desktop and doing all this through my phone....

lspci |grep VGA
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV370 [Radeon X300]

I do have 2 monitors
- both dell (if you need the model number I can get it
- both are dell but different
- both have only 1 VGA port and 1 power port
- I have other monitors some with TV Capabilities I would rather prefer to not use those unless I have to...

In KDE desktop, under computer>system settings>Workspace Behavior>virtual desktop you can edit it to have multiple desktops...

The KDE desktop is supposed to detect this setting and use the monitors and apply the the virtual desktop 1 to monitor 1 and virtual desktop 2 to monitor 2

[Mas7er Roshi]

Virtual Desktop - Kubuntu 10.10: http://youtu.be/TpVFQJqQ9nQ

[oshunluvr]

Virtual Desktop - Kubuntu 10.10: http://youtu.be/TpVFQJqQ9nQ

That function has nothing to do with multiple monitors. You have that ability already. It's having multiple virtual desktops on a single monitor.

With multiple monitors you have either two desktops (windows don't pass across) or an extended desktop (windows can pass across or span (exist on both monitors) both desktops) and both can have multiple virtual desktops.

[oshunluvr]

The type or number of monitors isn't useful if you can only hook up one at a time. It appears that by plugging in an external video card your motherboard video is automatically disabled. You'll might be able to use the DVI port with a VGA monitor if you have an adapter.

[Mas7er Roshi]

Ok so now comes the dummy who doesn't look up anything (aka me)...

So what are my options here...

Is there a way to get these two monitors to display the same desktop?

Should I take out the video card and just stick with the port on the motherboard?

Why does tech hate me

[Mas7er Roshi]

Scratch that... I have to keep the video card to get KDE to not glitch out on me...

However the question about getting dual monitors working is still active...

[oshunluvr]

Based on the xrandr output, you have two monitor connectors available and they both appear to be active. Look up the brand/model of the card and verify it will support dual monitors. If it does, then buy ( about $4) or find a dvi-vga adapter and connect both monitors to the ports on the card.

You should then be able to either mirror (same desktop, both monitor), dual desktop, or extended desktop.

[sithlord48]

you can set up your monitors using system settings -> display . you do need to hook the two up at the same time to see them in that kcm

[Mas7er Roshi]

Problem Solved thanks guys!!