After having got the [docking station][dock] and a [19" external monitor][monitor] at [my work][avaleo], I tried to find a way to have a dual-head setup with Xinerama. Though Ubuntu is very cool, it didn’t really know what it was that I wanted when I attached the external monitor to it. And because there ain’t any graphical interfaces to configure [X.org][xorg] in these directions I had to do it myself.

To begin with I tried to have the xserver figure out the best resolution, depth etc. which it normally does just fine. But I think it can’t cope with my 15.4″ laptop screen together with my 19″ external monitor. So strongly inspired by a [somewhat similar setup][dellsetup] I found out that I had to set it all myself. So below you can see my full /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.

# Please note the Xinerama option.
Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "Dual-Head Setup"
	Screen      0  "Screen 1" 0 0
	Screen         "Screen 2" LeftOf "Screen 1"
	InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice    "Configured Mouse"
	Option         "Xinerama" "On"
	Option         "Clone"    "Off"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Generic Keyboard"
	Driver      "kbd"
	Option	    "CoreKeyboard"
	Option	    "XkbRules" "xorg"
	Option	    "XkbModel" "pc105"
	Option	    "XkbLayout" "dk"
EndSection

# This configures both the trackpoint mouse and my external USB mouse.
Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Configured Mouse"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "CorePointer"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
	Option	    "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
	Option	    "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "Files"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
	FontPath     "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
	FontPath     "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "i2c"
	Load  "bitmap"
	Load  "ddc"
	Load  "dri"
	Load  "extmod"
	Load  "freetype"
	Load  "glx"
	Load  "int10"
	Load  "type1"
	Load  "vbe"
EndSection

# Laptop LCD
Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Laptop LCD"
	Option	     "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	     "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	     "DPMS" "true"
	DisplaySize  331 207
	Modeline     "1680x1050"  122.00  1680 1712 1776 1904  1050 1051 1054 1066
EndSection

# Samsung TFT
Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Samsung 920N"
	Option	     "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	     "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	     "DPMS" "true"
	DisplaySize  376 301
	HorizSync    30-81
	VertRefresh  56-75
	ModeLine     "1280x1024" 108.00 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"R600 for Laptop LCD"
	Driver		"fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "R600 for Samsung 920N"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
	Screen      1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen 1"
	Device     "R600 for Laptop LCD"
	Monitor    "Laptop LCD"
	DefaultDepth     24
	# The modes is important to set else it won't work
	SubSection "Display"
		Modes     "1680x1050"
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen 2"
	Device     "R600 for Samsung 920N"
	Monitor    "Samsung 920N"
	DefaultDepth     24
	# The modes is important to set else it won't work
	SubSection "Display"
		Modes     "1280x1024"
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Mode         0666
EndSection

[avaleo]: http://www.avaleo.net
[dock]: http://www-131.ibm.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=-840&storeId=10000001&langId=-1&dualCurrId=73&categoryId=2581897&productId=4611686018425101091
[monitor]: http://www.samsung.com/Products/Monitor/LCD_Analog/LS19MJAKBZXAA.asp
[xorg]: http://www.x.org/
[dellsetup]: http://rdo.homelinux.org/ubuntu-linux-on-a-dell-latitude-d610/