[conspire] (forw) Re: Vaughn bringing PC to CABAL Sat. Mar 28, 1-9pm

[Rick Moen]

----- Forwarded message from Vaughn Spurlin <vspurlin at pacbell.net> -----

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Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:33:20 -0700 (PDT)
From: Vaughn Spurlin <vspurlin at pacbell.net>
To: installers at linuxmafia.com
Cc: Vaughn Spurlin <vspurlin at pacbell.net>
Subject: Vaughn bringing PC to CABAL Sat. Mar 28, 1-9pm


Hi Rick &/| Dierdre,

I'm (almost) disparate to get dual monitors working on my Ubuntu 8.04 /
Windows XP dual boot box. Works great with Windows, been hacking and
failing for a year with Linux. I'd like to come to your CABAL
installfest next Saturday, and I'd bring the box, 2 monitors, KB,
mouse, LAN cable. 

Should I bring anything else?

What's the best time to drop in at 1105 Altschul Ave.? 

Looking forward to meeting you and whoever else show up!

 Vaughn Spurlin - Software Engineering Consultant
vspurlin at pacbell.net - office 415.641.8094, mobile 415.713.5530
blog: http://vaughnspurlin.wordpress.com/


----- End forwarded message -----
----- Forwarded message from Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> -----

Date: Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:51:11 -0700
From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
To: Vaughn Spurlin <vspurlin at pacbell.net>
Cc: installers at linuxmafia.com
Subject: Re: Vaughn bringing PC to CABAL Sat. Mar 28, 1-9pm

Quoting Vaughn Spurlin (vspurlin at pacbell.net):

> Hi Rick &/| Dierdre,
> 
> I'm (almost) disparate to get dual monitors working on my Ubuntu 8.04 /
> Windows XP dual boot box. Works great with Windows, been hacking and
> failing for a year with Linux. I'd like to come to your CABAL
> installfest next Saturday, and I'd bring the box, 2 monitors, KB,
> mouse, LAN cable. 
> 
> Should I bring anything else?

That's all you need, and LAN cable isn't necessary, as we have those by
the bushel basket.

Getting dual monitors to display the _same_ data ("TwinView") is pretty
easy, although it does take some fiddly manual editing work in
/etc/X11/xorg.conf.  Getting "Xinerama" mode working, where the second
display shows adjoining screen real estate rather than mirroring the
first display, has often been for me an exercise in frustration --
though it seems to become slightly easier if you use the proprietary
Nvidia or ATI drivers, for some reason.  However, there's said to be
nothing specific to those drivers about either Xinerama or TwinView.

I think your best bet is to print out a few example xorg.conf files and
instruction pages off the Internet.  I note that my first hit, searching
for those terms, is http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=221174,
which looks promising.

> What's the best time to drop in at 1105 Altschul Ave.? 

People come and go starting 1 PM.  Guests are expected to start being
quiet at 9 PM (official closing time), but are welcome to stay as late
as midnight if they wish to.  As a practical matter, given that you
probably need a couple of hours as buffer to work everything out, that
rules out arriving at 11 PM.  ;->


----- End forwarded message -----