3+ monitors - Roundtable

28 Jun 2013


      Has anyone had success with 3+ monitors (on 1 computer) in linux with
Core2-era hardware (or otherwise)?  Note: I don't care about 3D
performance at all, just 2D linux desktop (no compiz!) with the very
rare 3D app that won't be at all important.
I have an existing 2 monitor setup but I want to move to 3 or 4 after
a recent monitor death.
I see two ways forward, but both have uncertainty:
1. Add a 2nd (cheap) PCIex card to my Intel D975X board (has 1 x16, 1
x8, 1 x4 slots).
2. Swap out my existing card for a new ATI 3-display card (like 7750).
#1 will be cheaper (I probably have some here already), #2 may be
faster, but will require many expensive adapters to be purchased, as
well as the card.
Sounds easy.  But there are many gotchas:
1.
 a) 2nd card may not work at all: some boards have issues, some cards
 have issues.
 b) 2nd card may work, but at 1x.  I previously ran a system on x1
 video (even though it was in an x4 slot!) and even 2D was slowed down
 by the x1.  x4 is the bare minimum I want to run.  Many board/card
 combos don't "downspeed" very well, and often just go to x1
 c) will linux be happy with 2 video cards (with my board)?
2.
 a) do the free radeon drivers support the new Eyefinity (3+ monitor)
 spec or am I forced into proprietary drivers (yuck)?
 b) and do the proprietary drivers even support it and happily in
 xrandr and xinerama, etc?
While in theory there should be no problems, I've learned "weird" video
card issues abound in reality.  I'm trying to minimize delays waiting
for parts to try, and expense.  As such, notes like "I've done it with
X and Y" would be most helpful!  Or, "I'm really really sure X and Y
should work" would also help :-)
PS: I'll be doing super thin bezel models in the shape of "BO" (2
horizontal, 1 vertical) with one of the B's inverted because the bottom
bezels aren't as small as the top ones.
Thanks!