I'm about as knowledgeable as an infant on this subject, which is probably why I can't get it to work, but bare with me: I got a DVI-to-HDMI cable, not unlike this one, which plugs into the "white" output of my video card. The regular (blue) output is connected to my screen. When I plug the DVI cable in the video card, connect it to the TV and select the HDMI input, nothing happens. I just get a blue screen saying "No video signal". What more do I need to do than just connect the cables? Could it be a OS thing? Ubuntu doesn't see a second screen, just the one that's connected via the VGA port. Thanks in advance.
You're using Ubuntu? If you disconnect the the other vga connection so that you only have one connection (the dvi) and then boot do you get a display? If so, it's just an OS setting that needs sorting.
Well, I have to say that was the easiest solution I never saw coming :roll: It's weird to type on my TV, I never had a fancy enough TV before to connect a PC to But as I tend to rip everything to my HD it made sense (movies on bigish TV > movies on 19" screen!) Now to find out how I can get them both to work at the same time... Once more to Google! Thanks for the fast reply [edit] Hm, when I plugged the VGA port in again, the video was broadcasted to both screens until the login screen, then the TV stopped receiving a video signal. Should be an easy fix.
I believe you'll need to edit your X config. It's been a long time since I messed with Ubuntu or X, so I can't help. A bit of googling should help though - Ubuntu may even have a GUI to help you do it. I take it you have the correct drivers installed for your video card? What make/model is it?
goto System > Preferences > Screen Resolution (in the menus) then you should have a 'detect displays' button and a 'clone screens' option. I can't tell you exactly how it works as I don't have a screen on my Ubuntu currently - it's a server box and I access it remotely from my Vista desktop. Play around and see what you get.
Just a question: I hate to offend you by dumbing it down, but is the VGA plugged into the motherboard? 'cause if you have one screen in the VGA on the mobo (if it has integrated graphics) and the TV in the DVI on the graphics card, it won't like displaying to the VGA port, so logging in may be causing it to turn on settings allowing the video card to override onboard graphics. Get a VGA to DVI adapter (should've come with your screen or graphics card) and plug both the screen and the TV into the two outputs on the graphics card (if you have two, which you should if it's a fairly newish graphics card) and see if it shows some semblance of screen on both of them then. Edit: EnglishLion seems to know what he's talking about, it probably wasn't a hardware issue, sorry. Also, I write too slowly
I've been trying to get Ubuntu to recognise the existence of the second screen, but it always only finds one screen. At the moment it only detects the computer screen. Both are plugged into the graphics card. It's an nVidia GeForce 6600. Not sure if any of the other information in this block of text is of any use (video cards aren't exactly my "speciality", before buying that TV I didn't even know what HDMI or DVI was ). Code: $01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV43 [GeForce 6600] (rev a2) Subsystem: CardExpert Technology Device 0401 Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 248, IRQ 16 Memory at f8000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M] Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M] Memory at f9000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M] [virtual] Expansion ROM at fa000000 [disabled] [size=128K] Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2 Capabilities: [44] AGP version 3.0 Kernel driver in use: nvidia Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nvidia It's probably something really stupid, maybe to do with the whole proprietary drivers thing? I've registered and posted on Ubuntu Forums, maybe something will come up there, too. In the meantime, I'll be googling but if you have an idea... [edit] Turns out nvidia-settings had the TV as "disabled" A quick alteration of that, writing the changes to xorg.conf et voila, my TV is now the second monitor. I'm soiling myself thinking about booting it up, though. Something's got to go wrong Something weird, though... According to Ubuntu's "Screen Resolution", my screen and TV are one big screen. No mirroring for the moment, then. Google... again !
It's very close to what I ended up doing. I might give it a go later when I come to the point of complete desperation and willingness to risk to reinstall the drivers and such (and lose my progress, if any ). Now it's just being a bit weird... Both screens show my desktop background. The Fluxbox taskbar on the TV is pretty much the same as on my Acer screen, except that it's in the middle and has those workspace switching arrows. It also doesn't have the transparency/hiding settings I've got set - but then again, Fluxbox's init file has a lot of that stuff under "screen0", whereas the TV is screen1. Should try to get rid of that bar on the TV I added workspaces to my Fluxbox init file, but no windows can move to the TV. When I drag them off the screen they just go to the other end of the screen. When I drag the mouse off the right side of the screen, though, it goes to the TV. Any application I start from the menu on the TV runs on the TV screen. I am baffled, to be honest. Then again, it works, which is the important bit; and it works for the things I want it to: watch movies and maybe listen to music (no speakers on this PC) when I'm doing the washing-up. So I'm content with this set-up, I'd just like to know how exactly it works. It's not a separate workspace, it's like a second instance of Fluxbox is running there. Another weird thing is that the Screen Resolution box only "allows" me to change this computer screen. Maybe it's Fluxbox? I'm too scared to log into Gnome, to be honest - the last time I did with the TV connected I got a part of my desktop, no Conky, no taskbar or nothing - it was all "hidden" off the screen due to the resolution being messed up. Windows I started with keyboard shortcuts got opened off-screen as well. Ah well, I'll play around with the init file and see what I can get. I'm going to try and connect the audio now. If that works, I'm a happy bunny. Confused, but at least I can use my sofa to watch stuff without having to move the computer. My ass hasn't been on there enough for the money I paid for it [edit] Metropolis' epic audio and video never sounded or looked so good. Coincidently, it's the first time I've watched this movie from a sofa. Alright! [ninja edit of the edit] If I understand this correctly, I can set a whole load of settings specific to screen1 in Fluxbox's init file. This would save my eyesight a lot of bother. I think I just soiled myself thinking about it. Thanks for the replies, they definitely pointed me in the right direction/helped me think away from "the cable is connected"!
