TwinView, cannot get proper res on 2nd monitor, fedora 9 x86_64

[fieryhail]

Hello, I'm new to linux and especially fedora. Trying to use Fedora instead of Ubuntu. Anyway, not too sure what info is needed and what isn't. I'm running Fedora 9 x64. I have nvidia drivers enabled, using the livna repos, the livna repos are the only repos I have enabled except the standard fedora ones. I enable TwinView, and while I get normal res (1600x1200) on my primary monitor, the second monitor will not get a resolution higher than 640x480. My choices for the second screen are Auto, 320x240, 640x480. The primary screen is a Sony Multiscan E500 19" CRT and the second screen is basically the same thing except the Dell branded version. I know them both to work at 1600x1200 (the actual Sony at 2048x1536). I have tried manually editing the xorg.conf but am hesitant to play with stuff too much due to the nvidia driver, not too sure how that plays in. I'm trying to make the switch from Winblows but this is a huge issue for me as I am primarily a workstation user and require dual-head. I'm going to inlcude basic system specs, please let me know what else I need to post. Thanks again for any help.

Asus P5N-D mobo (nForce 750i chipset)
BFG 650 Watt PSU
Intel Q6600 @ 2.4GHz
8GB OCZ DDR2-800
1x250GB SATA HDD (boot)
1x160GB PATA HDD
1xPATA DVD-RW+DL
EVGA nVidia 8800GTX Superclocked

[fieryhail]

I solved he problem I was having with the improper resolution, although I'm sure it's not 100% correct. At any rate I do know what the root of the issue is. All displays require an EDID in the nvidia-config. My Sony GDM-E500 had an EDID but the Dell branded Trinitron did not. I basically copied the EDID from the Sony Trinitron and then loaded it as a custom EDID for the Dell monitor. SInce I already know the Dell has close to the functionality of the real Sony trinitron, I feel there's no hard in using it this way as long as I respect what I know to be the physical limitations of the monitor. Right now I'm running them both @ 1600x1200@75Hz refresh with Compiz desktop effects working fully. Definitely going a lot further to making me leave the Winblows machine. Anyway, here are the steps I took:

(All this was done as root)
- Enabled TwinView in Nvidia Settings
- Aquired the EDID for the Sony Trinitron and saved it in a folder (/home/username/EDID/customedid.bin)
-Edited my xorg.conf (/etc/X11/xorg.conf)
-Under the "Screen" section i added the line
'Option "CustomEDID" "CRT-0:/home/username/EDID/customedid.bin"

Obviousely change the relevant syntax to reflect your own setup. In my case it was CRT-0 that was a problem.

- I restarted X and all was great!

I must give credit to someone else out here, although I'm regretfully not sure. I was researching the web for a while trying many things and this is what worked for me. Hope this helps, thanks.

[Hlingler]

As much as I dislike using the nvidia-settings utility, you can use it to acquire the EDID of a monitor. After saving the EDID, exit the utility with the Window Title Bar "X" close button, not the "Quit" button. Or it might over-write your xorg.conf and blow away your fixes.

See also the nvidia dual-head tutorial by Alecfyz in the "Guides and How-Tos" forum.

V

P.S. Here's what I did: save the custom EDID using nvidia-settings. As root, move or copy it to folder /etc/X11/. Then added the option to xorg.conf exactly as you did, with of course the correct PATH to the edid.bin file.