Kubuntu 9.10 64 Bit Dual Monitor Radeon x300

[AllenWJones]

Hello! I have been searching the interweb for a practical solution to a known issue, but there is little relevant information to date.

Explanation:
I am running Kubuntu 9.10 64 bit with a PCI-e ATI Radeon x300 which worked out of the box (so to speak). The issue I have is that the KDE display settings include a multiple monitor section, but no way to activate it from the system settings > display application. What does display is a clone image on both monitors and the KDE display manager recognizes both monitors as present and functioning.

Question:
How do I enable dual head (muli-monitor) capability for my video card in this environment?

What I have already tried:
I have downloaded the Linux 64 bit driver (ati-driver-installer-9-3-x86.x86_64.run) from the ATI website that suggests it is compatible with Kubuntu, but it will not install giving the error: "Error: ./default_policy.sh does not support version"

Help will certainly be appreciated.
Thank You!


Additional information:
I am on a client site with very limited internet access via proxy so most repo's are not available to me. I can however reach the majority of websites to download drivers and packages.

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu 9.10 64 Bit Dual Monitor Radeon x300

Do you know about, have you used Envy-NG:

EnvyNG: Interface for the installation of ATI/NVIDIA proprietary drivers with automatic hardware detection

[AllenWJones]

Re: Kubuntu 9.10 64 Bit Dual Monitor Radeon x300

I am looking into using Envy,
But I am a bit hesitant to use automated setups as this machine is a business critical host to other virtual operating environments that are not easily or quickly replaced if there is a fault prohibiting an immediate fix.

Does anyone know of a direct solution?

[xykivo]

Re: Kubuntu 9.10 64 Bit Dual Monitor Radeon x300

You can always try to manually config X.

Check:
http://wiki.debian.org/Xorg

I haven't done in quite a while, and some things have changed, but X has a configuration utility.
If you really know what to do, you can edit the X config file manually.

[AllenWJones]

Re: Kubuntu 9.10 64 Bit Dual Monitor Radeon x300

Thanks xykivo. But the information in this link is insufficient.

That link suggested I reconfigure X:

[code=From Terminal]dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg[/code]

But this did nothing that I could see (from either user or root) and did not return an error. That link also suggested that since 2008 the display configuration wizard had been removed from that application anyway.


The alternative solution was to start from scratch on a new Xorg.conf but I am not that much of an enthusiast. If these are the only solutions to a dual-head implementation of Kubuntu 9.10 64 bit then I will need a whole lot more help than this one article (although appreciated) can give.

There must be a more straight forward way without the need to re-write..