Upon installing Ubuntu, I noticed that my second monitor wasn’t being used.
On the top panel, I noticed that there was an icon that popped up that said that there were no proprietary drivers installed, and that I should install the nvidia driver for best results. I installed it, and had to reboot the system, which I did.
I figured that that would have solved the issue, and I would have at least been able to change the setting System->Preferences->Screen Resolution. No go. I looked online, and found a guide. This helped me get the rest of the way. Here’s what to do, in a nutshell:
$ cd /etc/X11
Make a copy of the xorg.conf file, in case you mess things up. I will typically use my initials and a datestamp in the backup filename, to know that I made the change, and when.
$ sudo cp xorg.conf xorg.conf.<your initials>.<datestamp>
Edit xorg.conf (don’t forget sudo!) and add the following lines in the Screen section:
# Turn on TwinView Option "RenderAccel" "true" Option "TwinView" Option "MetaModes" "1280x1024 1280x1024"
Save the file, and then restart X by hitting Ctrl-Alt-Backspace. This should have both screens enabled when it loads back up.
