i should be working (but i'm fixing my computer).

So I digressed.  My new super computer (yeah, right) is not yet actually hooked up (after the maiden voyage of setup.)  I got as far as putting the monitor roughly where it should go.  Then I decided I wanted to connect my old ZD7000 HP laptop to it via the KVM switch.  Knowing full well, it wouldn't work.  Because external monitor has always been a problem; Nvidia abandoned the linux driver for it in its legacy package, etc.  Going nowhere.

...

Now, the first key is that the monitor has to be connected at startup, otherwise the Nvidia card doesn't know there is an external card attached.  I think.  I've tried a lot of iterations.  Early on, I tried using a some linux "tv" software to bring the external monitor up.  That worked, although unsatisfactorily -- until Nvidia abandoned the driver.

As of OpSu 11.2 I had established xorg.conf files for the internal 1440x900 (using the nv driver) and the external 1280x1040 monitor (using the vesa driver) and never the twain shall meet.

Things did not go well with the new 1920x1080 monitor.  Well, the puzzling part is (and always has been) I get both external and internal monitor displays simultaneously during the boot process -- and then upon desktop login, one dies.  With the nv driver, the external turns into a psychedelic color pattern.    With VESA, I get all sort of distorted dimensions, but not the ones I want.

Smarter linux users than I certainly know the solution.  But ... I don't.

So, I ran Sax2.  And crashed it.  But somewhere along the line I noticed a prompt/feedback that if you have changed hardware configuration, run Sax2 -r.  So, I tried that.

Progress was made.

Well, not really.  Except, however, Sax2 correctly identified both monitors and the respective resolutions.  Sax2 offered me a cloned dual-head option.  Seemingly GENUINE progress.  And then -- no video, just a reference to the sax2 error log.

Sax2 was, somewhat correctly, looking for the nvidia kernel driver.  Or nvidia driver kernel.  Whatever.

But I KNOW what happens when I install the nvidia driver kernel.  Nothing, NADA, zilch.  Because, the nvidia board in my zd7000 is not on the list of nvdia cards in the legacy driver install.  numerically, the card #s advance appropriately, then skip right over my card, then advance numerically once again.  My card has effectively ceased to exist as far as nvidia is concerned.

but here's the thing -- I know that OpSu has been phasing out the Sax2 tool (and the xorg.conf file) in favor of the randr scheme.  At 11.3,  Sax2 disappeared altoghther.

Soo0o...how would I go about properly removing all of my sax2 generated xorg.conf stuff and restore the computer to an randr scheme?

No idea.

The problem is this -- I have a customized secure LAMP server runniong on this computer and woe is me if I ever crash it or reinstall linux on it, because the modifications are in the system files -- and I will never remember all the changes I need to make to get it up and running again.  Plus it's got an iFolder server running, which is another major PIA to install.

So, I took my OpSu 11.3 live/install disk -- which, yes, is a version behind, but I didn't have the 11.4 lying around.  I booted from the DVD.

Miracle of Miracles, Krandr correctly identified and activated both screens! (OK, no 3d effects, but you can't have everything.)

So, now I have some upgrading to do, LAMP server or not.

I think I better get the new computer up and running before I cripple the old one ...