# TwinView, openSUSE, and the NVIDIA driver

*2011-06-11*

> Configure a monitor and TV with NVIDIA TwinView on openSUSE 11.4 and save the display settings permanently in the X server configuration.

A week ago, I bought a 37″ LG LED TV for my living room. It’s cheap and has a lot of features. After buying a 10 m DVI to HDMI cable, I connected the TV to my development machine, which also happens to be in my living room. It’s great for watching HD movies late at night or playing games when I feel like taking a break.

My development PC runs openSUSE 11.4 and has an NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT graphics card. It’s old, but it’s perfectly good for my needs. I’m using the [proprietary NVIDIA driver](https://en.opensuse.org/SDB:NVIDIA_drivers) and a great tool that comes with it: NVIDIA X Server Settings.

Here’s how to configure both displays and make the changes permanent.

## Configuring TwinView

1. Open **NVIDIA X Server Settings** and select **X Server Display Configuration**. You should see your displays there - in my case, my primary monitor and TV.
2. Select the disabled display and click **Configure…**.
3. In the **Configure Display Device** dialog, choose **TwinView** and click **OK**.
4. Adjust the display resolution and refresh rate if needed.
5. If you want the selected display to be the primary one, select **Make this the primary display for the X screen**.
6. Click **Apply**. Adjust the options until you’re happy with the results, but leave NVIDIA X Server Settings open.

## Saving the configuration

1. Open a terminal, become root, and open `/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/50-screen.conf` in a text editor.
2. In NVIDIA X Server Settings, select **Save to X Configuration File**, then **Show Preview**.
3. Find the `Screen` section in the preview. Copy its generated `Option` lines into the `Screen` section of `50-screen.conf`, immediately after the `Monitor` directive.
4. Save the file, close NVIDIA X Server Settings, and log out. After the X server restarts, your saved settings should be applied automatically.