HDMI/Dual Monitor -- New Linux User

[Gloomshroud]

Hello everyone! I have only just installed Linux Mint 14 (MATE) as of about an hour ago. I did all the initial setup things as suggested on various posts here and Youtube and whatnot. So then I went to set up my dual monitors! I am aware of the limitation on "legacy" cards. Here are my specs:

Machine: HP Pavilion dv7
Card: ATI Radeon HD Mobility 4xxxx/5xxx (dual-head) <---- Has the ability to be a dedicated GPU and integrated w/ shared memory (presumably while on battery)
Monitors:
Left: HPx20 LED VGA
Right: Sony BRAVIA 32" HDTV (720p) w/ HDMI port hookup.

I have searched Google and these forums fruitlessly for a tip on how to set these up using these "open source" drivers. I attempted the fix listed in the release notes (in which one installs something called a "PPA" to revert back to an older version of another thing called "Xorg.") which caused all my monitors to go black. I had to re-install Mint.

I also had the same problem on a Mageia 2 distro I was using.

I am at a loss. Any help is appreciated. I've been using Linux for literally 2 days now and it's getting frustrating. I deleted my Windows partition and don't have the means to get it back. I don't have any recovery methods for it, so this machine is stuck with Linux. It's really neat, and I'd love to use it better, but this is so frustrating.

Thanks again!

EDIT: It may also be helpful to point out that I currently have both displays plugged in. Only the HP VGA monitor registers. The TV stays black and doens't even show up in the "Monitors" setup dialogue.

[zebedeeboss]

Hi

check this out: viewtopic.php?f=59&t=117398&p=650290

I had a problem with Dual monitors (mine, however were already recognised) but running the program mention in this thread sure helped me.

Good Luck

Zeb...

[Gloomshroud]

Are you referring to the XrandX portion? I'll give it a shot! I'm willing to try anything at this point. Thank you for taking the time to reply. Will update.

[Gloomshroud]

So that's a no-go here. I tried...and could not do it. Best I could manage was plugging my HDTV into my laptop with a VGA...at least I can get ONE to work. I'm at a loss. Lots of people having driver issues with AMD...next time I'm going Nvidia.

[Gloomshroud]

Ok, so all my best efforts have resulted in null results. Ergo, I am going to just be satisfied with getting my HDTV to work as a sole monitor. Any suggestions? Can't even get Linux Mint to RECOGNIZE the TV.

[pbehhe]

i am afraid there is not much I can do to help, but I connected my tv with hdmi successfully and it worked fine, maybe the tv is not compatible?