somehow, it is now working perfectly. this was accomplished through the 
time-tested linux method of "i dunno -- i tried some stuff and then it 
worked."

it involved using the monitor configurator in kcontrol, sudo 
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg, and nvidia-settings run as root so as to be 
able to write an /etc/X11/xorg.conf -- previous iterations failed to fix 
the top screen weirdness, or killed one or the other of the screens 
entirely (which made logging in fun; i'm currently doing the login from 
terminal, then startx thing -- makes me feel young again, because that's 
how we did it with kde-1.0).

anyway, thanks, everybody. you got the juices flowing and sparked the zen 
that sometimes is linux and especially x.
-- 
dep

The shortest distance between you and playing great acoustic guitar:
the great new instructional DVDs from Marjorie Thompson, 
available at www.MarjorieThompson.com