With some more details on your system (graphics card, preferred window manager), people can give you and/or point you to more specific instructions. There are differences to be aware of depending on whether or not your gfx is radeon, nvidia, or something more obscure.
As a quick answer, yes, it is most definitely possible. I personally run a dual screen setup with xrandr (Xprogs extension, if memory servers, but use the provides feature in the apps browser if you need to) on my laptop using the open source radeon drivers