Dual monitor on laptop with ATI

p41elvis · 01-23-2006, 09:12 AM

Hello everybody,

I have a new laptop (Toshiba Satellite M40-277) with the ATI Raedon Express 200M graphics card. Under windows this cards support the usages of dual monitors. This means that I can hook up an external monitor to my laptop and show different content on it than on my laptop screen. I then actually have 2 different screens which is very nice when you are programming and writting documents. I think this is called "dual head" or something?

The screen of my laptop is a 15.4" widescreen, which I got working on the right resolution (1280 x 800) after some trouble. I used the ATI drivers for this: https://support.ati.com/ics/support/...uestionID=1176. Now I want to set it up so that I can use an external screen (which has a different resolution) exactly like how I can use it under Windows, because I think it's a big advantage.

I tried running fgrlxconfig and choosing the "Big desktop" there, but this didn't gave the external monitor different content. It actually gave it the samen content in the same resolution. I think that there have to be made some changes in xorg.conf, but I have no idea what to do there. I'm a relative new user of Linux.

I'm using Mandriva 2006.

Best regards,
Jethro

jwestlak · 01-24-2006, 08:07 PM

I have this same sort of problem with my laptop and have not gotten it resolved yet. You might want to look at this page for some ideas though. I just haven't experimented with it enough to get it working, but it seems like it would work.

http://ozlabs.org/~jk/docs/mergefb/

accessrichard · 02-17-2006, 11:33 PM

Add the following to the device section for dual head spanning with ATI cards in laptop

Code:

        Option      "DesktopSetup" "Horizontal"

Then plug in the external monitor, reboot X with ctrl-alt-delete and it should work.

Note: I set the resolution of my 15.4 widescreen monitor to 1024x768 which is not optimal, but livable. There is a way to specify different resolutions per monitor but I was to lazy to figure this one out as I don't mind that resolution in spanning mode. Sorry I know you asked for different monitor resolutions.

Note: I have an ati express 200M

p41elvis · 02-18-2006, 01:19 AM

Hi there,

Perhaps you can post your entire xorg.conf file here? That would really be helpfull.

Thanks in advance!

Jethro

accessrichard · 02-18-2006, 10:50 AM

Sure,

Compaq presario v2100us, AMD Turion 64 (using i386 FC4), ATI Xpress 200M, Synaptics touchpad, 15.4' WXGA display,

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "daul head configuration"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        InputDevice    "Synaptics" "AlwaysCore"
EndSection

Section "Files"
        RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
        FontPath     "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
        Load  "dbe"
        Load  "extmod"
        Load  "fbdevhw"
        Load  "glx"
        Load  "record"
        Load  "freetype"
        Load  "type1"
        Load  "synaptics"
        Load  "dri"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
        Driver      "kbd"
        Option      "XkbModel" "pc105"
        Option      "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Mouse0"
        Driver      "mouse"
        Option      "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
        Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Synaptics"
        Driver      "synaptics"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
        Option      "Emulate3Buttons" "yes"
        Option      "SHMconfig" "on"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName    "LCD Panel 1280x768"
        HorizSync    31.5 - 90.0
        VertRefresh  60.0 - 60.0
        Option      "dpms"
# 1280x768 @ 68.9Hz
# ModeLine     "1280x768" 68.9 1280 1296 1344 1432 768 771 777 816 +csync
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard0"
        Driver      "fglrx"     #ati driver
        VendorName  "ATI"
        BoardName   "ATI Radeon Xpress 200m"
        Option      "backingstor" "true"  #don't think is needed
        Option      "AllowGLXWithComposite" "true" #not needed
        Option      "DesktopSetup" "Horizontal" #All I had to do for dual spanning display on my laptop with ATI Xpress 200M
        Option      "UseInternalAGPGART" "no" 
        Option      "VideoOverlay" "on"
        Option      "TVOutFormat" "Composite" #tv-out works when plugged in, on restart X automatically
        Option      "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"  #North America Format
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"

#laptop         Modes    "1280x768" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" #when I just use laptop I uncomment this and comment the other mode
#monitor        Modes     "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Group        0
        Mode         0666
EndSection

In case people are wondering about excel with this card, usually I get 600 fps for some reason it was fast today, I can play Penguin Racer, Cube and just about any game no problem. I sometimes see people getting 1000+ fps with this card, I don't but who cares as long as everything works.

Code:

 glxgears
4286 frames in 5.0 seconds = 857.200 FPS
4567 frames in 5.0 seconds = 913.400 FPS
4576 frames in 5.0 seconds = 915.200 FPS
4584 frames in 5.0 seconds = 916.800 FPS
4560 frames in 5.0 seconds = 912.000 FPS

I really hope this works for you, I know when I was trying to figure this out for the laptop, I tried Xinerama settings a bunch but could not get that to work. Let me know if it works for you, hopefully it will since we use the same cards.

p41elvis · 02-18-2006, 03:07 PM

Thanks for the xorg.conf, I will try it tommorrow!

Meanwhile, I'm curious what you get when you type "fglrxinfo" in the konsole. This is what I get:

Code:

[jethro@jethro ~]$ fglrxinfo
display: :0.0  screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: RADEON XPRESS 200M Series SW TCL Generic
OpenGL version string: 1.3.5519 (X4.3.0-8.20.8)

This is what I get from "glxgears":

Code:

[jethro@jethro ~]$ glxgears
5331 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1066.198 FPS
5565 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1112.873 FPS
5504 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1100.691 FPS
5483 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1096.481 FPS

accessrichard · 02-18-2006, 03:23 PM

I get the same exact fglxinfo. Let me know how it works for you.

p41elvis · 02-19-2006, 04:09 AM

Alright, it works, but it isn't real pretty that the 15.4" screen has a resolution of 1024x768. I'm thinking about ways to fix this. Have you already thought about it?

p41elvis · 02-19-2006, 04:18 AM

When thinking about it, I think the solution is to setup two differenct "Screen" sections. Each screen section can then have it's own monitor at it's own resolution. In the serverlayout you are able to say that there are several screens. The problem is that I don't know how to make this work, I think there has to be some kind of "DesktopSetup" for this or something.

This are the two screens and monitors I'm thinking about:

Code:

# The laptop monitor.
Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "Monitor0"
    HorizSync 28-96
    VertRefresh 50-75
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

# The LCD monitor.
Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor1"
        VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
        ModelName    "LCD Panel 1280x768"
        HorizSync    31.5 - 90.0
        VertRefresh  60.0 - 60.0
        Option      "dpms"
# 1280x768 @ 68.9Hz
# ModeLine     "1280x768" 68.9 1280 1296 1344 1432 768 771 777 816 +csync
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device "ATI Graphics Adapter"
    Monitor "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth 24
    #Option "backingstore"
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Modes "1280x800" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        ViewPort 0 0  # initial origin if mode is smaller than desktop
        # Virtual     1280 1024
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen1"
    Device "ATI Graphics Adapter"
    Monitor "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth 24
    #Option "backingstore"
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        ViewPort 0 0  # initial origin if mode is smaller than desktop
        # Virtual     1280 1024
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Perhaps you can do something with this?

accessrichard · 02-19-2006, 09:07 AM

I believe you are on the correct track, although I have not bothered to fix this with my laptop which I use everyday in spanning mode, just because it doesnt bug me.

This guy used fglrxconfig to config his xorg and says that he got different resolutions on each screen and posted his xorg
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=333550

The reason why I am confused with this setup is that I do not know what is going on with 'desktop setup horizontal', whether it is using Xinerama or not. I also do not know what to put in the 'serverlayout' section in order to link screen1.

This week sometime, I will hopefully play around and post back if I succesful, in the meantime if you get this setup to work correctly let me know.

p41elvis · 02-19-2006, 10:45 AM

Alright accesrichard, thanks for you reply. I will check out the post you mentioned and I will play around with it all. Let me know if you get anything working, I will do the same!

p41elvis · 02-23-2006, 09:05 AM

Hi there,

I played around with it all but I am not able to make it work yet. Did you get any results accesrichards?

Greetings,
Jethro

accessrichard · 02-23-2006, 03:26 PM

All you have to do is add the following to the device section

Code:

Option  "Mode2" "1024x768"

And then I used KRuler in order to make sure that my laptop was running at 1280x768 and my second monitor was running at 1024x768.

Here are some other options that people may find useful that I was reading about

Code:

Option "CRT2Position" "clone" #leftof, rightof, above, below
Option "MonitorLayout" "LVDS, CRT" #crt1, crt2, lvds = laptop flatpanel, tmds1, tmds2, tmdsi, nocrt1, notv, noetc... (Depreciated see ForceMonitors and DesktopSetup
Option "HSync2" "30-50" #or whatever HSysnc
Option "VRefresh2" "50 - 100" #or whatever I made up those nums
Option "DesktopSetup" "clone" #mirror, horizontal, vertical, single, reversed
Option "MetaModes" "1280x768, 1024x768; 800x600, 800x600"
Option "ForceMonitors" "LVDS, CRT" #similar to MonitorLayout which is depreciated
Option  "DesktopSetup" "Horizontal" #single, reversed, clone, mirror, horizontal, vertical, may also use s,r,c,m,h,z abbv
Option "Mode2" "1024,768" #second monitor res

p41elvis · 03-01-2006, 07:59 AM

Alright, I know have added the option you said:

Code:

Option "Mode2" "1024x768"

This is better than before, because now the resolution of what I can see on my external monitor is indeed 1024x768. I messeaured it with KRuler and it's correct. Now another problem appears: my desktop is strechted, meaning that icons that are on the right side of my desktop now appear on the external monitor. But for some misterious reseaon they are not visible there. It seems linke there is an extra space to the right of my external monitor that isn't actually visible on that monitor. Perhaps I am explaining this strangly, do you know what I mean?

I think there are a two things that could solve this problem, but I don't know how to do this or if they are even possible:
1 - not stretch the desktop but actually make second desktop on the second screen
2 - make the resolution of the second screen bigger. I already tried Option "Mode2" "1280x1024", but than the screen isn't usable any more. Some strange stripes appear, under Windows my screen handles 1280x1024 fine.

I really appreciate all you help accesrichard, you really made my Linux distribution more usefull already. I hope you know a solution for this final problem.

Greetings,
Jethro

accessrichard · 03-01-2006, 10:39 AM

Well, I do not completely follow you but I think I can still help.

In Xorg, try changing DesktopSetup from horizontal to clone, then see if your external monitor has the same problem. (If problem persists, may be an Xorg problem, if not may be a window manager problem, can narrow this down a little bit)

In the KDE control center(Or your window manager displays settings), where you pick which desktop background you want, there are some Xinerama, or Dual Head options that I would play around with.