LinuxQuestions.org - Xinerama/nVidia GeForce FX 5200

- Fedora (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/fedora-35/)

- - Xinerama/nVidia GeForce FX 5200 (https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/fedora-35/xinerama-nvidia-geforce-fx-5200-a-285467/)

Xinerama/nVidia GeForce FX 5200

This is my current setup:

CPU: Athlon 64 (socket 754) 3200+
RAM: 512 MB PC3200
GFX: GeForce FX 5200
OS: Fedora Core 3 with all upgrades (just checkd YUM :-)
Monitors: 1 x AOC 9Glr+ (19" in VGA port) + 1 x Digital something (crappy 21" in converter that fits the DVI port)

What I want here is a spanned desktop - i.e. a single desktop that allows me to move programme windows from one monitor to another and not two seperate desktops with no option to move programme windows between the two monitors. I am not an ace when it comes to X configurations so the few attempts I have made to make this possible all failed resulting in a crashing X server.

A copy of my xorg.conf follows (minus notes):

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier    "Multihead layout"

        Screen      0  "Screen0" LeftOf "Screen1"

        Screen      1  "Screen1" 0 0

        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

        Option            "Xinerama" "off

        Option            "Clone" "on

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"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Keyboard0"

        Driver      "kbd"

        Option            "XkbModel" "pc105"

        Option            "XkbLayout" "dk"

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 "Monitor"

        Identifier  "Monitor0"

        VendorName  "Monitor Vendor"

        ModelName    "AOC SPECTRUM 9Glr"

        HorizSync    30.0 - 95.0

        VertRefresh  47.0 - 150.0

        Option            "dpms"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier  "Monitor1"

        VendorName  "Monitor Vendor"

        ModelName    "Digital 21 in. Color (SN-VRCX1-WA)"

        HorizSync    30.0 - 95.0

        VertRefresh  50.0 - 152.0

        Option            "dpms"

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier  "Videocard0"

        Driver      "nvidia"

        VendorName  "Videocard vendor"

        BoardName  "NVIDIA GeForce FX (generic)"

        BusID      "PCI:1:0:0"

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier  "Videocard1"

        Driver      "nvidia"

        VendorName  "Videocard Vendor"

        BoardName  "NVIDIA GeForce FX (generic)"

        BusID      "PCI:1:0:0"

        Screen      1

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen0"

        Device    "Videocard0"

        Monitor    "Monitor0"

        DefaultDepth    24

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport  0 0

                Depth    16

                Modes    "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport  0 0

                Depth    24

                Modes    "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen1"

        Device    "Videocard1"

        Monitor    "Monitor1"

        DefaultDepth    24

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport  0 0

                Depth    24

                Modes    "1600x1200"

        EndSubSection

EndSection



Section "DRI"

        Group        0

        Mode        0666

EndSection

What I have tried is simply to set Xinerama to true and clone to false - this is the only difference in xorg.conf when using the system utility for configuring the monitor I spotted, when I used that to set it.

you have two options, either using Xinerama or using the nvidia twinview extensions. Xinerama is higher level and not device dependent at all, and you're almost there already, so we'll go for that one... the config generally looks fine, you don't want that Clone option at all, just remove the line, and set Xinerama to true. there really shouldn't be anythign more to it than that, what are the actual errors coming from xorg though? check /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

change
Option "Xinerama" "off"
Option "Clone" "on"
to
Option "Xinerama" "on"
Option "Clone" "off"

to acid_kewpie: I'll try your suggestion - I doubt that it will work though, but I will make an attempt. To me it seems like doing the same as what I have already attempted.

to frieza: please read my post: what you are suggesting is what I have already attempted, which failed.

no, it can't see it'll guarentee a fix, but the errors in the log file are more important really.

Tested and tried your solution - it didn't crash but the second monitor didn't show anything either.

When I do it the clone off, xinerama on way I get one error: something about device already in use. I'm guessing this is my graphics card since both monitors are using it.

My guess is something like so:

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier    "Multihead layout"

        Screen      0  "Screen0" LeftOf "Screen1"

        Screen      0  "Screen1" 0 0

        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

        Option            "Xinerama" "on"

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"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Keyboard0"

        Driver      "kbd"

        Option            "XkbModel" "pc105"

        Option            "XkbLayout" "dk"

EndSection



Section "InputDevice"

        Identifier  "Mouse0"

        Driver      "mouse"

        Option            "Protocol" "IMPS/2"

        Option            "Device" "/dev/input/mice"

        Option            "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"

        Option            "Emulate3Buttons" "no"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier  "Monitor0"

        VendorName  "Monitor Vendor"

        ModelName    "AOC SPECTRUM 9Glr"

        HorizSync    30.0 - 95.0

        VertRefresh  47.0 - 150.0

        Option            "dpms"

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

        Identifier  "Monitor1"

        VendorName  "Monitor Vendor"

        ModelName    "Digital 21 in. Color (SN-VRCX1-WA)"

        HorizSync    30.0 - 95.0

        VertRefresh  50.0 - 152.0

        Option            "dpms"

EndSection



Section "Device"

        Identifier  "Videocard0"

        Driver      "nvidia"

        VendorName  "Albatron"

        BoardName  "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen0"

        Device    "Videocard0"

        Monitor    "Monitor0"

        DefaultDepth    24

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport  0 0

                Depth    16

                Modes    "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport  0 0

                Depth    24

                Modes    "1600x1200" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"

        EndSubSection

EndSection



Section "Screen"

        Identifier "Screen1"

        Device    "Videocard0"

        Monitor    "Monitor1"

        DefaultDepth    24

        SubSection "Display"

                Viewport  0 0

                Depth    24

                Modes    "1600x1200"

        EndSubSection

EndSection

As I said, I am no ace when it comes to X configurations, so you will probably find some errors. I'm going to test this in a few seconds, so I'll post straight away if this worked or not.

Code:

Section "ServerLayout"

        Identifier    "Multihead layout"

        Screen      0  "Screen0" LeftOf "Screen1"

        Screen      0  "Screen1" 0 0

        InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"

        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"

        Option            "Xinerama" "on"

EndSection

change that Screen1 like back to be numbered 1 like it originally was, and i never know if the order has any relevance, but put the first screen above the second one, as it's trying to use it in the LeftOf before it's been declared. don't think it matters really, but you never know....!

Ok, so there was no crash, but the second montior didn't show anything just like the clone off, xinerama on option - which leaves me back to square one: all the warnings/errors in the log was as follows:

Code:

(WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.

(WW) Open APM failed (/dev/apm_bios) (No such file or directory)

(WW) NVIDIA: More than one matching Device section found: Videocard0

(WW) NVIDIA(0): Multiple displays connected, but only one display allowed;

(WW) NVIDIA(0):      using first display

(WW) NVIDIA(0): The user specified VertRefresh "47.000-150.000" has been

(WW) NVIDIA(0):      adjusted to "50.000-150.000" (the intersection with

(WW) NVIDIA(0):      EDID-specified VertRefresh "50.000-160.000"

(WW) (1600x1200,Monitor0) mode clock 202.5MHz exceeds DDC maximum 200MHz

(WW) (1792x1344,Monitor0) mode clock 204.8MHz exceeds DDC maximum 200MHz

(WW) (1856x1392,Monitor0) mode clock 218.3MHz exceeds DDC maximum 200MHz

(WW) (1920x1440,Monitor0) mode clock 234MHz exceeds DDC maximum 200MHz

(WW) (1920x1200,Monitor0) mode clock 230MHz exceeds DDC maximum 200MHz

(WW) (2048x1536,Monitor0) mode clock 266.95MHz exceeds DDC maximum 200MHz

(WW) NVIDIA(0): OpenGL is not fully supported in Xinerama

results from cat /var/log/Xort.0.log.old | grep "(WW)"

Nothing special, as far as I can tell, except for the section about Multiple displays being connected - which I guess was the reason why two device where specified in the first place.

oh right... ok.... look, you have TWO Screens using ONE device. that's clearly not on. as you can see in the original configuration, you have two device entries one for each output on the single card. What the top might have been missing is the explicit reference to "Screen 0", which in the Device section literally means the first output, as opposed the declaration of "Screen 1" in the other device setion, meaning the secondary output. i would have thought that the first screen would be an implicit default, but for clarity, add that in anyway. but essentially if you're looking to correct that second config, it's the otehr device entry you are missing.

I've more or less given up on xinerama - while it may be "the better option", not having proper opengl support really makes it a no-no - besides, I tried a hell of a lot of different ways of doing this. So, I'm gonna try with Twinview instead.

Thanks for your patience though.

Before giving up, try to remove the line

BusID "PCI:1:0:0"

from your first device (videocard0) in your first posted xorg.conf. Then:

Option "Xinerama" "on"
Option "Clone" "off"

This works fine for ma with a very similar configutration. OpenGL did run for me only when forcing both displays to the same vertical refresh rate.

I've got the problem now, that if xinerama activated my gnome-terminal becomes so slow, that I also think about a different solution. Did you find one? Please report about ist :)