Dual Video with multiple cards on SW 9.0
 

Hello, I am a new user to Linuxquestions, and have a question/want of dual video output. I know dual head configurations are sometimes difficult, and I'd like to ask the users here at LinuxQuestions how to do it. I've tried many different methods, including xf86cfg and startx -display :1 and -display screen1 pointing to screens on my x configuration file. I have an S3 Trio 64 1MB video card which I want to use for desktop application output, and I have a NVIDIA Geforce 2 GTS Pro for games. I want to be able to hit a hotkey and make the input devices switch to the other monitor, but first I need them both to work. Here is a stock xf86config configured xfree configuration file that I just recently did:

www dot devilpenguin dot org /~jamescor/downloads/XF86Config (Stupid Url Limiter)

hmmm
 

well

i have a voodoo3 16mb running on a second screen and a nVidia Gforce 2 Integrated 32mb running on screen one

they both run at the same time

i don't know if that is whot u want - i also had the S3 trio 64V+ running but i took it out when i got the voodoo from a friend.

but my prob is i now have two desktops that seem to work independent from each other - not exactly how i wanted it - and i strugle to set them up -

i am also strugling to get the righ screen refresh rates for my screens both is unmarked so i can't look online to see whot the settings should be - so far i guessed the settings - anyone know of a tool that checks your screens to see whot their settings is??

if u'd like i can copy and paste my xf86config file for you

later
:newbie:

Video Cards
 

The most I can see from cards made up to 1998, is that the majority of them max out at about 800x600 by 256 colors. Almost anything newer than that supports 1024x768x16 bits. Actually I want two kdes running at once, maybe two gdms running, like one on each screen using their own x settings. Go ahead and post your configuration on here for me, I'll try it out, because it couldn't hurt. When I run xf86cfg and kill it both screens come up as a blank x server so I know they work. You might wanna e-mail it to me ( jamescor@devilpenguin.org ), you can even go to one of my sites and send me a private message, or use my irc server and I might be on. ( irc.devilpenguin.org #shells ), thanks in advance.

The following config sets it up with one login and uses the two screens as one screen together. You'd need to reconfigure monitor, card and mouse settings.
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "XFree86 Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" LeftOf "Screen0"
Option "Xinerama"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "xtrap"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Buttons" "3"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
#DisplaySize 360 270 # mm
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "PHL"
ModelName "PHILIPS 109S2"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "PHL"
ModelName "PHILIPS 109S2"
Option "DPMS"
VertRefresh 60-80
EndSection

Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "SWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "HWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "NoAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "ShowCache" # [<bool>]
#Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
#Option "UseFBDev" # [<bool>]
#Option "Rotate" # [<str>]
#Option "VideoKey" # <i>
#Option "FlatPanel" # [<bool>]
#Option "FPDither" # [<bool>]
#Option "CrtcNumber" # <i>
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "nv"
VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName "NV11 [GeForce2 MX/MX 400]"
BusID "PCI:1:4:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "NoAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "SWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "ColorKey" # <i>
#Option "CacheLines" # <i>
#Option "Dac6Bit" # [<bool>]
#Option "DRI" # [<bool>]
Option "DRI" "true"
Option "VideoRam" "128MB"
#Option "NoDDC" # [<bool>]
#Option "ShowCache" # [<bool>]
#Option "XvMCSurfaces" # <i>
Identifier "Card1"
Driver "i810"
VendorName "Intel Corp."
BoardName "82845G/GL [Brookdale-G] Chipset Integrated Graphics Device"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x964" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Card1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x964" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

I also am attemping a dual monitor/video card setup using Slackware 9.1 using an Intel 845G graphics onboard controller (same as in the above posted example config) and I am using a NVIDIA GeForce 2 MX400 PCI card. I followed the example in the last post and I am still unable to get it working, upon testing my config the first/primary video card and monitor work but the not the other, once I exit out of X the error message I am getting for the i810 based card is "(EE) i810(1) VBE initialization failed" before that I was also getting "cannot read V_BIOS" but after googling around I found a post that suggesting adding "NoInt10" to the card config which took away the V_BIOS error but now I am still stuck with the VBE init failed..

Not sure at all what VBE init failed message is or how to fix it..

Any help with this would be GREATLY appreciated as I have been pulling my hair out with this for the past 3 days.

Thanks!

xf86config
 

well here is my config of this moment - still playing with some of the options - hope it works -

===================CODE===FOLLOWS================================

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Custom Setup"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
Screen 1 "Screen1" LeftOf "Screen0"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "extmod"
Load "dbe"
Load "dri"
Load "xtrap"
Load "type1"
Load "freetype"
Load "speedo"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Wen"
ModelName "JD144D"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30-48
VertRefresh 50-90
ModeLine "1024x768/60Hz" 65 1024 1032 1176 1344 768 771 777 806 -HSync -VSync
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Tatung"
ModelName "CM-14AR"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30-48
VertRefresh 50-90
ModeLine "1024x768/60Hz" 65 1024 1032 1176 1344 768 771 777 806 -HSync -VSync
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName "NV15 [GeForce2 - nForce GPU]"
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Card1"
Driver "tdfx"
VendorName "3Dfx"
BoardName "Voodoo3"
BusID "PCI:1:6:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Card1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Virtual 0 0
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Virtual 0 0
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Virtual 0 0
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Virtual 0 0
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Virtual 0 0
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 0 0
EndSubSection
EndSection

#Section "ServerFlags"
#Option "Xinerama" "True"
#EndSection

===================CODE===ENDS================================

as u see i right now use two seperate desktops for one user - if i use xinerama i get one big desktop (also cool if i can get both screens on the same resolution)

i don't know about having 2 seperate users per screen but i know if u got to (tty2) and log in as root and say startx -- :1 u can log in root user. and when u press Ctrl+Alt+F7 u can switch to the other user X window system and by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F8 u get back to your root user X window system - that is whot i do.

hope u make sense of this and that i didn't miss anything

i just need to figure out my 2 monitors resolutions cause i don't have their names or manuals so i only guessed till i got something right - and both is 14" but one of them goes at a higher resolution than the other they both supposed to do 1024x768 but one does 1152x864 - so does anyone know where can i find a program that will give all the info on my screens.

laters

I am following up on my last message. I found an option in my BIOS to set the video as either PCI or onboard(Intel 845G) as the primary display, PCI was selected so for the heck of it I tried setting onboard VGA(Intel 845G) as primary, rebooted and ran X -configure and both monitors came on, however when I tested the XF86Config file the test X screens came up but upon exiting X both screens locked up and the PCI display went haywire and I had to shut the machine down.. Any ideas or suggestions?

does ur pci screen show funny colored stuff all over ?? cause mine does the same thing - don't know bout the lockup though - i get one terminal with the onboard and my pci does the funny colored thing - ??

Yes, my screens went fuzzy as well. I played around with it some more and was able to get the light blue background to come up on the PCI display and a greyish background on the onboard Intel when testing XF86Config (with the onboard VGA set as the primary adapter in BIOS) upon exiting X the screens went haywire and I ended up with both screens extremely small on the onboard (Intel) monitor, I could barely make out the fonts they turned green and it gave me the error "DRIScreeninit failed" "Disabling DRI" and the other monitor connected to the PCI card went fuzzy with weird patterns and I had to reset the computer.

That's about as far I have gotten.. Let me know if you have any luck. I searched around on Usenet and here and it seems people have infact gotten dual monitor setups working with onboard vga and pci cards.. I have tried using various config files people have posted to no avail.

erm - ok that is not an problem i am having - my onboard shows perfectly well it is my second pci that goes all fuzzy on me

i am having trouble with gl and dri on my second pci graphics card - it is a voodoo3 with 16Mb - and can't get it to work glx and dri

any help will work for me too

I have been pulling my hair out almost all week now trying to get this working. When the BIOS is set to use the PCI card as the primary adapter my PCI screen works great but the secondary (the onboard Intel 845G,based on the i810 driver) will not work at all, I get the errors "(EE) i810(1) VBE initialization failed" and "cannot read V_BIOS"
Interesting though that when I set the BIOS to use the onboard display as primary both monitors come on but lock up after exiting X test mode like I described in my previous post. also when the PCI is set to secondary the screen will initially come up blank with only the graphics card NVIDIA BIOS info on the top left hand corner.

I have seen other posts of people using Intel 845G graphics in a dual monitor setup and tried their various config files so I dont know.. If anyone has any suggestions I would really appreciate it.

i set my bios to use onboard graphics cause i dont have a pci option only onboard and agp - :( :( :( - mine also shows the pci stuff in the left hand corner - i don't use the xf86 test thing - i usually just issue startx from command line and if it don't work i can go look at the xf86 log file and try to locate the problem -