Two Video Cards...Two Monitors ==> :S

VIP3R · 03-16-2003, 12:45 PM

Hi, I just installed linux on dual boot with windows. It's my first time using linux, and I pretty much got the system figured out after 3 days but not like I do in windows. In windows, i can configure anything in it with plain notepad. In windows, both my video cards are isntalled and both monitors display the desktop. When I got to linux and installing my video cards, I got confused and stuck. I have a pci S3 Virge /GX /DX, and an onboard Intel i810.

00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corp. 82810 CGC [Chipset Graphics Controller] (rev 03)
01:0d.0 VGA compatible controller: S3 Inc. ViRGE/DX or /GX (rev 01)

Since my system automatically boots into the PCI card, I easily installed it in Linux after a few trials after configuring my monitor's refresh rate (took a while kuz Linux couldn't detect the "bogus refresh rate"). Yet, I have no clue how to set up the second video card and the second monitor. I want to have an extended desktop just like in Windows, so that I can dump that trashy system for good.

BTW...I saw something about Xinerama, but where do I get that from. I searched but couldn't find it! :S

acid_kewpie · 03-16-2003, 02:15 PM

xinerama is only a fancy add on once you have a dual headed system working fine, so don't worry about that for now, but remember it when you get both heads loading, as it's probably gonna be what you want. personally i can't stand it.

you've not provided enough information about your system (e.g what dsitro you are using) to tell you how to set them up in a potentially highlevel way, but i personally just edit the config file directly. if you look at one of my old config files http://thirtythreeandathird.net/dualhead you can probably suss out the way things work. you set up each card and monitor seperately folrm everythign else. then you join a monitor to a card with a "screen", then you join your screens together in a "screenlayout" section. as long as you can configure each card / monitor to run all by itself when you run xf86config (or a prettier equivalent like Xdrake on mandrake) then it should be trivial to manually combine the two configs (remember to back them up for reference) into one file that does them both. but programs like Xdrake should be able to set up a dualhead sytem by themselves anyway.

VIP3R · 03-16-2003, 02:22 PM

Well, I'm runing RedHat 8.0. But I think I can try and configure it now.

VIP3R · 03-16-2003, 03:23 PM

Code:

Section "Files"
# The location of the RGB database.  Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db").  There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (which are concatenated together),
# as well as specifying multiple comma-separated entries in one FontPath
# command (or a combination of both methods)
#
# If you don't have a floating point coprocessor and emacs, Mosaic or other
# programs take long to start up, try moving the Type1 and Speedo directory
# to the end of this list (or comment them out).
# 
# The module search path.  The default path is shown here.
#    ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"
	RgbPath      "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
	FontPath     "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
# This loads the DBE extension module.
# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.
# This loads the Type1 and FreeType font modules
#    Load       "glx"
	Load  "dbe"  	# Double buffer extension
	SubSection "extmod"
		Option	    "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA extension
	EndSubSection
	Load  "type1"
	Load  "freetype"# This loads the GLX module
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# For most OSs the protocol can be omitted (it defaults to "Standard").
# When using XQUEUE (only for SVR3 and SVR4, but not Solaris),
# uncomment the following line.
#    Option     "Protocol"      "Xqueue"
#    Option	"Xleds"      "1 2 3"
#    Option "LeftAlt"     "Meta"
#    Option "RightAlt"    "ModeShift"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults).  For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
#    Option "XkbModel"    "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
#    Option "XkbModel"    "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
#    Option "XkbLayout"   "de"
# or:
#    Option "XkbLayout"   "de"
#    Option "XkbVariant"  "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
#    Option "XkbOptions"  "ctrl:swapcaps"
# These are the default XKB settings for XFree86
#    Option "XkbRules"    "xfree86"
#    Option "XkbModel"    "pc101"
#    Option "XkbLayout"   "us"
#    Option "XkbVariant"  ""
#    Option "XkbOptions"  ""
#    Option "XkbDisable"
	Identifier  "Keyboard1"
	Driver      "Keyboard"
	Option	    "AutoRepeat" "500 30"# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
	Option	    "XkbRules" "xfree86"
	Option	    "XkbModel" "hp"
	Option	    "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier and driver
# the following line.
#    Option "Protocol"	"Xqueue"
# Baudrate and SampleRate are only for some Logitech mice. In
# almost every case these lines should be omitted.
#    Option "BaudRate"	"9600"
#    Option "SampleRate"	"150"
# Emulate3Buttons is an option for 2-button Microsoft mice
# Emulate3Timeout is the timeout in milliseconds (default is 50ms)
#    Option "Emulate3Buttons"
#    Option "Emulate3Timeout"    "50"
# ChordMiddle is an option for some 3-button Logitech mice
#    Option "ChordMiddle"
	Identifier  "Mouse1"
	Driver      "mouse"
	Option	    "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/mouse"
	Option	    "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "My Monitor"
	ModelName    "Unknown monitor"
	HorizSync    31.5 - 57.0
	VertRefresh  50.0 - 90.0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "My Monitor2"
	ModelName    "Unknown monitor"
	HorizSync    31.5 - 57.0
	VertRefresh  50.0 - 90.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
	BusID      "PCI:0:10:0"
	Identifier  "Intel i810"
	Driver      "i810"
	BoardName   "Unknown"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "S3 ViRGE/GX (generic)"
	Driver      "s3virge"
	BoardName   "Unknown video card"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen 1"
	Device     "S3 ViRGE/GX (generic)"
	Monitor    "My Monitor"
	DefaultDepth     16
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     8
		Modes    "640x480" "800x600" "1024x768" "1280x1024"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     16
		Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     24
		Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen 2"
	Device     "Intel i810"
	Monitor    "My Monitor2"
	DefaultDepth     16
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     8
		Modes    "640x480" "800x600" "1024x768" "1280x1024"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     16
		Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth     24
		Modes    "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier "both"
    Screen     "Screen 1"
    Screen     "Screen 2" LeftOf "Screen 1"
    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

WELL that's my config file but Linux doesn't act any different. It still starts up on the same monitor, and the second monitor is off. What am I doing wrong. I think it's the PCI bus ID, but I don't know how to get the BUS ID for each device! Can someone help me!

acid_kewpie · 03-16-2003, 03:33 PM

running "lspci" will list the bus ID's, AGP is normally 1:0:0. i can't see anythign wrong there automatically but if you just have a look through your log file in /var/log/Xfree86.0.log (probably) then there will prpbably be some (EE)'s. ALSO, you might not be editing the correct file. make sure there is not an /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 there, as that get's used before XF86Config due to a hack to make older incompataible X servers work.

VIP3R · 03-16-2003, 04:47 PM

Ummm...I have a Labtec optical mouse. You know those, the ones you get for $20 from futureshop. Well, with windows, it runs perfectly and smoothly even without checking off the "Smooth Mouse Motion". I linux, the mouse is choppy, jammed, and gay! To start moving it, it requires alot of motion. And to move it a couple of milimeters, is impossible. I almost ended up smashing this thing kuz it gets sooo annoying! Because of it, I feel like my system can't handle mouse motion :P and that makes me angry. Is there a way to fix this common bug? Does this have to do with the sample rate?