Configuring Xorg.conf on RHEL5 to support Dual Monitors

madriscoll · 01-19-2010, 09:05 PM

My Dell Precision Workstation was shipped in 2003 with RH Linux installed (most likely RHEL 4) - though not sure.

At the time, the dual monitors worked by replacing the X86config file with one sent from Dell.

Since, my disk failed and I had to replace the disk and reinstall RH Linux with the shipped disks, RHEL 5.

Now, I can not find X86config; rather, I have been trying to update the Xorg.conf file with no to limited success.

Both monitors are driven off of one Nvidia Quadro FX 1300 videocard. My goal is to get the screen to span both.

Does anyone have a Xorg.conf file that would support this?

Thank you,

Michael

Davno · 01-20-2010, 12:17 AM

I have not had 2 monitors on 1 pc for a while, i guess that today's distro should take care of that with a "GUI System Tool" if you have installed your Nvidia driver.
But if you still need to modify your xorg.conf this is an exemple of a xorg.conf i once modified for 2 crt monitors (twinview), it might serve you as an exemple to modify your xorg.conf.
Do not copy and paste (that will not work) you need to modify for your specific hardware.
Look at the "Device" section for the options, specially the "MetaModes".
And the "Screen" section for the virtual display (i added up the width of both monitors) for use side by side.
You will need the nvidia driver installed.

Code:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "monitor1"
    VendorName "Plug'n Play"
    ModelName "IBM G74"
    HorizSync 30-69
    VertRefresh 50-120
    
    # TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
    # 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     50.00  768  832  846 1000   576  590  595  630
    
    # 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
    ModeLine "768x576"     63.07  768  800  960 1024   576  578  590  616
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "nVidia Corp."
    BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce FX (generic)"
    Driver "nvidia"
    Option "NvAGP" "1" 
    Option "NoLogo" "TRUE" 
    Option "HWCursor" "TRUE" 
    Option "CursorShadow" "TRUE" 
    Option "CursorShadowAlpha" "50" 
    Option "CursorShadowXOffset" "12" 
    Option "CursorShadowYOffset" "6" 
    Option "TwinView" "TRUE" 
    Option "TwinViewOrientation" "Rightof" 
    Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "30-70" 
    Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "50-90" 
    Option "MetaModes" "1280x1024, 1024x768 @1024x1024; 1024x768, NULL" 
    Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "DFP,TV"  
    Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    DefaultColorDepth 24
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 8
        Virtual 2304 1024
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 15
        Virtual 2304 1024
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 16
        Virtual 2304 1024
    EndSubsection
    
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Virtual 2304 1024
    EndSubsection
EndSection

madriscoll · 01-22-2010, 12:03 PM

1. I found the file from Dell, attached file XF86Config.org and also merged it with the file that I was working on to try and get the dual monitors running, xorg.conf.

2. The filing is the log file from xorg.conf.

any thoughts?

slightlystoopid · 01-22-2010, 12:21 PM

First, install the appropriate proprietary nvidia drivers for your card, then install the nvidia utilities, then run nvidia-settings, and you can probably configure twinview from there. Otherwise, you'll need to modify your junk manually. Using Davno's code as an example, this is a minimum of what you would need (of course, fill in the correct values for your system):

Code:

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "nVidia Corp."
    BoardName "NVIDIA GeForce FX (generic)"
    Driver "nvidia"
    Option "TwinView" "TRUE" 
    Option "TwinViewOrientation" "Rightof" 
    Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "30-70" 
    Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "50-90" 
    Option "MetaModes" "1280x1024, 1024x768 @1024x1024; 1024x768, NULL" 
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    DefaultColorDepth 24
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Virtual 2304 1024
    EndSubsection
EndSection

EDIT: and, of course, all the other sections too, which will look like normal.

madriscoll · 01-22-2010, 03:45 PM

Thank you for the response. Though, I had previously tried to install the nvidia driver by downloading their package and running their installer. I quickly found that their driver does not work with XEN which is running under RHEL5.

So, I have been using the default driver in RHEL5; e.g. "nv". the "nvidia" driver must be nvidia's and this is not supported on RHEL5 native.

Suggestions on how to proceed?

slightlystoopid · 01-22-2010, 04:47 PM

There's a thread on the nvidia forums that might contain a link to the most recent patch somewhere: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=60125

There's an article/howto on patching the nvidia driver here, though I'm not sure if the linked to patch is the most recent, hence the previous link: http://en.opensuse.org/Use_Nvidia_driver_with_Xen

madriscoll · 02-02-2010, 12:49 PM

First, thank you to both of you - I'm closer but no cigar yet... At the moment, I was unable to get the nvidia driver installed - rather I have been working with the NV driver that is provided under the RHEL5 release.

Second, I adopted many of the changes suggested below and it creates under the Enterprise Edition a screen that would span both monitors - though only one of the monitors comes up - i.e. #1 - not sure how to get both up under the server edition - If I can than I have a solution for the server edition which would be ideal -

Now, since i have the workstation edition as well - I decided to load it - now - both monitors come up (great right...) - well the xorg.conf file that works (or at least less one monitor) does not work under the workstation version -

I attached my xorg.conf printout below for review. Suggestions for next steps?

Thank you

M

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "single head configuration"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
Option "Xinerama" "on"
Option "Clone" "off"
EndSection

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

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
VendorName "Dell Corporation"
ModelName "Dell 2001FP (Analog)"
HorizSync 31.0-80.0
VertRefresh 56.0-76.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
VendorName "nVidia Corporation"
BoardName "nvidia Corporation NV38GL [Quadro FX 1300]"
Driver "nv"
Option "NvAGP" "1"
Option "NoLogo" "TRUE"
Option "TwinView" "TRUE"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "Rightof"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "31.0-80.0"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "56.0-76.0"
Option "IgnoreDisplayDevices" "DFP,TV"
Option "MetaModes" "1280x1024, 1024x768 @ 1024x1024; 1024x768, NULL"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Virtual 2304 1024
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

madriscoll · 02-03-2010, 08:24 AM

Thank you for your suggestions. In the end, I had to upgrade my OS to the latest version of RHEL5 WS for 64 bit. The Kernel was not XEN and so I was ultimately able to download and run the NVIDIA Installer to upgrade the driver to NVIDIA 's proprietary driver and run the nvidia-config. This worked beautifully - Thank you for the help-

M