help w/ dual monitors
 

OK. I'm expecting a whole roasting of "RTFM" and "google" replies here, but hoping you guys will find it in your heart to spare me...

I have a Hercules dual head card (Radeon 7500 based, 64mb of memory). How do I configure X to use both heads? Right now it is only mirroring the output onto both monitors, I want to be able to have more desktop space instead.

If anybody could post some good links, or has a similar setup, the help will be well appreciated.

Thanks!

Post the result of execution lspci as root. You will need to edit /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 file and add a second Device Section which should be an exact duplicate of the one already there for your graphics card. Next add a BusID "PCI:1:0:0" line to the first and BusID "PCI:1:0:1" line to the second (Note the PCI:1:0:0 and PCI:1:0:1 are guesses and looking at the output from lspci might help). You will need to change the Identifier field in the second Device entry to a new name. Next duplicate your Screen section and change the Device field to equal the Identifier field of the second Device section, you will also have to change the Identifier field of the second Screen section to be something unique. Lastly you must edit the ServerLayout section to include a second Screen line: "Screen (Second Screen Section Identifier) RightOf (First Screen Section Identifier)". This will (unsurprisingly) place the second screen to the right of the first.

Please note that I have never set up a multi-head X Server before however I have seen a dual-head setup's XF86Config-4 file and that, together with reading the XF86Config-4 manpage has helped. Getting your modifications wrong will most likely kill your X setup so I recommend making a backup.

P.S. edit your /etc/inittab file and change the line: id:5:initdefault: to id:3:initdefault: and reboot before you begin. Then run startx to start X manually.

P.P.S. change it back to 5 and reboot to get a graphical login again.

almost there (i think...)
 

ok. i edited my XF86Config file based on your instructions and what i saw in lspci output. everything looks good, but when i go graphical, i only get one monitor still...

i dug into the xf86 log and found this line:
here is a copy of my XF86Config:
and here is lspci output:
i don't know if this is a hint at what is going on, but if i change
Screen "PrimaryScn" RightOf "SecondScn"
to
Screen "SecondScn" LeftOf "PrimaryScn"
then it just crashes out because it tries to come up on the smaller monitor and it won't support the resolution (i think)

also, what is dri, and should i use it?

i'm reading through the xf86config man page right now, but i don't really understand everything there. any more help would be great!!!

thanks guys!

based on some posts i found elsewhere, i changed the serverlayout section so it looks like this:
now I don't get the error anymore, but still no second monitor...

also from lspci the 2nd address is clearly NOT 2:00.1... on the gefrorce dual head cards you need to specify a screen option in the screen setup itself, whilst still using the same PCI bus ID, e.g. 'Screen "0"' for the first setting, may well be the same on the radeons.

ok, massive progress was made, but the coffee is wearing off, i'm out of smokes (nowhere nearby to buy them at this hour), and i haven't slept in over 24 hours... i will post my new configs and explanations of what is going on after i sleep for a few hours.

ok. ignore all of that stuff above, here is where i am.

links to info:
lspci output
current X config
x server log

now:
when i start x, both monitors come up, the login prompt is only the right monitor, and the login wallpaper is obviously streched across both monitors. ok, so far so good, right?

wrong. as soon as i log in, the kde splash screen appears on the left monitor, and the right monitor immediately switches into power saving mode. when the desktop comes up, it is obvious that it is being served across both monitors, but like i said, the right monitor pops into power saving mode as soon as i click ok on the login window.

i feel like i'm really at the end of my rope here...

thanks, guys!

ps. if there are any other commands i should run or log files i should post, please let me know. thanks again!

alright,

it seems like when the right monitor clicks off it is related to mouse position. when i first go graphical, both monitors come up, the wallpaper is streched all the way across, and the login window is on the right. if i log in, the right monitor immediately goes into power save, and the kde splash screen shows on the left monitor. but if i don't log in, and simply drag the mouse to the left, the monitor clicks out as soon as the mouse makes the jump to the next screen.

i have tried varying the resolution on the right monitor, just in case it didn't like one of them, but there was no difference, all the way down to 800x600

i'm completely lost now.:confused: here are the latest log and config files. please, any help you can give will be awesome.

logfile
config

thanks again!!!

i found out last night that there is a bug in X4.3.0 that may cause my problem in certain configs with certain cards. i'm compiling a fresh copy of x, the 4.3.0.99.11 snapshot which is supposed to fix this, and also allows for hardware acceleration on both heads! :-)

Did you get this to work?
 

I have the same graphics card you have and am having troubles getting dual monitors
to work in stretch mode as well. Did you ever get this to work properly?


thanks,

yes, i did, but unfortunately no longer have that system.

my suggestion is to search the archives from the xfree86 mailing list. i had posted there and got helpful replies as well as sample configurations...

good luck, and sorry i can't help more.