Re: anyone feel like testing a X multihead howto?

Matt Alexander <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.org.user-groups.linux.pdxlug
Message-ID <[email protected]> 
Hey there Carla,
I have a dual-boot laptop (XP/FC1) with an LCD monitor plugged into the
VGA port.  On the XP side I can configure things so that my desktop spans
both the laptop display and the LCD.  On the Linux side, however, I can't
replicate this behavior.  Both screens show the same desktop.  I've
followed various howtos for this and X seems to ignore my conf settings.
So I'm wondering if you can only do the multi-heading on Linux if you have
two video cards (or a dual-head card)?  Unfortunately since this is a
laptop, I won't be able to add another video card, unless I buy a USB
video card like this one:

http://www.everythingusb.com/news/index/3795.htm
http://www.telegnosis.jp/usb_vga/usb2vga.html




On Wed, 7 Jul 2004, Carla Schroder wrote:

> Hi homies,
>
> I'm working up a little multi-heading under X howto, anyone care to
> torture-test it?
>
>
> Problem
> You would like to connect two monitors to a single system. You would like to
> have a single desktop span both monitors, or have two separate desktops, and
> maybe run different screen resolutions on each monitor.
>
> Solution
> XFree86 does it all. You'll need either two video cards, or a single dual-head
> card, installed and working. Plus two monitors, and XFree86 version 4.x:
> $ X -version
> XFree86 Version 4.3.0...
> You should configure your system to boot to a text console, so you can start X
> in whatever mode you want. You'll have four modes to choose from:
>
> Traditional
> Two different desktops, that can have different resolutions and color depths
>
> Xinerama
> A single desktop spans across all screens, which must have the same resolution
> and color depth
>
> Clone
> Two displays, mirrored
>
> Single
> Use only one monitor
>
> First, back up your current XF86Config, then open it for editing. The PCI bus
> ID must be added to the Device entries:
> Section "Device"
>     Identifier  "3dfx"
>     Driver      "tdfx"
>     BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
> EndSection
> ...
> Section "Device"
>     Identifier  "nVidia"
>     Driver      "nv"
>     BusID       "PCI:0:12:0"
> EndSection
> This information comes from lscpi:
> $ lspci
> ...
> 0000:00:12:0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV5M64 [RIVA TNT
> Model 64/Model 64 Pro](rev 15)
> 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: 3Dfx Interactive, Inc. Voodoo 3 (rev
> 01)
> Next, create a ServerLayout section. This example activates Xinerama at
> startup:
> Section "ServerLayout"
>   Identifier     "Xinerama"
>   InputDevice    "Default Keyboard0"      "CoreKeyboard"
>   InputDevice    "Default Mouse0"         "CorePointer"
>   Option         "Clone"         "off"
>   Option         "Xinerama"      "on"
> #Other screen position options are Below, Above, and LeftOf
>   Screen         "Screen0" RightOf "Screen1"
>   Screen         "Screen1"
> EndSection
>
> To start X, boot to a text console, and run
>
> $ startx
>
> And it will start up in full-color Xinerama.
>
> Discussion
> To start up in Traditional mode, set both Clone and Xinerama to "off", and
> change the Identifier to "Traditional."
> To set Clone mode, turn Xinerama off, and Clone on, and change the Identifier
> to "Clone."
>
> Many video adapters are not capable of handling 3D acceleration in multihead
> mode, check your documentation to find out.
>
> PCI bus numbers that start with 0 are PCI cards. AGP cards start with 1.
> Sometimes two video cards conflict, and simply won't work together. First run
> each card individually, to verify that they work. Then try moving the PCI
> card to a different slot. If that does not cure the conflict, you'll have to
> try different cards.
>
> See Also
> XF86Config (5x) for a complete description of all the available configuration
> options.
>
>  Choosing Different ServerLayouts At Startup
>
> Problem
> You don't want to be locked into the same old thing every time you start X.
> Maybe you want Xinerama. Maybe you want Traditional. Maybe you want to run a
> single monitor on occasion, and you want to be able to select either one.
>
> Solution
> Configure different ServerLayouts in XF86Config, then select the one you want
> with startx options:
> $ startx -- -layout Single0
> $ startx -- -layout Single1
> $ startx -- -layout Clone
> $ startx -- -layout Traditional
>
> This layout starts a single monitor:
> Section "ServerLayout"
>   Identifier    "Single0"
>   InputDevice   "Default Keyboard0"    "CoreKeyboard"
>   InputDevice   "Default Mouse0"       "CorePointer"
>   Screen        "Screen0"
> EndSection
>
> Start this layout like this:
>
> $ startx -- -layout Single0
>
> Now add a second Single layout, so that you can select either monitor at
> startup:
>
> Section "ServerLayout"
>   Identifier     "Single1"
>   InputDevice    "Default Keyboard0"    "CoreKeyboard"
>   InputDevice    "Default Mouse0"       "CorePointer"
>   Screen         "Screen1"
> EndSection
>
> Start this layout like this:
>
> $ startx -- -layout Single0
>
> You can also create ServerLayouts for each of your multi-head modes. This
> example starts Clone mode:
>
> Section "ServerLayout"
>   Identifier   "Clone"
>   InputDevice  "Default Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
>   InputDevice  "Default Mouse0" "CorePointer"
>   Option       "Clone" "on"
>   Option       "Xinerama"off"
> #Other screen position options are Below, Above, and LeftOf
>   Screen       "Screen0" RightOf "Screen1"
>   Screen       "Screen1"
> EndSection
>
> This example starts Traditional mode:
>
> Section "ServerLayout"
>   Identifier   "Traditional"
>   InputDevice  "Default Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
>   InputDevice  "Default Mouse0" "CorePointer"
>   Option       "Clone" "off"
>   Option       "Xinerama"off"
> #Other screen position options are Below, Above, and LeftOf
>   Screen       "Screen0" RightOf "Screen "
>   Screen       "Screen1"
> EndSection
>
>
> Discussion
> Here is a sample XFree86Config, showing all the required elements, and two
> ServerLayouts.
>
> The core elements are the Input Device, Device, and Monitor sections. These
> are the sections where your devices are identified and linked to their
> drivers. The Screen section sets resolution and color depth. In the
> ServerLayout sections, you put the pieces together for your various modes by
> their Identifiers.
> Section "Files"
>     FontPath      "unix/:7100"
>     FontPath      "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
>     FontPath      "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
>     FontPath      "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
> EndSection
>
> Section "ServerFlags"
>   Option   "DefaultServerLayout"  "Xinerama"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Module"
>     Load   "ddc"
>     Load   "GLcore"
>     Load   "dbe"
>     Load   "dri"
>     Load   "extmod"
>     Load   "glx"
>     Load   "record"
>     Load   "bitmap"
>     Load   "speedo"
> EndSection
>
> Section "InputDevice"
>     Identifier    "Default Keyboard0"
>     Driver        "keyboard"
>     Option        "CoreKeyboard"
>     Option"        XkbRules"          "xfree86"
>     Option        "XkbModel"          "pc104"
>     Option        "XkbLayout"         "us"
>     EndSection
>
> Section "InputDevice"
>     Identifier     "Default Mouse0"
>     Driver         "mouse"
>     Option         "CorePointer"
>     Option         "Device"             "/dev/input/mice"
>     Option         "Protocol""IMPS/2"
>     Option"         Emulate3Buttons"     "true"
>     Option         "ZAxisMapping"        "4 5"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Device"
>     Identifier  "3dfx"
>     Driver      "tdfx"
>     BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Device"
>     Identifier  "nVidia"
>     Driver      "nv"
>     BusID       "PCI:0:12:0"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Monitor"
>     VendorName           "0195"
>     ModelName            "SYL"
>     Identifier           "Monitor0"
>     HorizSync             30-70
>     VertRefresh           0-160
>     Option               "DPMS"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Monitor"
>     VendorName           "0195"
>     ModelName            "SYL"
>     Identifier           "Monitor1"
>     HorizSync             30-70
>     VertRefresh           0-160
>     Option               "DPMS"
> EndSection
>
> Section "Screen"
>     Identifier      "Screen0"
>     Device          "3dfx"
>     Monitor         "Monitor0"
>     DefaultDepth     24
>     SubSection "Display"
>          Depth    24
>          Modes   "1024x768"
>     EndSubSection
> EndSection
>
> Section "Screen"
>     Identifier      "Screen1"
>     Device          "nVidia"
>     Monitor         "Monitor1"
>     DefaultDepth     24
>     SubSection "Display"
>          Depth    24
>          Modes   "1024x768"
>     EndSubSection
> EndSection
>
> Section "ServerLayout"
>   Identifier     "Xinerama"
>   InputDevice    "Default Keyboard0"      "CoreKeyboard"
>   InputDevice    "Default Mouse0"         "CorePointer"
>   Option         "Clone"         "off"
>   Option         "Xinerama"      "on"
> #Other screen position options are Below, Above, and LeftOf
>   Screen         "Screen0" RightOf "Screen1"
>   Screen         "Screen1"
> EndSection
>
> Section "ServerLayout"
>   Identifier    "Single0"
>   InputDevice   "Default Keyboard0"    "CoreKeyboard"
>   InputDevice   "Default Mouse0"       "CorePointer"
>   Screen        "Screen0"
> EndSection
>
> See Also
> XF86Config (5x) for a complete description of all the available configuration
> options.
>
>  Setting A Default ServerLayout
>
> Problem
> You like having all those X startup options. But you also want a default, so
> you don't have to be bothered with selecting one every time
> .
> Solution
> Create a ServerFlags section to set the default. This must come before the
> ServerLayout entries:
>
> Section "ServerFlags"
>   Option     "DefaultServerLayout"  "Xinerama"
> EndSection
>
> Then simply use
>
> $ startx
>
> to start an X session.
> --
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Carla Schroder
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