[gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Daniel Pielmeier]

Hi,

the update to xorg-server-1.3 broke my dual-screen setup. It creates a
virtual screen size with the same size of the primary monitor for the
second monitor which is my TV. So i can only reach a zone with 800x600
on the second device, even scrolling within the virtual screen is
impossible. I want 1280x1024 for the primary and 800x600 for the
secondary Monitor which displays the complete desktop on any screen.

The Xorg.0.log file does not show any errors which may give some hints.

Hi have searched and found that there were changes in the xorg.conf
file. But i have found no documentation which describes the changes
which have to be made to the configuration file. I have also checked man
xorg.conf but haven't found anything mich may cause this problem.

Any help would be appreciated!

Regards,

Daniel


Below you find my current xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Gemeinsames Layout"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Mouse" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option    "RandR"        "true"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/misc/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/ttf-bitstream-vera/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "extmod"
    Load           "dbe"
    Load           "record"
    Load           "xtrap"
    Load           "glx"
    Load           "type1"
    Load           "freetype"
    SubSection     "extmod"
        Option         "omit xfree86-dga"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option         "XkbLayout" "de"
    Option         "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
    Option         "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
    Option         "XkbRules" "xorg"
    Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "ACER"
    ModelName      "AL1914sm"
    HorizSync       31.0 - 83.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Magnum"
    ModelName      "TV 5520 VT Stereo"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 50.0
    VertRefresh     60.0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Card0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "Giga-byte"
    BoardName      "nVidia Corporation [GeForce 7300 LE]"
    BusID          "PCI:05:00:0"
    Screen          0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Card1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "Giga-byte"
    BoardName      "nVidia Corporation [GeForce 7300 LE]"
    BusID          "PCI:05:00:0"
    Screen          1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Card0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "NoLogo" "true"
    Option         "NvAGP" "3"
    Option         "AllowGLXWithComposite" "True"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       16
        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       8
        Modes      "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Card1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "NoLogo" "true"
    Option         "NvAGP" "3"
    Option         "TVStandard" "PAL-B"
    Option         "AllowGLXWithComposite" "True"
    Option         "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option         "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       24
        Modes      "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       16
        Modes      "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection     "Display"
        Viewport    0 0
        Depth       8
        Modes      "800x600" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Allan Gottlieb]

At Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:33:35 +0200 Daniel Pielmeier <daniel.pielmeier@googlemail.com> wrote:

> the update to xorg-server-1.3 broke my dual-screen setup. It creates a
> virtual screen size with the same size of the primary monitor for the
> second monitor which is my TV. So i can only reach a zone with 800x600
> on the second device, even scrolling within the virtual screen is
> impossible. I want 1280x1024 for the primary and 800x600 for the
> secondary Monitor which displays the complete desktop on any screen.

I also had breakage.  I have an 1680x1050 laptop and a 1600x1200
external monitor.  When I have the monitor connected, it is all I use.

When I don't have the monitor connected, I naturally use the laptop
screen.

I will give my fix below, but to understand it, I think it is helpful
to know what I did previously.

Previously, when I went into X (gnome) I have a shell script
(~/bin/Xinitialize) run by gnome-session that included

   xrandr -s 2    (the 2 is from memory and might be wrong)

this worked because when I had the ext monitor in I made sure to do fn-f8
before the system went into X.  This insured that X came up on the
monitor and size #2 was it turns out 1600x1200 (thank you
915resolution, for enabling 1600x120 all together).

When the ext monitor was not in, by dumb luck, size number 2 was
1680x1050 so it all worked.

With the new server, the dumb luck disappeared, but a better xrandr
appeared to take its place (the real improvement is that the server
supports 1.2 RandR).

Now my ~/bin/Xinitialize begins

#!/bin/sh
sleep 2

if xrandr | grep "VGA connected" ; then
    xrandr --verbose --output VGA --mode 1600x1200 --output LVDS --off
else
    xrandr --verbose --output VGA --off --output LVDS --mode 1680x1050
fi
xset s reset			# above seems to blank the screen
sleep 3

This sets 1600x1200 and turns off the laptop screen when the ext
monitor is in.  It sets 1680x1050 and turns off driving the external
monitor connector (which may well be a useless step) when there is no
ext monitor connected.

Perhaps something similar will help you.

Good luck,
allan
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Daniel Pielmeier]

> Now my ~/bin/Xinitialize begins
>
> #!/bin/sh
> sleep 2
>
> if xrandr | grep "VGA connected" ; then
>     xrandr --verbose --output VGA --mode 1600x1200 --output LVDS --off
> else
>     xrandr --verbose --output VGA --off --output LVDS --mode 1680x1050
> fi
> xset s reset                    # above seems to blank the screen
> sleep 3
>
> This sets 1600x1200 and turns off the laptop screen when the ext
> monitor is in.  It sets 1680x1050 and turns off driving the external
> monitor connector (which may well be a useless step) when there is no
> ext monitor connected.

Thanks for your answer, i will try if i can get it working like this
but randr doesn't seem to work on the secondary device. I have heard
that nvidia cards doesn't support randr 1.2 so i will give it a try
with randr disabled in my configuration.

One thing is that i want the two screens (where i can move between
with the mouse) avaialable not only one. I would also prefer a
solution which works with the xorg configuration file.

Regards,

Daniel
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Daniel Pielmeier]

I have tested xrandr but it is useless for me! I tried various things
but neither of them seem to have any effect on my secondary screen. I
can only change the configuration of my primary monitor. Disabling randr
in xorg conf has no effect too.

Does anybody know what changes have to be done in the xorg configuration
to get it working again! Unfortunately there is documentation at
http://www.x.org/wiki/. The man pages of randr and xorg.conf also give
no hints. At least i have found nothing until now.

Regards,

Daniel
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Allan Gottlieb]

At Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:24:59 +0200 Daniel Pielmeier <daniel.pielmeier@googlemail.com> wrote:

> Thanks for your answer, i will try if i can get it working like this
> but randr doesn't seem to work on the secondary device. I have heard
> that nvidia cards doesn't support randr 1.2 so i will give it a try
> with randr disabled in my configuration.

I don't have nvidia so can't comment (I810)

> One thing is that i want the two screens (where i can move between
> with the mouse) avaialable not only one.

I would guess randr supports that since it does have offsets (--pos)

allan
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Daniel Pielmeier]

>> Thanks for your answer, i will try if i can get it working like this
>> but randr doesn't seem to work on the secondary device. I have heard
>> that nvidia cards doesn't support randr 1.2 so i will give it a try
>> with randr disabled in my configuration.
> 
> I don't have nvidia so can't comment (I810)
> 
>> One thing is that i want the two screens (where i can move between
>> with the mouse) avaialable not only one.
> 
> I would guess randr supports that since it does have offsets (--pos)

Hi Allan,

thanks for your efforts.

Just an update, i have found a temporary solution, which works until the
next restart.

When i launch the "Nvidia X Server Settings" under "X Server Display
Configuration". There is a button "Detect devices". When the external TV
is connected and i hit this button the screen is updated and displayed
as usual. So all is fine until the next boot. Then i have do do this
again. At least there is hope. Maybe there is a configuration option to
make it permanently.

Regards,

Daniel
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Daniel Pielmeier]

Allan Gottlieb schrieb:
> At Mon, 10 Sep 2007 09:24:59 +0200 Daniel Pielmeier <daniel.pielmeier@googlemail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Thanks for your answer, i will try if i can get it working like this
>> but randr doesn't seem to work on the secondary device. I have heard
>> that nvidia cards doesn't support randr 1.2 so i will give it a try
>> with randr disabled in my configuration.
> 
> I don't have nvidia so can't comment (I810)
> 
>> One thing is that i want the two screens (where i can move between
>> with the mouse) avaialable not only one.
> 
> I would guess randr supports that since it does have offsets (--pos)
> 
> allan

It looks like i have got my hopes up to soon.

Though the screen is displayed properly and even the background image
fits well, now one problem appeared i did not recognize before. I use
the TV only for watching movies, but when i set my media player (xineui,
mplayer or vlc doesn't matter) to fullscreen mode it is set to the size
of the primary monitor.

What has changed here, i am thinking of downgrading the xorg-server but
i don't think this will get better with version 1.4.

Any advices how to get this working again!

Regards,

Daniel

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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Daniel Pielmeier]

I found a bug at archlinux [1] which is describing my problem. There are
two pictures attached. I have exactly the same problem. This bug was
closed as wont fix because it should be a nvidia problem. This is
possible, but i don't think so as the upgrade of xorg-server package
obviously caused this.

[1] http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/7346

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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Allan Gottlieb]

At Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:05:26 +0200 Daniel Pielmeier <daniel.pielmeier@googlemail.com> wrote:

> I have tested xrandr but it is useless for me! I tried various things
> but neither of them seem to have any effect on my secondary screen.

Since you are describing a TV out it might be your tertiary screen.
When I type xrandr with no arguments I get

    Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1920 x 1920
    VGA connected 1600x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right) 0mm x 0mm
       1920x1440      60.0  
       1600x1200      60.0* 
       1280x960       60.0  
    LVDS connected (normal left inverted right)
       1680x1050      60.0 +
       1024x768       60.0  
       800x600        60.3  
       640x480        59.9  
    TV disconnected (normal left inverted right)

VGA is what I would call the "secondary" (for me it is an external
monitor, I believe it is always the monitor attached via the VGA or
DVI output, LVDS is the screen on the
laptop.  Presumably TV is the signal to drive a TV (I never used
mine).

If you type

   xrandr --output TV --off

does it stop driving the TV?  That is what the manual suggests will
happen.  If not than it seems the nvidia driver isn't supporting randr
1.2.  Perhaps that was what was meant by "wont fix", nvidia bug.

allan
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Daniel Pielmeier]

> Since you are describing a TV out it might be your tertiary screen.
> When I type xrandr with no arguments I get
>
>     Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1920 x 1920
>     VGA connected 1600x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right) 0mm x 0mm
>        1920x1440      60.0
>        1600x1200      60.0*
>        1280x960       60.0
>     LVDS connected (normal left inverted right)
>        1680x1050      60.0 +
>        1024x768       60.0
>        800x600        60.3
>        640x480        59.9
>     TV disconnected (normal left inverted right)
>
> VGA is what I would call the "secondary" (for me it is an external
> monitor, I believe it is always the monitor attached via the VGA or
> DVI output, LVDS is the screen on the
> laptop.  Presumably TV is the signal to drive a TV (I never used
> mine).

I don't know wheather the TV is secondary or tertiary, when i type
xrandr with no options i just get the output of my primary monitor, as
randr is not supported. I am not exactly sure which output i get as i
have no access to my box at the moment, but i will check this.

> If you type
>
>    xrandr --output TV --off
>
> does it stop driving the TV?  That is what the manual suggests will
> happen.  If not than it seems the nvidia driver isn't supporting randr
> 1.2.  Perhaps that was what was meant by "wont fix", nvidia bug.

I guess a fix for this from nvidia will take ages as usually, is
anybody out there who got tv-out working with the opensource driver
from xorg with nvidia? Or do we have to wait for nouveau, mabe it does
a better job!

Regards,

Daniel
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Mick]

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On Tuesday 11 September 2007, Daniel Pielmeier wrote:
> > Since you are describing a TV out it might be your tertiary screen.
> > When I type xrandr with no arguments I get
> >
> >     Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1920 x 1920
> >     VGA connected 1600x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right) 0mm x 0mm
> >        1920x1440      60.0
> >        1600x1200      60.0*
> >        1280x960       60.0
> >     LVDS connected (normal left inverted right)
> >        1680x1050      60.0 +
> >        1024x768       60.0
> >        800x600        60.3
> >        640x480        59.9
> >     TV disconnected (normal left inverted right)
> >
> > VGA is what I would call the "secondary" (for me it is an external
> > monitor, I believe it is always the monitor attached via the VGA or
> > DVI output, LVDS is the screen on the
> > laptop.  Presumably TV is the signal to drive a TV (I never used
> > mine).
>
> I don't know wheather the TV is secondary or tertiary, when i type
> xrandr with no options i just get the output of my primary monitor, as
> randr is not supported. I am not exactly sure which output i get as i
> have no access to my box at the moment, but i will check this.
>
> > If you type
> >
> >    xrandr --output TV --off
> >
> > does it stop driving the TV?  That is what the manual suggests will
> > happen.  If not than it seems the nvidia driver isn't supporting randr
> > 1.2.  Perhaps that was what was meant by "wont fix", nvidia bug.
>
> I guess a fix for this from nvidia will take ages as usually, is
> anybody out there who got tv-out working with the opensource driver
> from xorg with nvidia? Or do we have to wait for nouveau, mabe it does
> a better job!

As it happens I noticed that my TV out also stopped working recently.  
However, I run ATI not nvidia.  I blamed the latest xorg-server for it and 
left it at that.  When I run xrandr, just like you, I only see the laptop's 
screen:
==========================================
$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 175, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
default connected 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1024x768       60.0* 
   320x175        60.0  
   320x200        60.0  
   360x200        60.0  
   320x240        60.0  
   400x300        60.0  
   512x384        60.0  
   832x624        60.0
==========================================

xrandr --output --auto doesn't change things and xrandr --output TV --on 
brings up the --help page.

Anyone else noticed this & found a fix?
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Daniel Pielmeier]

> As it happens I noticed that my TV out also stopped working recently.
> However, I run ATI not nvidia.  I blamed the latest xorg-server for it and
> left it at that.  When I run xrandr, just like you, I only see the laptop's
> screen:
> ==========================================
> $ xrandr
> Screen 0: minimum 320 x 175, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
> default connected 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
>    1024x768       60.0*
>    320x175        60.0
>    320x200        60.0
>    360x200        60.0
>    320x240        60.0
>    400x300        60.0
>    512x384        60.0
>    832x624        60.0
> ==========================================
>
> xrandr --output --auto doesn't change things and xrandr --output TV --on
> brings up the --help page.
>
> Anyone else noticed this & found a fix?

I also get the same xrandr output. Maybe it is not a problem with the
ati or nvidia drivers.
I also thought this must be a bug in xorg-server, as it happened after
upgrading to version 1.3. I masked to xorg-server-1.3 and downgraded
to xorg-server-1.2 which fixes ths problem for me.

This is just a temporary solution. I hope this will be fixed in future
versions, may it be xorg-server or the proprietary drivers of nvidia
or ati.

Regards,

Daniel
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Allan Gottlieb]

At Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:56:32 +0100 Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:

> As it happens I noticed that my TV out also stopped working recently.  
> However, I run ATI not nvidia.  I blamed the latest xorg-server for it and 
> left it at that.  When I run xrandr, just like you, I only see the laptop's 
> screen:
> ==========================================
> $ xrandr
> Screen 0: minimum 320 x 175, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
> default connected 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
>    1024x768       60.0* 
>    320x175        60.0  
>    320x200        60.0  
>    360x200        60.0  
>    320x240        60.0  
>    400x300        60.0  
>    512x384        60.0  
>    832x624        60.0
> ==========================================
>
> xrandr --output --auto doesn't change things and xrandr --output TV --on 
> brings up the --help page.
>
> Anyone else noticed this & found a fix?

Sounds like the server doesn't implement RandR version 1.2

What does xrandr -v say.  For me it is
  Server reports RandR version 1.2

If you don't have 1.2 you won't have the --output stuff.

Also --on doesn't exist even in 1.2.

I found man xrandr helpful.

allan gottlieb
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Daniel Pielmeier]

> Sounds like the server doesn't implement RandR version 1.2
>
> What does xrandr -v say.  For me it is
>   Server reports RandR version 1.2
>
> If you don't have 1.2 you won't have the --output stuff.
>
> Also --on doesn't exist even in 1.2.
>
> I found man xrandr helpful.

Randr 1.2 was introduced in xorg 7.3

Xrandr -v reports version 1.2 here when i have xorg-server 1.3 (which
comes with xorg 7.2) installed, but tv-out is not working!
Maybe we have to wait for xorg 7.3 with xorg-server 1.4 to become
stable! Unfortunately there are currently no nvidia drivers which are
working with xorg 7.4 so we have to wait for a compatible release too.
Although there seems to be an -ignoreABI switch for the nvidia drivers
so they will work with xorg-server 1.4, but you have o disable the
composite extension.

Regards,

Daniel
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Re: [gentoo-user] Xorg.conf changes and dual screen setup

[Mick]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1501 bytes --]

On Saturday 15 September 2007, Allan Gottlieb wrote:
> At Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:56:32 +0100 Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
> > As it happens I noticed that my TV out also stopped working recently.
> > However, I run ATI not nvidia.  I blamed the latest xorg-server for it
> > and left it at that.  When I run xrandr, just like you, I only see the
> > laptop's screen:
> > ==========================================
> > $ xrandr
> > Screen 0: minimum 320 x 175, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
> > default connected 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
> >    1024x768       60.0*
> >    320x175        60.0
> >    320x200        60.0
> >    360x200        60.0
> >    320x240        60.0
> >    400x300        60.0
> >    512x384        60.0
> >    832x624        60.0
> > ==========================================
> >
> > xrandr --output --auto doesn't change things and xrandr --output TV --on
> > brings up the --help page.
> >
> > Anyone else noticed this & found a fix?
>
> Sounds like the server doesn't implement RandR version 1.2
>
> What does xrandr -v say.  For me it is
>   Server reports RandR version 1.2

Same here.

> If you don't have 1.2 you won't have the --output stuff.
>
> Also --on doesn't exist even in 1.2.

Sure, but after trying --auto I started getting desperate to get this TV Out 
working again, especially as the wife was waiting to watch a movie . . . 
(tut, tut!)

> I found man xrandr helpful.

Thanks.
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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