two monitors

[jmadero]

Hi All,

I'm running a laptop with a NVIDIA 7900 GS in it and trying to get my tv to do the "separate X screen". When I go into nvidia-settings I select it and it says it requires restart, so I restart and then the tv is disabled. When I do twinview there is no problem at all. I am assuming this means that I have to alter my xorg.conf file but I'm not too good at it (I followed these instructions: HOWTO Separate x-screens on Monitor and TV - Gentoo Linux Wiki

and rebooted, upon reboot it said something about not detecting the card and having to run in low graphics mode. Luckily I backed up by xorg so I just replaced it in text mode and now I'm back on (but still not with the separate windows). Here is my xorg file:


# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf(5) manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
Fontpath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
Load "v4l"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "nVidia Corporation GeForce Go 7900 GS"
Driver "nvidia"
Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
Option "AddARGBVisuals" "True"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
Horizsync 28-96
Vertrefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "nVidia Corporation GeForce Go 7900 GS"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
# Option "TwinView"
# Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
# Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
# Option "MetaModes" "1920x1200,640x480; 1680x1050; 1440x900,NULL; 1024x768,NULL; 800x600,NULL; 640x480,NULL"
Defaultdepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1920x1200"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1920x1200"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1920x1200"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1920x1200"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1920x1200"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1920x1200"
EndSubSection

EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
screen "Default Screen"
Inputdevice "Generic Keyboard"
Inputdevice "Configured Mouse"
Inputdevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
Inputdevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
Inputdevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
Inputdevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection





Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[MikeTbob]

This is from the NVIDIA README.

APPENDIX R: CONFIGURING MULTIPLE X SCREENS ON ONE CARD
__________________________________________________ ________________________

Graphics chips that support TwinView (see (app-i) APPENDIX I: CONFIGURING
TWINVIEW) can also be configured to treat each connected display device
as a separate X screen.

While there are several disadvantages to this approach as compared to
TwinView (eg: windows cannot be dragged between X screens, hardware
accelerated OpenGL cannot span the two X screens), it does offer several
advantages over TwinView:

o If each display device is a separate X screen, then properties
that may vary between X screens may vary between displays (eg:
depth, root window size, etc).

o Hardware that can only be used on one display at a time (eg:
video overlays, hardware accelerated RGB overlays), and which
consequently cannot be used at all when in TwinView, can be
exposed on the first X screen when each display is a separate
X screen.

o The 1-to-1 association of display devices to X screens is
more historically in line with X.

To configure two separate X screens to share one graphics chip, here is
what you will need to do:

First, create two separate Device sections, each listing the BusID of
the graphics card to be shared, each listing the driver as "nvidia",
and assign each a separate screen:


Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia0"
Driver "nvidia"
# Edit the BusID with the location of your graphics card
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
Screen 0
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia1"
Driver "nvidia"
# Edit the BusID with the location of your graphics card
BusId "PCI:2:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection


Then, create two Screen sections, each using one of the Device sections:


Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "nvidia0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "nvidia1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection
EndSection


(note: you'll also need to create a second Monitor section)

Finally, update the ServerLayout section to use and position both Screen
sections:


Section "ServerLayout"
...
Screen 0 "Screen0"
Screen 1 "Screen1" leftOf "Screen0"
...
EndSection

Hope this helps some.

[jmadero]

tried with no luck, here is my new xorg file.

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf(5) manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
Fontpath "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
Fontpath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "vbe"
Load "v4l"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "nVidia Corporation GeForce Go 7900 GS"
Driver "nvidia"
Busid "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 0
Option "AddARGBVisuals" "True"
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "True"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "nvidia1"
Driver "nvidia"
BusId "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
Horizsync 28-96
Vertrefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identfier "Monitor1"
Option SVIDEO
Horizsync 28-96
Vertrefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "nVidia Corporation GeForce Go 7900 GS"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
# Option "TwinView"
# Option "TVOutFormat" "SVIDEO"
# Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
# Option "MetaModes" "1920x1200,640x480; 1680x1050; 1440x900,NULL; 1024x768,NULL; 800x600,NULL; 640x480,NULL"
Defaultdepth 24
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1900x1200" "1680x1050" "1600x1200" "1600x1024" "1440x900" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" "1280x768" "1024x768" "960x600" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubsection

EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "nvidia1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth24
Subsecton "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "800x600"
EndSubsection
EndSection


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
screen "Default Screen"
screen 1 "Screen1" leftOf "Default Screen"
Inputdevice "Generic Keyboard"
Inputdevice "Configured Mouse"
Inputdevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
Inputdevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
Inputdevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
Inputdevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection



Same problem, on boot gives me an error and goes into low graphics mode. I'm trying to get my second tv as the second monitor. Thanks for the help.

[MikeTbob]

What is the error you are getting?
It might clue us into the problem, if you can post the exact message.
Are you not getting anything at all on the TV?

[jmadero]

nothing comes up on the tv....I can't get the exact message right now but it has something to do with starting in "Low Graphics Mode" because the settings could not be auto detected. I will try tomorrow to redo the xorg file to get the error again. Thanks for the help