[ltp] T40p FC6 twin-head woes

Paul Michael Reilly linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org
Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:20:29 -0500


Phil wrote:
> Hi all
> I'm new to this list, hope someone can point me in the right direction...
> 
> I've recently installed Fedora Core 6 on my T40p having finally got so 
> fed up with Windows slowdowns etc. Mostly the install was a breeze, but 
> I've got a major problem that I can't fix despite much web searching and 
> trial and error,  inability to configure for dual screens. If I can't 
> get this to work I'll have to go back to Windows because I need to do 
> presentations etc.
> 
> I'm running kernel  2.6.18-1.2868.fc6 with a pretty stock installation. 
> lspci gives me:
>  VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon R250 [Mobility 
> FireGL 9000] (rev 02)
> 
> I'm using the standard radeon driver, and my xorg.conf is listed at the 
> foot of this mail.
> When I try configuring dual-head through the standard Display admintool 
> the external monitor shows a connection but the screen is completely 
> blank. The workspace switcher shows a wide screen and I can move windows 
> off the LCD into the external monitor area but they're invisible.
> 
> After doing some hunting I decided to try the fglrx driver from livna - 
> but using this in twin-head mode hangs my system completely.
> I've tried all sorts of things suggested by others but cannot get both 
> LCD and external running together. Either the system hangs when X comes 
> up, or LCD or external is blank. If I boot connected to external I can 
> run on that but the LCD is blank. I very briefly had this working after 
> a fashion on FC5 but I've no idea how! I really really don't want to go 
> back to Windoze but will have to if I can't get dual head working.
> 
> Hope someone can advise!
> Thanks
> Phil
> 
> # Xorg configuration created by system-config-display
> 
> Section "ServerLayout"
>        Identifier     "single head configuration"
>        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
>        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
> EndSection

Replace the sever layout with something like:

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "Multihead layout"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" LeftOf "Screen1"
	Screen      1  "Screen1" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
	Option	    "Xinerama" "on"
	Option	    "Clone" "off"
EndSection

> Section "ServerFlags"
>        Option      "AllowMouseOpenFail" "yes"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "InputDevice"
>        Identifier  "Keyboard0"
>        Driver      "kbd"
>        Option      "XkbModel" "pc105"
>        Option      "XkbLayout" "gb"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Monitor"
>        Identifier   "Monitor0"
>        ModelName    "LCD Panel 1400x1050"
> ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
>        HorizSync    31.5 - 90.0
>        VertRefresh  59.0 - 75.0
>        Option      "dpms"
> EndSection
> 
> Section "Device"
>        Identifier  "Videocard0"
>        Driver      "radeon"

Add something like:

	Option	    "MonitorLayout" "TMDS, CRT"

> EndSection
> 
> Section "Screen"
>        Identifier "Screen0"
>        Device     "Videocard0"
>        Monitor    "Monitor0"
>        DefaultDepth     24
>        SubSection "Display"
>                Viewport   0 0
>                Depth     24
>                Modes    "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x800" 
> "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
>        EndSubSection
> EndSection

And add a section for the second screen (Screen1).

Here's what I use to drive two 1600x1200 monitors from my A31p using the 
docking station so that the laptop can drive both the DVI port and VGA 
port.  Works quite nicely for me with FC6:

# Xorg configuration created by system-config-display

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "Multihead layout"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" LeftOf "Screen1"
	Screen      1  "Screen1" 0 0
	InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
	Option	    "Xinerama" "on"
	Option	    "Clone" "off"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
	Option	    "AllowMouseOpenFail" "yes"
EndSection

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

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor1"
	VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
	ModelName    "Samsung SyncMaster 213T/CX210T"
  ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
	HorizSync    30.0 - 81.0
	VertRefresh  56.0 - 75.0
	Option	    "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard0"
	Driver      "radeon"
	Option	    "MonitorLayout" "TMDS, CRT"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Videocard1"
	Driver      "radeon"
	VendorName  "Videocard Vendor"
	BoardName   "ATI Technologies Inc Radeon RV200 LX [Mobility FireGL 7800 
M7]"
	BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
	Screen      1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Videocard0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
		Modes    "1600x1200" "1600x1200" "1600x1200" "1600x1200" "1600x1024" 
"1600x1024" "1600x1024" "1600x1024" "1440x900" "1440x900" "1440x900" 
"1440x900" "1400x1050" "1400x1050" "1400x1050" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" 
"1280x1024" "1280x1024" "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1280x960" "1280x960" 
"1280x960" "1280x800" "1280x800" "1280x800" "1280x800" "1152x864" 
"1152x864" "1152x864" "1152x864" "1024x768" "1024x768" "1024x768" 
"1024x768" "800x600" "800x600" "800x600" "800x600" "640x480" "640x480" 
"640x480" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen1"
	Device     "Videocard1"
	Monitor    "Monitor1"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
		Modes    "1600x1200"
	EndSubSection
EndSection