[ltp] Re: Dual Monitor no longer working with Gutsy on T60p FireGL

[David Abrahams]

on Mon Nov 05 2007, Bill Moseley <moseley-AT-hank.org> wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 05, 2007 at 10:52:19AM -0500, David Abrahams wrote:
>> Wow, I've heard of so many problems with Gutsy and the T60p that I
>> have been afraid to upgrade.  Looking forward to dynticks, though.
>
> Well, I wanted to upgrade mostly because wireless didn't work right in
> Feisty and was reported to be fixed in Gutsy -- namely very often
> disconnects/reconnects with Network Manager.

Having no serious trouble with wireless, myself.

> Gutsy did fix the frequent disconnects, and has also seemed to reduce
> the wireless-related panic "Dazed and Confused" (stray NMI on PCI bus,
> IIRC).
>
> But, yes, broke a bunch of other stuff I was not expecting.  Much of
> it resolved for me now.

Heh, have you tried using an advanced mini-dock?  One of my least
favorite bugs is the occasional uninvited power-off (no shutdown) when
docking.

>> > I had dual monitors working fine with Ubuntu Feisty.  It was not
>> > Xinerama, and, well, it just worked so I don't remember any difficulty
>> > setting it up.
>> 
>> >From what I understand, it is actually Xinerama; the ATI stuff just
>> uses it under the covers.  So I've been told, anyway.
>
> No, I don't think that's true.  I failed to keep notes on setting it
> up as I remember it was unexpectedly easy to set up.

What you had to do for setup has little to do with whether it's
Xinerama under the covers.

   $ grep Xinerama /var/log/Xorg.0.log
   (II) fglrx(0): Initialized in-driver Xinerama extension

> It's two different screens and (can be) two different resolutions.  I
> know that doesn't exclude Xinerama, but you can't drag windows between
> the screens (which is not great).  

In Xinerama?  I'm pretty sure you can.  I know I do it all the time in
my setup, for what that's worth.


> I kind of remember reading some place why you would not want
> Xinerama on this machine.

OK.

>> > I'm using GNOME session manager.
>> >
>> > With Feisty the second monitor would start with the same desktop as
>> > the LCD.
>> 
>> You want it to be a mirror, or an extension, of the LCD?
>
> Not a mirror, although that would be handy at times for demos (instead
> of presentations) and I see the GNOME Screens utility can select
> mirror as an options.
>
> What I don't understand is how GNOME achieve that control.

Forget gnome.

>> have you done 
>> 
>>   aticonfig --initial 

If you don't want a mirror, you want something like

   aticonfig --initial --dtop=horizontal --enable-monitor=lvds,crt1


-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
http://www.boost-consulting.com