Nvidia Twinview

Message

voodoodoc · Post by **voodoodoc** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:49 pm

I'm running an Nvidia Quadra Pro video card with dual monitor out, one digital one analog (not that it matters), the problem is I have one good monitor and one crappy monitor. I have a dual head setup working and all thats not an issue. The problem is things like maximizing windows doesn't work (trys to put it across both monitors) same with new windows. The problem is made really bad due to the fact that the LCD can do 1280x1024 and the crappy CRT can only do 1024x768, so X thinks the entire desktop is really 1280x1024 which doesn't exist on the crap monitor.

Anyone have any working Xorg.conf for a similar setup? Good graphics card, one good and one crappy monitor?

I'll stick mine below.

Code: Select all

Section "Module"
    Load        "dbe"  	# Double buffer extension
    SubSection  "extmod"
      Option    "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA extension
    EndSubSection
    Load        "type1"
    Load        "speedo"
    Load        "freetype"
    Load       "glx"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath	"/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/Speedo/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/CID/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/local/"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
    Option "Xinerama" "off"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier	"Keyboard1"
    Driver	"Keyboard"
    Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
    Option "XkbRules"	"xorg"
    Option "XkbModel"	"pc104"
    Option "XkbLayout"	"us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier	"Mouse1"
    Driver	"mouse"
    Option "Protocol"    "IMPS/2"
    Option "Device"      "/dev/mouse"
    Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
    Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "LCD"
    HorizSync   31.5-67
    #VertRefresh 50-70
    VertRefresh 80
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier "My Monitor"
  HorizSync 30-64
  VertRefresh 75
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "NVIDIA Quadra FX (generic)"
    Driver      "nvidia"
    Option "TwinView" "true"
    # For some reason dell is first and lcd second so its: "Dell, LCD"
    Option "MetaModes" "1024x768, 1280x1024; 1024x768,1024x768"
    Option "TwinViewOrientation" "LeftOf"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen 1"
    Device      "NVIDIA Quadra FX (generic)"
    Monitor     "My Monitor"
    DefaultDepth 24
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
	Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection


Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier  "Simple Layout"
    Screen "Screen 1" 0 0 
    InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Tlaloc · Post by **Tlaloc** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 9:26 pm

Look herefor some ideas.
As for a window taking up both screens, the WM has to have support to be able to maximize only to one screen. KDE for example has it when the relevant parts are compiled with the xinerama use flag.

soya · Post by **soya** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:23 pm

Maybe this can ease the work:
* media-tv/nvtv
Available versions: 0.4.5 ~0.4.6 ~0.4.7
Installed: no
Homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/nv-tv-out/
Description: TV-Out for NVidia cards

* media-tv/rivatv
Available versions: 0.8.2 ~0.8.5-r2 ~0.8.5-r3
Installed: no
Homepage: http://rivatv.sourceforge.net/
Description: kernel driver for nVidia based cards with video-in

Also if you use kde you need xinerama support in you USE flags

Kuhndog86 · Post by **Kuhndog86** » Wed Jul 06, 2005 10:45 pm

I have a setup with three monitors on 2 nvidia video cards. They are all the same resolution, but that can be easily changed in the xorg.conf file. I use kde and if you build it with the xinerama use flag it has a multiple monitor setup tab in the monitor section of the perpherals control panel for easy setup. It also only maximizes a window on one monitor instead of both. Here's my config file:

Code: Select all

Section "Module"

# This loads the DBE extension module.

    Load        "dbe"   # Double buffer extension

# This loads the miscellaneous extensions module, and disables
# initialisation of the XFree86-DGA extension within that module.
#    SubSection  "extmod"
#      Option    "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialise the DGA 
#extension
#    EndSubSection

# This loads the Type1 and FreeType font modules
    Load        "type1"
#    Load        "speedo"
    Load        "freetype"
#    Load        "xtt"

# This loads the GLX module
    Load       "glx"
# This loads the DRI module
#    Load       "dri"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Files section.  This allows default font and rgb paths to be set
# **********************************************************************

Section "Files"

    RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/Speedo/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/CID/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"
    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/local/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/TrueType/"
#    FontPath   "/usr/share/fonts/freefont/"

# The module search path.  The default path is shown here.

#    ModulePath "/usr/X11R6/lib/modules"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Server flags section.
# **********************************************************************

Section "ServerFlags"

 Option "Xinerama" "on"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Input devices
# **********************************************************************

# **********************************************************************
# Core keyboard's InputDevice section
# **********************************************************************
Section "InputDevice"

    Identifier  "Keyboard1"
    Driver      "kbd"
    Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"


# These are the default XKB settings for Xorg
#    Option "XkbRules"    "xorg"
#    Option "XkbModel"    "pc105"
#    Option "XkbLayout"   "us"
#    Option "XkbVariant"  ""
#    Option "XkbOptions"  ""

#    Option "XkbDisable"

    Option "XkbRules"   "xorg"
    Option "XkbModel"   "pc104"
    Option "XkbLayout"  "us"

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Core Pointer's InputDevice section
# **********************************************************************

Section "InputDevice"

# Identifier and driver

    Identifier "Mouse1"
    Driver "mouse"
    Option "Protocol"    "Auto"
    Option "Device"      "/dev/input/mice"
    Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"


EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Monitor section
# **********************************************************************


Section "Monitor"

    Identifier  "My Monitor"
    HorizSync   31.5 - 64.3
    VertRefresh 50-100

EndSection
Section "Monitor"
     
     Identifier  "LCD"
     HorizSync   31.5 - 64.3  
     VertRefresh 50-100

EndSection
# **********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

# Standard VGA Device:

#Section "Device"
#    Identifier "Standard VGA"
#    VendorName "Unknown"
#    BoardName "Unknown"
#    Driver     "vga"
#EndSection
Section "Device"
    Identifier  "NVIDIA 6600GT-0"
    Driver      "nvidia"
    VideoRam    131072
#    Option      "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP"
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen      0   
    Option "RenderAccel" "On"
#    Option "TwinView" "on"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "NVIDIA 6600GT-1"
    Driver      "nvidia"
    VideoRam    131072
#    Option      "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT"
    Screen      1   
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
    Option "RenderAccel" "On"
#    Option "TwinView" "on"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "MX4000"
    Driver      "nvidia"
    VideoRam    65536
    BusID "PCI:2:7:0"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier     "X.org Configured"
 Screen        "Left" LeftOf "Center"
 Screen        "Center" 0 0
 Screen        "Right" RightOf "Center"
 InputDevice    "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
 InputDevice    "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection


# **********************************************************************
# Screen sections
# **********************************************************************


Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Right"
    Device      "MX4000"
    Monitor     "My Monitor"
    DefaultDepth 24

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x1024"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection



Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Center"
    Device      "NVIDIA 6600GT-1"
    Monitor     "LCD"
    DefaultDepth 24

    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x1024"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection


Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Left"
    Device      "NVIDIA 6600GT-0"
    Monitor     "My Monitor"
    DefaultDepth 24
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x1024"
        ViewPort    0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Basically what you would have to do is delete the mx4000 stuff and the "right" screen and set the resolutions for the other screens.

good luck

Sir Alaran · Post by **Sir Alaran** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:45 am

It sounds like your trouble is in your window manager. Check your use flags for "xinerama"

voodoodoc · Post by **voodoodoc** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 12:03 pm

It sounds like your trouble is in your window manager. Check your use flags for "xinerama"

Yes my use flags have Xinerama and I use Gnome as a desktop manager, which has metacity as the underlying window manager. Never been a fan of KDE, though maybe I'll give that a shot.

Still looking for someone that runs different resolutions on each monitor

voodoodoc · Post by **voodoodoc** » Thu Jul 07, 2005 10:37 pm

Two things:

I have a setup with three monitors on 2 nvidia video cards.

Maybe this can ease the work:
* media-tv/nvtv
Available versions: 0.4.5 ~0.4.6 ~0.4.7
Installed: no
Homepage: http://sourceforge.net/projects/nv-tv-out/
Description: TV-Out for NVidia cards

Note I have 1 video card, with dual out, one ditial and one analog port.

And

This has nothing to do with TV in/out either)

Any other ideas?

I just don't see a fundamental way for Twinview to work with two monitors each at different resolutions and have each monitor show the entire desktop. Seems like the OS knows the desktop to be 2 x (1280x1024) and the video card knows the res of each monitor, so this doesn't really mesh.

zaiyon · Post by **zaiyon** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 3:31 am

What can I say ... similair setup, similair problem.

I think, that this is a problem related to nvidia twinview, because everything works fine with two graphic cards

I found my digital -> analog adapter today, was happy to see videos on my crappy monitor too and now there are problems:

1. Windows maximize on both monitors, just like xdm, gdm, kdm, entrance, any sort of panels and the nvidia logo do
2. I can _scroll_ on my right monitor (I don't want it ...), but just to the right, so it becomes even more weird.

My second monitor is small, so I prefer 1024x768 on it, but for testing purposes, I changed this to 1280x960 (like on the main monitor), now I cannot scroll anymore, but all the other problems stay

Gaming seems to work fine, testet with doom3.

When using two graphic cards (one Nvidia Geforce 4 4200 Ti, one old ATI), everything works just as one could wish.
Windows maximize on the first monitor, [xgk]dm show up on one screen, the panel looks right in kde, gnome and xfce4. I reemphasize that I'm using Xinerama in both setups.

So if you want to hear my suggestion (til someone solved that creepy problem), get yourself a PCI graphics card from the hardware cemetry ...

zaiyon · Post by **zaiyon** » Sat Aug 13, 2005 11:01 am

Sorry for doubleposting, but I don't think anyone will recognize this if I don't:

I solved it.
almost.

Bad news: The desktop-scrolling-probling persists with different resolutions.

BUT (good news:), I did a little RTFM and found the following:

/usr/doc/nvidia-glx-1.x wrote: Q: Will window managers be able to appropriately place windows
(e.g. avoiding placing windows across both display devices, or in
inaccessible regions of the virtual desktop)?

A: Yes. The NVIDIA X driver provides a Xinerama extension that X clients
(such as window managers) can use to discover the current TwinView
configuration. Note that the Xinerama protocol provides no way to
inform clients of when a configuration change occurs. So, if you
modeswitch to a different MetaMode, your window manager will still
think you have the previous configuration. Using the Xinerama
extension, in conjunction with the XF86VidMode extension to get
modeswitch events, window managers should be able to determine the
TwinView configuration at any given time.

Unfortunately, the data provided by XineramaQueryScreens() appears to
confuse some window managers; to workaround such broken window mangers,
you can disable communication of the TwinView screen layout with the
"NoTwinViewXineramaInfo" X config Option (please see Appendix D
for details).

Be aware that the NVIDIA driver cannot provide the Xinerama
extension if the X server's own Xinerama extension is being used.
Explicitly specifying Xinerama in the X config file or on the X server
commandline will prohibit NVIDIA's Xinerama extension from installing,
so make sure that the X server's log file does not contain:

(++) Xinerama: enabled

if you wish the NVIDIA driver to be able to provide the Xinerama
extension while in TwinView.

Another solution is to use panning domains to eliminate inaccessible
regions of the virtual screen (see the MetaMode description above).

A third solution is to use two separate X screens, rather than use
TwinView. Please see (app-r) APPENDIX R: CONFIGURING MULTIPLE X
SCREENS ON ONE CARD.

So deactivating Xinerama should be it for nvidia users.

HTH someone.

<edit>
I just discovered something new. When I start with 1280x960,1280x960, and then use xrandr to switch to the other metamode, which is 1280x960,1024x768, everything works just fine.
So writing a script that does:

Code: Select all

xrandr -s 1

(assuming that your second metamode is the one you want)

should be a dirty workaround until this miracle is revealed.
</edit>

zaiyon · Post by **zaiyon** » Mon Aug 15, 2005 6:54 pm

Sorry for the third post, but I now found the cause of the scrolling problem!

It seems to be the Modes line in your [xX].*\.conf, when you deactivate every mode besides the one you want to use, everything works just fine. This is my ne modes line:

Code: Select all

Option      "MetaModes" "1280x960, 1024x768+1280+192

It is a bit special. I used +1280+192 to adjust the virtual part of my desktop shown on the second screen.

I am - again - excusing for the three posts in a row, but probably no one will notice when I just keep editing my last post ...

HTH!

joesnow · Post by **joesnow** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 6:53 pm

could someone please post the *working* xorg.conf when using 1 video card that has 2 heads, with 2 monitors that use different resolutions.

I've been going at this problem in another forum for awhile

ty ^_^