external display on an 12" Al powerbook

Message

mert · Post by **mert** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 2:19 pm

I've been looking all over trying to find out how to configure an external monitor on my powerbook. the display comes on for a short time during booting, and it stays powered on (powerbutton is green, not amber) while plugged into the laptop. lshw also reports its presence in the hardware list. So, I think I just need to configure it. I've seen several related threads in this forum but I have not found a solution. Seems to me a kernel parameter should enable it at boot time. Otherwise, the xorg.conf should be modified, but I'm going around in circles trying to figure out the monitors, screens, and devices. Any suggestions?

bruda · Post by **bruda** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 3:30 pm

I am pretty sure that the Radeon driver supports dual display (because I am using it), but I would not hold my breath for such a support on the Nvidia side (which I believe is the chip on your powerbook). At least I have not heard any success story on the matter.

As far as the kernel framebuffer goes, no matter what I did I have not been able to produce anything intelligible on the external display since some 2.4, really old kernel. X on the other hand works well in dual display mode with MergedFB enabled (and without using the kernel framebuffer). However, the nv driver does not appear to have such an option.

mert · Post by **mert** » Fri Feb 25, 2005 10:47 pm

Well, by using
Option "CrtcNumber" "1"
in the device section I can get the external monitor to work but the laptop screen is displaying gibberish, which I interpret as being driven with the wrong sync rates. If I can get the internal display to turn off when an external one is present I'd be in good shape.

xavier10 · Post by **xavier10** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:41 pm

Are you using the DVI video output ?
I thought it was not supposed to work on powerbooks. Never really tried on mine, but I would still be interested in being able to plug a video-projector and use it in dual display mode for presentations....

Xavier

bruda · Post by **bruda** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 8:59 pm

You are asking me or mert? If you are asking me, then DVI-out works well for me (Radeon-based) with MergedFB.

xavier10 · Post by **xavier10** » Tue Mar 01, 2005 9:06 pm

bruda wrote:You are asking me or mert? If you are asking me, then DVI-out works well for me (Radeon-based) with MergedFB.

I was asking to anyone could answer

Actually, I did not expect it to work. If you look at the sticky howto for 15" (with Radeon), it says that it does not work).

If it is supposed to work, I would be curious to try.
How do you set up output to the external screen / the laptop screen / dual display ?

I will try that as soon as I find a video projector under my hand.

Xavier

bruda · Post by **bruda** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 1:28 am

I have the following in my xorg.conf:

Code: Select all

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "TibookLCD"
        VendorName   "Apple"
        ModelName    "Titanium LCD"
        Option       "DPMS"
        HorizSync    30-130
        VertRefresh  50-160
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "RadeonMerged"
        Driver      "radeon"

        Option      "AGPMode"  "4"
        Option      "AGPFastWrite" "true"
        Option      "EnablePageFlip" "true"
        Option      "RenderAccel" "true"
        Option      "backingstore"

        Option      "UseFWPLL" "true"
        Option      "MergedFB" "true"
        Option      "CRT2Position" "Clone"
        Option      "MetaModes" "1280x854-1280x1024 1280x854-1152x864 1280x854-1024x768 1280x854-800x600"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "ScreenMerged"
        Device     "RadeonMerged"
        Monitor    "TibookLCD"
        DefaultDepth   24
        #DefaultFbBpp  32
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth    8
                Modes    "1280x854" "1152x768" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600"
                #Virtual  1280 854
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth    16
                Modes    "1280x854" "1152x768"  "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600"
                #Virtual  1280 854
        EndSubSection
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth    24
                Modes    "1280x854" "1152x768"  "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600"
                #Virtual  1280 854
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier   "Clone"
        Screen       "ScreenMerged"
        InputDevice  "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice  "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

This clones the display (I am using the external DVI for presentations only so this is all I need), in order to do non-overlapping multiple monitors one would change the device to

Code: Select all

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "RadeonDual"
        Driver      "radeon"
      # BusID       "PCI:0:16:0"

        Option      "AGPMode"  "4"
        Option      "AGPFastWrite" "true"
        Option      "EnablePageFlip" "true"
        Option      "RenderAccel" "true"
        Option      "backingstore"

        Option      "DDCMode" "true"
        Option      "UseFWPLL" "true"
        Option      "MergedFB" "true"
        Option      "CRT2Position" "RightOf"
        Option      "MetaModes" "1280x1024-1280x1024"
        Option      "MonitorLayout" "LVDS,CRT"
EndSection

All of this is extensively tested on a Radeon M7, I also have a 9600 (not mobility) on which I tried once the thing but I did not go any further than bringing up X, noticing the two displays showing the background and the cursor, and then reverting to a single monitor (I have a KVM switch so I am more comfortable with one monitor). Maybe newer Mobility chips do not support this though...

Hope this helps,
Stefan

xavier10 · Post by **xavier10** » Wed Mar 02, 2005 9:53 pm

bruda wrote:I have the following in my xorg.conf:
Hope this helps,
Stefan

Thank you very much! I cannot help before I try this with a real video-projector...

Xavier