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Old 12-28-2006, 03:08 PM   #1
Paintball_Star7
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2005
Posts: 29

Rep: Reputation: 15
dual/triple monitor help

I am having major problems setting up triple monitors for my debian desktop. I have been able to successfully set it up under windows xp.

Code:
lspci : 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400 AGP (rev 04)
0000:02:01.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage I/II 215GT [Mach64 GT] (rev 48)
The ATI card is in a pci slot and boots up first (BIOS, etc).

The Matrox card is dual head and in the AGP card slot.

I would like to set these up with my 3 Gateway EV700 CRT monitors to create a triple monitor setup.

If someone wouldn't mind looking over my XF86Config-4 that would be awesome. I can't figure out where I'm going wrong and could use some guidance.

XF86Config-4 (Not currently working, set up for triple monitors)

Code:
# XF86Config-4 (XFree86 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 XF86Config-4 manual page.
# (Type "man XF86Config-4" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xfree86 package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xfree86
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following commands as root:
#
#   cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.custom
#   md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 >/var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum
#   dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

Section "Files"
	FontPath	"unix/:7100"			# local font server
	# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load	"GLcore"
	Load	"bitmap"
	Load	"dbe"
	Load	"ddc"
	Load	"dri"
	Load	"extmod"
	Load	"freetype"
	Load	"glx"
	Load	"int10"
	Load	"record"
	Load	"speedo"
	Load	"type1"
	Load	"vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
	Driver		"keyboard"
	Option		"CoreKeyboard"
	Option		"XkbRules"	"xfree86"
	Option		"XkbModel"	"pc104"
	Option		"XkbLayout"	"us"
EndSection

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



Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "Multihead layout"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" LeftOf "Screen1"
        Screen      1  "Screen1" LeftOf "Screen2"
        Screen      2  "Screen2" RightOf "Screen1"
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        Option      "Xinerama" "on"
        Option      "Clone" "off"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        HorizSync	30-65
	VertRefresh	50-75
	Option		"dpms"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor1"
        HorizSync	30-65
	VertRefresh	50-75
	Option		"dpms"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor2"
       HorizSync	30-65
	VertRefresh	50-75
	Option		"dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard1A"
        Driver      "mga"
        VendorName  "mga"
        BoardName   "Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400 AGP (rev 04)"
        BusID       "PCI:01:00.0"
        Screen      0
EndSection

Section "Device"
       Identifier  "Videocard1B"
       D Driver      "mga"
       VendorName  "mga"
       BoardName   "Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400 AGP (rev 04)"
       BusID       "PCI:01:00:0"
        Screen      1
#EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard2A"
        Driver		"vesa"
        VendorName  "ATI"
        BoardName   "ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage I/II 215GT [Mach64 GT] (rev 48)"
        BusID       "02:01.0"
        Screen      2
EndSection

#Section "Device"
#        Identifier  "Videocard2B"
#        Driver      "radeon"
#        VendorName  "ATI"
#        BoardName   "ATI Radeon RV280 [Radeon 9200 PRO] (Secondary)"
#        BusID       "PCI:03:7:01"
#        Screen      1
#EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard1A"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport 0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1280x1024"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen1"
        Device     "Videocard1B"
        Monitor    "Monitor1"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport 0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1280x1024"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen2"
        Device     "Videocard2A"
        Monitor    "Monitor2"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport 0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1280x1024"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

#WORKING
#Section "Device"
#	Identifier	"Generic Video Card"
#	Driver		"vesa"
#EndSection
#
#Section "Monitor"
#	Identifier	"GWY:601b"
#	HorizSync	30-65
#	VertRefresh	50-75
#	Option		"DPMS"
#EndSection
#
#Section "Screen"
#	Identifier	"Default Screen"
#	Device		"Generic Video Card"
#	Monitor		"GWY:601b"
#	DefaultDepth	24
#	SubSection "Display"
#		Depth		1
#		Modes		"1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
#	EndSubSection
#	SubSection "Display"
#		Depth		4
#		Modes		"1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
#	EndSubSection
#	SubSection "Display"
#		Depth		8
#		Modes		"1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
#	EndSubSection
#	SubSection "Display"
#		Depth		15
#		Modes		"1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
#	EndSubSection
#	SubSection "Display"
#		Depth		16
#		Modes		"1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
#	EndSubSection
#	SubSection "Display"
#		Depth		24
#		Modes		"1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
#	EndSubSection
#EndSection
#
#Section "ServerLayout"
#	Identifier	"Default Layout"
#	Screen		"Default Screen"
#	InputDevice	"Generic Keyboard"
#	InputDevice	"Configured Mouse"
#EndSection
#
#Section "DRI"
#	Mode	0666
#EndSection
Thank you for taking the time to look this over and help me out.

Chris
 
Old 12-28-2006, 11:27 PM   #2
HappyTux
Senior Member
 
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Distribution: Debian AMD64
Posts: 4,170

Rep: Reputation: 244Reputation: 244Reputation: 244
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paintball_Star7
I am having major problems setting up triple monitors for my debian desktop. I have been able to successfully set it up under windows xp.

Code:
lspci : 0000:01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400 AGP (rev 04)
0000:02:01.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage I/II 215GT [Mach64 GT] (rev 48)
The ATI card is in a pci slot and boots up first (BIOS, etc).

The Matrox card is dual head and in the AGP card slot.

I would like to set these up with my 3 Gateway EV700 CRT monitors to create a triple monitor setup.

If someone wouldn't mind looking over my XF86Config-4 that would be awesome. I can't figure out where I'm going wrong and could use some guidance.
Try this file below from the way you describe it the ATI card gets detected as your primary with your login screen on it (if not the case let me know) so it should really be the screen0 with the other two displays on both sides again if not how you have it setup let me know. So try this and see how it turns out one thing to look for is whether the ATI card has enough video memory to display 24bit colour at 1280x1024 you may need to drop the depth to 16 and the size down to maybe even 800x600 for all screens if you want the Xinerama if not you can uncomment the Load "xtrap" and comment the Xinerama to have it use its own different settings this would give you three separate desktops you could use instead of the one big desktop. If you cannot get it working post the /var/log/XFree86.0.log file so we can get a look at it, you will need to put this into two post as it is quite large make sure to copy it to a backup file before starting X with a working file otherwise it will be overwritten. BTW I got the monitor settings from here if they look good to you then use them if they are too high they can possibly kill the monitors but they look reasonable to me for what is a 17" monitor.

http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/per...esh-rates.html


Code:
# XF86Config-4 (XFree86 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 XF86Config-4 manual page.
# (Type "man XF86Config-4" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xfree86 package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xfree86
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following commands as root:
#
#   cp /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.custom
#   md5sum /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 >/var/lib/xfree86/XF86Config-4.md5sum
#   dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86

Section "Files"
	FontPath	"unix/:7100"			# local font server
	# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
	FontPath	"/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load	"GLcore"
	Load	"bitmap"
	Load	"dbe"
	Load	"ddc"
	Load	"dri"
	Load	"extmod"
	Load	"freetype"
	Load	"glx"
	Load	"int10"
	Load	"record"
	Load	"speedo"
	Load	"type1"
	Load	"vbe"
#      Load       "xtrap"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
	Driver		"keyboard"
	Option		"CoreKeyboard"
	Option		"XkbRules"	"xfree86"
	Option		"XkbModel"	"pc104"
	Option		"XkbLayout"	"us"
EndSection

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



Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "Multihead layout"
        Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
        Screen      1  "Screen1" LeftOf "Screen2"
        Screen      2  "Screen2" RightOf "Screen1"
        InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        Option      "Xinerama" "on"
        Option      "Clone" "off"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "Gateway"
        ModelName    "EV700"
        DisplaySize  330        240
 ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
        HorizSync    30.0 - 70.0
        VertRefresh  50.0 - 120.0
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor1"
        VendorName   "Gateway"
        ModelName    "EV700"
        DisplaySize  330        240
 ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
        HorizSync    30.0 - 70.0
        VertRefresh  50.0 - 120.0
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor2"
        VendorName   "Gateway"
        ModelName    "EV700"
        DisplaySize  330        240
 ### Comment all HorizSync and VertSync values to use DDC:
        HorizSync    30.0 - 70.0
        VertRefresh  50.0 - 120.0
        Option      "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard0"
        Driver		"ati"
        VendorName  "ATI"
        BoardName   "ATI Technologies Inc 3D Rage I/II 215GT [Mach64 GT] (rev 48)"
        BusID       "PCI:2:1:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Videocard1A"
        Driver      "mga"
        VendorName  "mga"
        BoardName   "Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400 AGP (rev 04)"
        BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
        Screen      1
EndSection

Section "Device"
       Identifier  "Videocard1B"
       D Driver      "mga"
       VendorName  "mga"
       BoardName   "Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400 AGP (rev 04)"
       BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
        Screen      2
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1280x1024"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen1"
        Device     "Videocard1A"
        Monitor    "Monitor1"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1280x1024"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen2"
        Device     "Videocard1B"
        Monitor    "Monitor2"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1280x1024"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Mode	0666
EndSection
Quote:
Thank you for taking the time to look this over and help me out.

Chris
 
Old 12-29-2006, 10:38 PM   #3
Paintball_Star7
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2005
Posts: 29

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
I figured out that I have to install propriety drivers from matrox to enable the second head on the matrox G400. I tried this and it worked. The problem is I am going to be using the testing branch of debian and it includes xorg 7.1. The propriety driver only works with xorg 7.0 and lower. I don't really want to use debian stable because I want to use newer packages. Is there any way to downgrade xorg in debian?

Thank you for all of the help. I really appreciate it.

Chris
 
Old 12-29-2006, 10:55 PM   #4
HappyTux
Senior Member
 
Registered: Mar 2003
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
Distribution: Debian AMD64
Posts: 4,170

Rep: Reputation: 244Reputation: 244Reputation: 244
Quote:
Originally Posted by Paintball_Star7
I figured out that I have to install propriety drivers from matrox to enable the second head on the matrox G400. I tried this and it worked. The problem is I am going to be using the testing branch of debian and it includes xorg 7.1. The propriety driver only works with xorg 7.0 and lower. I don't really want to use debian stable because I want to use newer packages. Is there any way to downgrade xorg in debian?

Thank you for all of the help. I really appreciate it.

Chris
You can try www.backports.org they have newer packages built for stable there and if it wants to upgrade X to a version you don't want then use echo "xserver-xorg hold" | dpkg --set-selections to put the package on hold meaning it will not be upgraded.
 
Old 12-30-2006, 11:10 AM   #5
Paintball_Star7
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2005
Posts: 29

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 15
You were right about my video card not being able to support 24 bit color at such high a resolution.

Thank you so much for your help.

Chris
 
  


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