I am currently having a problem configuring quad monitors on openSuSE 11.4. When the XServer starts, monitors 1&2 are showing vt7 (the GUI) and monitors 3&4 are showing vt8. When I hit ctrl+alt+f5 monitors 3&4 display the console and I can login and work in the console. When I hit ctrl+alt+f7 I return control to monitors 1&2 and can work there.
My goal - When I login to X, I can drag windows, start applications, etc. across all four monitors. When I hit Ctrl+Alt+F4 it switches all four monitors to the console.
I used to be able to do this using SaX2… However, since that is not an option anymore I am reaching the end of my ability to configure this. I’m pretty sure this is a simple mistake on my part and I’m lacking the experience to figure it out. :disapointed:
Does anyone have any ideas on how I could proceed in getting this configured?
-JW
Included hardware information below:
Current SuSE-release:
openSUSE 11.4 (x86_64)
VERSION = 11.4
uname -r:
2.6.37.1-1.2-desktop
lspci | grep ATI:
0f:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc FirePro V4800
0f:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5600 Series]
28:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc FirePro V4800
28:00.1 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5600 Series]
xrandr -q:
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3360 x 1050, maximum 8192 x 8192
DisplayPort-2 connected 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 473mm x 296mm
1680x1050 60.0*+
1600x1200 60.0
1280x1024 60.0
1440x900 59.9
1280x960 60.0
1024x768 60.0
800x600 60.3
640x480 60.0
720x400 70.1
DisplayPort-3 connected 1680x1050+1680+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 473mm x 296mm
1680x1050 60.0*+
1600x1200 60.0
1280x1024 60.0
1440x900 59.9
1280x960 60.0
1024x768 60.0
800x600 60.3
640x480 60.0
720x400 70.1
DVI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Hi JWMerrow. Welcome to the forums. Good info supplied, but what might also be useful is to know what driver you’re using. I’m assuming its the default open source radeon driver (unless you’ve taken steps to install the proprietary fglrx driver).
/sbin/lspci -nnk
Are you using KDE4 or Gnome?
For KDE (with the open source driver), you can try configuring via
System Settings >> Display and Monitor
It should be possible to set both display ports devices side by side if desired.
This sort of configuring multiple monitors is well beyond anything I have attempted. Still since the issue is being discussed in this thread, here is a link to a post by a user who successfully configured their PC for 3 monitors and claim it will work for 4: RandR / Xinerama - how to make work in OSE 11.2 … I note however that was done on openSUSE-11.2, where the graphic configuration architecture on 11.4 is quite different from that on 11.2 so this link may not, unfortunately, be helpful.
I’m using the default radeon driver for both cards. I tried to install the ATI/AMD Drivers but they only support up to OpenSuSE 11.3 (according to the --listpkgs command on the installer)!
lspci -nnk output (I shortened this to just the section on the video cards):
0f:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc FirePro V4800 [1002:68c8]
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:2306]
Kernel driver in use: radeon
0f:00.1 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5600 Series] [1002:aa60]
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:aa60]
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
28:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: ATI Technologies Inc FirePro V4800 [1002:68c8]
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:2306]
Kernel driver in use: radeon
28:00.1 Audio device [0403]: ATI Technologies Inc Redwood HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 5600 Series] [1002:aa60]
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:aa60]
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Enlightenment; I can access the apps from both KDE & Gnome though.
Sadly, neither Gnome or KDE monitor configuration shows the other two monitors.
Thanks!
Hmmmm, this looks nifty! I will give this a shot and modify the files under /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d and see if I can manually get this to work.
Well… you have a problem. because multi-screen desktop does not work very well with Opensuse. Two screens work perfectly… but more than two is a problem. I have been using 4 screens on opensuse 11.2 using nvidia 9800GT and nvidia drivers. It was working fine… but after I updated to Opensuse 11.3 and later to 11.4 it does not work. 11.3 had issue with jumping cursor between screens connected to two different cards and 11.4 has performance issue, especially with Flash and Browsers. FYI, with two screens I cannot see any problem in 11.4.
Before I decided to add two more screens to my computer I did some research and I found that the best cards for that for Linux systems are nvidia cards. however it was long time ago… maybe ATI or AMD cards have much better drivers right now for Linux.
My recommendation is to use drivers provided by chip manufacture. If you have radeon - use radeon drivers. Nvidia has special GUI for the dreviers, that makes setup very easy… i do not know anything about Radeon… but I believe they also have GUI that can help you.
I went to the FirePro Beta Drivers and it was able to install. However, after I did that, the box would not run xdm/kdm anymore (post reboot). In X.Org.log.0 it showed that fglrx would always throw errors and crash.
Thank you for the earlier link oldcpu, I was able to get my xorg.conf.d files squared away and am now running four monitors with Xinerama enabled.
Now if only I could figure out how to get this working without using Xinerama… Moving windows is much less responsive with Xinerama enabled (ie. Firefox).
My only remaining problem is that it seems like XRandR just has problems working with multiple graphics cards… Or perhaps it’s something I’ve done (or not done). Any ideas if this can work using XRandR, or should I stick with Xinerama and call it a day?
My only remaining problem is that it seems like XRandR just has problems working with multiple graphics cards… Or perhaps it’s something I’ve done (or not done). Any ideas if this can work using XRandR, or should I stick with Xinerama and call it a day?
Yes, I would stick with the Xinerama approach for now. The multi-monitor support via XRandR is not as well developed. BTW, I note that your 50-device.conf file is still referencing the open source radeon driver. Do you have a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file as well?
Nope, I tried that approach and scrapped the idea in favor of modifying the files under /etc/xorg.conf.d/ instead. It seems to be working quite well (minus the lag time on dragging windows). Just some other minor modifications (ex. ginormous white mouse by default, haha) and I should be good to go.
Thank you oldcpu, deano_ferrari, and mr_lukes. :shake:
