More than two monitors

I have two nvidia cards, each capable of dual display. I found the “switch” for dual displays, that was reasonably easy however, how do I turn on handling of 4 monitors?

In yast “Hardware Information” both display cards are showing however in yast “Card and Monitor Properties” I see “Display 1” but no “Display 2”.

Hi
When running sax2 at runlevel 3 you just need to define the cards eg;


sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia 1=nvidia


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 23:10, 1 user, load average: 0.03, 0.04, 0.00
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

Thanks,

Something changed but there is a new problem now.

When I click on “Graphics Card and Monitor” it just drops out of Gnome to a command screen for a few seconds and then goes back to gnome but never loads the setup window.

My video cards are both GeForce 8600GT’s.

Hi
You need to do it from runlevel 3 not the GUI…


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 1 day 0:12, 1 user, load average: 0.19, 0.14, 0.22
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

I did change it from run level 3. I then successfully went back to run level 5.

Now back in run level 5, I should be able to go into the interface as per normal and make basic changes to monitor resolutions etc, right? That is what is not working.

Hi
So it showed all cards and monitors in sax2? You may need to look at
using nvidia-xconfig have a read of the man page for all the
configuration options. If your still having issues run the following
command to upload your xorg.conf file and post the URL back here;


curl -F file=@/etc/X11/xorg.conf nopaste.com/a

Note nopaste.com doesn’t seem to be working at the moment, but maybe
there is another site you can post it…


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 1 day 8:03, 1 user, load average: 0.00, 0.03, 0.06
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

The only info. command I see is -p. When I use this it shows:

Chip: 0 is -> NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 01:00:0 0x10de 0x0402 AGP nvidia
Chip: 1 is -> NVIDIA GeForce 8600 GT 02:00:0 0x10de 0x0402 AGP nvidia

One thing that doesn’t look right is the AGP. Both my cards are PCIE x16.

I don’t know what the hex addresses are so I can’t really comment on those, the rest looks fine to me.

Does this seem right to you?

Hi
Mine says the same for my 8600GTS as in AGP. What about the output from;


nvidia-xconfig -t


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 1 day 9:22, 2 users, load average: 0.04, 0.09, 0.11
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

That’s considerably more information, here you go:

Using X configuration file: “/etc/X11/xorg.conf”.

ServerLayout "Layout[all]"
    |
    |--> Screen "Screen[0]"
    |       |
    |       |--> Monitor "Monitor[0]"
    |       |       |
    |       |       |--> VendorName "--> LCD"
    |       |       |--> ModelName "1680X1050@60HZ"
    |       |       |--> HorizSync  30.0-66.0
    |       |       |--> VertRefresh  50.0-61.0
    |       |       |--> Option "CalcAlgorithm" "XServerPool"
    |       |       |--> Option "DPMS"
    |       |       |--> Option "PreferredMode" "1680x1050"
    |       |
    |       |--> Device "Device[0]"
    |       |       |--> Driver "nvidia"
    |       |       |--> VendorName "NVidia"
    |       |       |--> BoardName "GeForce 8600 GT"
    |       |       |--> BusID "1:0:0"
    |       |       |--> Screen "0"
    |       |       |--> Option "SaXDualHead"
    |       |       |--> Option "TwinView"
    |       |       |--> Option "SaXDualMonitorVendor" "--> VESA"
    |       |       |--> Option "SaXDualOrientation" "RightOf"
    |       |       |--> Option "MetaModes" "1680x1050,1280x1024;1600x1024,1280x1024;1600x1000,1280x1024;1400x1050,1280x1024;1280x1024,1280x1024;1440x900,1440x900;1280x960,1280x960;1366x768,1366x768;1280x800,1280x800;1152x864,1152x864;1280x768,1280x768;1280x720,1280x720;1024x768,1024x768;1280x600,1280x600;1024x600,1024x600;800x600,800x600;768x576,768x576;640x480,640x480"
    |       |       |--> Option "SaXDualResolution" "1280x1024"
    |       |       |--> Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf"
    |       |       |--> Option "SaXDualMode" "Xinerama"
    |       |       |--> Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "50-60"
    |       |       |--> Option "SaXDualHSync" "31-64"
    |       |       |--> Option "SaXDualMonitorModel" "1280X1024@60HZ"
    |       |       |--> Option "SaXDualVSync" "50-60"
    |       |
    |       |--> DefaultColorDepth 24
    |       |--> Modes "1680x1050" "1600x1024" "1600x1000" "1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1440x900" "1280x960" "1366x768" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x768" "1280x720" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
    |
    |--> InputDevice "Keyboard[0]"
    |       |
    |       |--> Driver "kbd"
    |       |--> Option "Protocol" "Standard"
    |       |--> Option "XkbLayout" "us"
    |       |--> Option "XkbModel" "microsoftpro"
    |       |--> Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
    |       |--> Option "CoreKeyboard"
    |
    |--> InputDevice "Mouse[1]"
    |       |
    |       |--> Driver "mouse"
    |       |--> Option "Buttons" "7"
    |       |--> Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    |       |--> Option "Name" "Holtek USB Mouse"
    |       |--> Option "Protocol" "explorerps/2"
    |       |--> Option "Vendor" "Sysp"
    |       |--> Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
    |       |--> Option "CorePointer"
    |
    |--> Option "Clone" "off"
    |--> Option "Xinerama" "off"


ServerFlags
    |
    |--> Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "on"
    |--> Option "ZapWarning" "on"


Extensions
    |
    |--> Option "Composite" "on"

Hi
Here is the output from mine. Note this machine is running SLED10 SP2,
not openSUSE, but should still be good for comparison


Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".

ServerLayout "Layout[all]"
|
|--> Screen "Screen[0]"
|       |
|       |--> Monitor "Monitor[0]"
|       |       |
|       |       |--> VendorName "--> LCD"
|       |       |--> ModelName "1680X1050@60HZ"
|       |       |--> HorizSync  30.0-66.0
|       |       |--> VertRefresh  50.0-61.0
|       |       |--> Option "CalcAlgorithm" "XServerPool"
|       |       |--> Option "DPMS"
|       |
|       |--> Device "Device[0]"
|       |       |--> Driver "nvidia"
|       |       |--> VendorName "NVidia"
|       |       |--> BoardName "GeForce EN8600 GTS"
|       |       |--> BusID "1:0:0"
|       |       |--> Screen "0"
|       |       |--> Option "CIOverlay"
|       |       |--> Option "SaXDualHead"
|       |       |--> Option "TwinView"
|       |       |--> Option "SaXDualMonitorVendor" "--> LCD"
|       |       |--> Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "30-66"
|       |       |--> Option "SaXDualVSync" "50-61"
|       |       |--> Option "MetaModes"
"1680x1050,1680x1050;1600x1024,1600x1024;1600x1000,1600x1000;1400x1050,1400x1050;1280x1024,1280x1024;1440x900,1440x900;1280x960,1280x960;1366x768,1366x768;1280x800,1280x800;1152x864,1152x864;1280x768,1280x768;1024x768,1024x768;1280x600,1280x600;1024x600,1024x600;800x600,800x600;768x576,768x576;640x480,640x480"
|       |       |--> Option "SaXDualOrientation" "RightOf" |
|       |--> Option "SaXDualResolution" "1680x1050" |       |
|--> Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf" |       |       |-->
Option "SaXDualMode" "Xinerama" |       |       |--> Option
"SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "50-61" |       |       |--> Option
"SaXDualHSync" "30-66" |       |       |--> Option
"SaXDualMonitorModel" "1680X1050@60HZ" |       |       |--> Option
"Coolbits" "1" |       |       |--> Option "NoFlip" "True"
|       |
|       |--> DefaultColorDepth 24
|       |--> Modes "1680x1050" "1600x1024" "1600x1000"
"1400x1050" "1280x1024" "1440x900" "1280x960" "1366x768" "1280x800"
"1152x864" "1280x768" "1024x768" "1280x600" "1024x600" "800x600"
"768x576" "640x480" | |--> InputDevice "Keyboard[0]" |       |
|       |--> Driver "kbd"
|       |--> Option "Protocol" "Standard"
|       |--> Option "XkbLayout" "us"
|       |--> Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
|       |--> Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
|       |--> Option "CoreKeyboard"
|
|--> InputDevice "Mouse[1]"
|       |
|       |--> Driver "mouse"
|       |--> Option "Buttons" "12"
|       |--> Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
|       |--> Option "Name" "Logitech USB Receiver"
|       |--> Option "Protocol" "explorerps/2"
|       |--> Option "Vendor" "Sysp"
|       |--> Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
|       |--> Option "CorePointer"
|
|--> Option "Clone" "off"
|--> Option "Xinerama" "on"


ServerFlags
|
|--> Option "AllowMouseOpenFail" "on"


Extensions
|
|--> Option "Composite" "off"
|--> Option "MIT-SHM" "no"

So do you have 4 monitors you wish to run, or are you wanting to use
one card with one monitor?


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 1 day 10:11, 2 users, load average: 0.00, 0.09, 0.13
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

I have two monitors now and I am waiting for the other two so I will have four soon.

I read in another post that you should only use the NVIDIA driver setup if you have installed native NVIDIA drivers. Perhaps the answer is that I simply should not be going into the suse graphic and display setup anymore?

Hi
I’ve always used Sax2 for nvidia configuration, all nvidia-xconfig does
is add the options in so in someways it complements Sax2.

Can you hook up a monitor to the second card and try to configure?

I think once you have 4 displays connected it should start to work.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 1 day 15:09, 1 user, load average: 0.17, 0.31, 0.32
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

Yep, I saw that, as soon as it saw a monitor on the other card it started to work on the other card. Well, the NVIDIA config did anyway, I didn’t think to try the suse config. I’ll have my other two monitors this week so I’ll wait until then and as soon as I setup them up I’ll post the result here for you.

Well putting two more monitors on didn’t stop the problem but I looked in the logs and found this:

SaX: ups lost card during probing… abort
SaX: something went wrong while X was called with -probeonly
SaX: try to call ‘sax2 -p’ and select a single device ?

so I did a search on it and found this recommendation:

sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia -c 1

That almost got me there but after some playing I found that this did:

sax2 -r -m 0=nvidia 1=nvidia -c 0 1

My next problem is how to get it to handle 4 monitors properly since sax only seems to work on up to two and nvidia is only allow a screen resolution of 640x480 for the monitors on the second card.

I’m guessing that’s because it expects sax to set up the monitors but sax won’t.

I thought about editing the xorg.conf file but there’s a note up the top saying “please don’t” and it gets written over every time you make a change so it would be pain to maintain.

Any ideas?

Hi
What happens with running nvidia-xconfig with appropriate options?

Else you may just have to manually edit, there are only two programs
that write to the xorg.conf. Sax and nvidia-settings, once you have a
working xorg.conf back it up somewhere :slight_smile: Both those programs make
backups of the existing one if you look in the /etc/X11 directory.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 1 day 19:48, 1 user, load average: 0.02, 0.05, 0.01
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82

I haven’t run it from the command line with options yet. I have run it through it’s interface and like I said, it doesn’t know about the extra monitors and I think that’s because sax isn’t setting them up for it.

I figure if I can get sax to do it’s part then nvidia config will have the info. it needs to do it’s part too.

How many cards and monitors do you have? If you have more than two monitors then I should be able to get what I need from your config file but I didn’t see anything extra their when I was doing a compare before.

Hi
Only one card and two monitors I’m afraid…


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
openSUSE 11.0 x86 Kernel 2.6.25.18-0.2-default
up 1 day 20:36, 1 user, load average: 0.03, 0.17, 0.17
GPU GeForce 6600 TE/6200 TE - Driver Version: 177.82