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#1 2010-07-18 19:07:25

devspyder
Member
Registered: 2010-06-26
Posts: 6

Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

I have an Acer Aspire One and Im trying to setup Dual Displays. Every guide Ive found, including the Acer One Article in the Wiki talks about editing the Xorg.conf file, yet my system seems to be running without one. Other than problems setting up the dual displays I dont have any issues with Display Settings so it seems my installation of arch linux seems to be using some other technology other than Xorg. Does any one know how the Display settings are setup without the use of the Xorg.conf file ? This is a fresh Arch Linux Base Install using only OpenBox.

Ive also tried using XRandR to setup my dual displays but I keep getting an error and google doesnt provide an answer.

I try and run the following command ( wich works fine on my other PC )

                [zero@zero ~]$ xrandr --auto --output LVDS1 --mode 1024x600 --right-of VGA1

And get the following error

                 X Error of failed request:  BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
                 Major opcode of failed request:  149 (RANDR)
                 Minor opcode of failed request:  7 (RRSetScreenSize)
                 Serial number of failed request:  24
                 Current serial number in output stream:  25


Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Last edited by devspyder (2010-07-18 19:08:32)

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#2 2010-07-18 19:12:40

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

Are you sure you can use xrandr w/o xorg.conf?
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xor … ual_screen
10-monitor.conf is the way of the future.

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#3 2010-07-18 19:16:28

awkwood
Member
From: .au <=> .ca
Registered: 2009-04-23
Posts: 91

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

What does this command show?

lspci | grep VGA

If it's an Intel then check what version of the video driver you're running.

pacman -Q xf86-video-intel

If it's 2.12.0 I'd suggest trying 2.11.0 instead.

The most recent update borked my dual display with a similar error message but 2.11 works fine.
I don't use an xorg.conf.

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#4 2010-07-18 19:26:34

skunktrader
Member
From: Brisbane, Australia
Registered: 2010-02-14
Posts: 1,538

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

devspyder wrote:

Every guide Ive found, including the Acer One Article in the Wiki talks about editing the Xorg.conf file, yet my system seems to be running without one. Other than problems setting up the dual displays I dont have any issues with Display Settings so it seems my installation of arch linux seems to be using some other technology other than Xorg.

The use of xorg.conf has become optional (and discouraged) since Xorg version 1.8

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#5 2010-07-19 14:49:26

Blind
Member
From: Desert mountain
Registered: 2005-02-06
Posts: 386

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

@awkwood: thanks for the hint, I just had the same error.
Did you file a bug report anywhere?

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#6 2010-07-20 00:13:11

devspyder
Member
Registered: 2010-06-26
Posts: 6

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

awkwood  -  First, thanks for your help.

lspci | grep VGA

Shows

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)

pacman -Q xf86-video-intel

Shows

xf86-video-intel 2.12.0-1


karol
I tried folowing the instructions in the Wiki and no luck.

Any other help would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

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#7 2010-07-20 00:21:21

abarahc
Member
Registered: 2010-04-30
Posts: 128

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

[zero@zero ~]$ xrandr --auto --output LVDS1 --mode 1024x600 --right-of [try a BLANK space here]VGA1


user@localhost $ grep -rnw "." -e "hacking"

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#8 2010-07-20 06:13:29

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

@ abarahc
Do you have xorg.conf? How are LVDS1 and VGA1 defined?

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#9 2010-07-20 07:04:55

my0pic
Member
From: Melbourne, Australia
Registered: 2008-05-23
Posts: 206

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

I use this config in xorg.conf with my AspireOne N450 with the Pineview chip.
Mostly taken from the aspire one wiki and pruned to just what's needed. http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ace … Fxorg.conf
AFAIK it's common to all aspire one models

Section "ServerLayout"
       Identifier     "Default Layout"
       Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
       Option "AllowMouseOpenFail"  "true"
       Option "SHMConfig"            "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
       Identifier  "Monitor0"
       Modeline  "1024x600" 48.96 1024 1064 1168 1312 600 601 604 622 -HSync +VSync
       DisplaySize 346 203 # 75 DPI @ 1024x600
EndSection

Section "Device"
       Identifier  "Videocard0"
       Driver      "intel"
       BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"       
EndSection

Section "Screen"
       Identifier "Screen0"
       Device     "Videocard0"
       Monitor     "Monitor0"
       DefaultDepth     24
       SubSection "Display"
       Viewport   0 0
       Depth     24
       Modes    "1024x600"
       Virtual 1920 1800
       EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
       Mode 0666
EndSection

I switch to the vga display and back with this script mapped to the XF86Display key with xbindkeys

#!/bin/bash

function which_display()
    {
        res=`grep -e "Allocate new frame buffer" /var/log/Xorg.0.log | awk '{print $9}' | sed -n '$p'`
        echo $res
    }

if [ "$(which_display)" == "1024x600" ]; then
    xrandr --output LVDS1 --off --output VGA1 --mode 1680x1050 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal
else
    if [ "$(which_display)" == "1680x1050" ]; then
        xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 1024x600 --pos 0x0 --rotate normal --output VGA1 --off
    fi
fi

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#10 2010-07-20 07:08:17

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

@ devspyder
Have you tired it *with* an xorg.conf? Just because it's deprecated doesn't mean you can't use it. Or do you feel religious about it? ;-)

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#11 2010-07-20 12:31:50

Inxsible
Forum Fellow
From: Chicago
Registered: 2008-06-09
Posts: 9,183

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

karol wrote:

@ devspyder
Have you tired it *with* an xorg.conf? Just because it's deprecated doesn't mean you can't use it. Or do you feel religious about it? ;-)

+ 1 I tried using a 10-monitor.conf and it didn't work for me. So I went back to a minimal xorg.conf just defining the monitors and then using xrandr in my .xinitrc to set up the two monitors the way I want.


Forum Rules

There's no such thing as a stupid question, but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots !

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#12 2010-07-20 14:54:35

Blind
Member
From: Desert mountain
Registered: 2005-02-06
Posts: 386

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

I can only do that by reverting to xf86-video-intel 2.11.0. You can downgrade to this version when you download the package from the schlunix mirror (see pacman wiki)

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#13 2010-07-20 14:58:17

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

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#14 2010-07-20 20:23:43

devspyder
Member
Registered: 2010-06-26
Posts: 6

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

Karol  - Thanks all your input. I appreciate you trying to help me out with this issue, its driving me crazy.  I have tried it with an Xorg.conf but it doesnt seem to make a difference or Arch just isnt using it ? Is there a way to confirm that Arch is loading the xorg.conf file?

Inxsible  -  would you mind posting your .xinitrc so I can give that a shot along with the xorg.conf


Blind  - Are you saying that you can only use the 10-monitor.conf by downgrading or the xorg.conf ?

Is there a different video driver I should try next or should I downgrade my current intel driver and give that a shot ?

Again, thanks everyone for your input !

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#15 2010-07-20 20:27:28

Inxsible
Forum Fellow
From: Chicago
Registered: 2008-06-09
Posts: 9,183

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

xorg-server always parses the xorg.conf file if available. So if you have it, its being read. Let me get you my xorg.conf and .xinitrc from my earlier threads....as I am at work right now and do not have access to my Arch machine.


EDIT ::
Here they are

xorg.conf

Section "Device"
        Identifier      "ATI Technologies HD2400XT Pro"
        Driver          "ati"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "DVI-0"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
        Identifier      "DVI-1"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
       Identifier       "Default Screen"
       Device           "ATI Technologies HD2400XT Pro"
       Monitor          "DVI-0"
       DefaultDepth     24
 
       SubSection "Display"
           Depth                24
           Modes                "1680x1050" "1280x1024" "1440x900" "1280x800" "1152x864" "1280x720" "1280x768" "832x624" "800x600" "640x480" "720x400"
           # ADD A VIRTUAL LINE TO PROVIDE FOR THE LARGEST SCREENS YOU WILL HOTPLUG
           Virtual              1680 1050
       EndSubSection
EndSection

.xinitrc

.......
xrandr --output DVI-1 --auto --right-of DVI-0
.....

Last edited by Inxsible (2010-07-20 20:31:05)


Forum Rules

There's no such thing as a stupid question, but there sure are a lot of inquisitive idiots !

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#16 2010-07-20 20:30:51

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

> Is there a way to confirm that Arch is loading the xorg.conf file?
It should just work. Run 'X -configure' and then add / remove parts of xorg.conf to taste.

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#17 2010-07-20 22:17:36

devspyder
Member
Registered: 2010-06-26
Posts: 6

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

WooHoo ! big_smile

awkwood   -  You Rock ! I feel like an idiot for not paying closer attention to your first post. I finally realized what you were saying and figured out how to do the downgrade.

If it's 2.12.0 I'd suggest trying 2.11.0 instead.

The most recent update borked my dual display with a similar error message but 2.11 works fine.
I don't use an xorg.conf.

So essentially this seems to be a bug with version 2.12 of the xf86-video-intel driver. I downgraded to ver 2.11 and everything works perfectly. I am running dual monitors at full resolution with no fuss. So again awkwood I thank you !

For other Arch Newbies who have this issue in the mean time until they fix the bug, this is how I did the downgrade.

Step 1:
download the 2.11 package from the link below

http://arm.konnichi.com/extra/os/i686/x … pkg.tar.xz

Step 2:
Open a terminal and cd to the directory where you saved the file

$ cd /home/$USERNAME/Downloads

Step 3:
Use pacman to install the package

sudo pacman -U xf86-video-intel-2.11.0-2-i686.pkg.tar.xz

Finally reboot. When you log back in everything should work fine

Again thanks to awkwood as well as karol, blind, Inxsible and everyone else for their help. Everyone here is so helpful, I am defiantly an Arch user for life. Hopefully they will fix the bug in the next version of the driver. My next step is to see about filling a bug report.

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#18 2010-07-20 22:21:12

karol
Archivist
Registered: 2009-05-06
Posts: 25,440

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

"How to setup Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf in a weekend".
Something tells me it's going to be a bestseller ;-)

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#19 2010-07-21 11:53:24

abarahc
Member
Registered: 2010-04-30
Posts: 128

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help

karol wrote:

@ devspyder
Have you tired it *with* an xorg.conf? Just because it's deprecated doesn't mean you can't use it. Or do you feel religious about it? ;-)

yeah! see the wiki of xorg. this have a extensive text about dual screen, "clone screens", and others mode-sets for monitors ;D!!


user@localhost $ grep -rnw "." -e "hacking"

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#20 2010-08-02 08:52:37

lynucs
Member
Registered: 2008-05-05
Posts: 67
Website

Re: Dual Monitors without Xorg.conf Help


Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?

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