[SOLVED] Switching to Dual-Head, KDE4, Nvidia, XOrg1.8 question

Skripka · 2010-08-03 17:09:14

I switching over to a dual-monitor rig come end of the week and am wondering about getting things working in Arch.

-As in the thread header this is under KDE4, Nvidia proprietary driver, and Xorg-server 1.8
-Currently I am using a single monitor at 1680X1050...I will be moving to twin monitors at 1280X1024
-System is fully up to date.

I was reading in the Wiki:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xor … ual_screen

The catch being, I do not have a /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/10-monitor.conf file as of now. Back when I made this Arch install a year ago I think I hard coded the resolution and some of the driver options in xorg.conf--of course I think now with xorg1.8 that file has been deprecated.

Any insight as to getting this working? Is it as easy as creating the 10-monitor.conf file per the wiki link above? Or do I need to specify monitor left/right etc?
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EDITED: to declare Solved
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Last edited by Skripka (2010-08-06 15:41:11)

Inxsible · 2010-08-03 17:12:39

I still use a xorg.conf to define my monitors. I wouldn't need it, if both my monitors supported the same resolution, but they don't. One's a wide screen the other's not.

so I have an xorg.conf to define the max resolutions for each. That's all there is in my xorg.conf. Then i use xrandr in my .xinitrc to setup the monitors - the whole right-of etc etc deal.

For some odd reason, a 10-monitor.conf file didn't work for me.

Last edited by Inxsible (2010-08-03 17:13:12)

Skripka · 2010-08-03 17:24:23

Inxsible wrote:

I still use a xorg.conf to define my monitors. I wouldn't need it, if both my monitors supported the same resolution, but they don't. One's a wide screen the other's not.
so I have an xorg.conf to define the max resolutions for each. That's all there is in my xorg.conf. Then i use xrandr in my .xinitrc to setup the monitors - the whole right-of etc etc deal.
For some odd reason, a 10-monitor.conf file didn't work for me.

Could you post your .xorg.conf and xinitrc for my reference?

I remember seeing the right-of problem but I don't have a handy reference on what to do about it...do you have a linky about it I am not finding? The Arch Wiki is failing me for the first time ever.

Inxsible · 2010-08-03 17:26:11

Skripka wrote:

Could you post your .xorg.conf and xinitrc for my reference?
I remember seeing the right-of problem but I don't have a handy reference on what to do about it...do you have a linky about it I am not finding? The Arch Wiki is failing me for the first time ever.

At work right now. But I am sure my xorg and xinitrc are somewhere on the forum. Let me dig it up for you.

EDIT: Here you are:

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 99#p795399

EDIT2: Note that I have an ATI card. so your config could/should/must be different.

Last edited by Inxsible (2010-08-03 17:38:22)

MoonSwan · 2010-08-03 21:10:41

I have a working Twinview set up with 2 monitors of different resolutions. I created that 10-monitor.conf file from the wiki, adapted it slightly to my needs (mostly inserting some options for composite and the like) then just issue a "startx" command to get OpenBox running.

The only headache I had was using kms (without realising it) which made the Nvidia drivers go "kaput" and not even install. Needless to say I felt like an idiot when I discovered that the newest drivers don't support kms. After adjusting grub to use the old vga=### method of getting a good console resolution I was set. NB if you use this method your max console resolution is 1280x1024, apparently, though I did try to (unsucessfully) raise that number.

{Edit} I forgot to mention that instead of using a xorg.conf, I'm using only the 10-monitor.conf file. I should probably migrate my settings over to an xorg file though so it doesn't get over-written by an upgrade. One other note, make sure your drivers create a 20-nvidia.conf file under the .../xorg.conf.d directory. If it doesn't, just copy/paste the one from the Nvidia driver wiki page and it will work fine.

Last edited by MoonSwan (2010-08-03 21:13:17)

Skripka · 2010-08-05 22:45:24

Yea!! Thanks all-I'm almost there. Hardware is here and is *almost working*

But, yes there is always a but. Compositing in KDE is not working. I go to enable it in the KDE settings and KDE says "Compositing is not available on your system, the extensions XComposite and XDamage are not available". Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? I've never needed those extensions before

Here is a copy of my current Xorg...I copied from 10-monitor.conf so they are the same:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "DualSreen"
    Screen       0 "Screen0"
    Screen       1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0" #Screen1 at the right of Screen0
    Option         "Xinerama" "1" #To move windows between screens
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection


Section "Files"
    ModulePath      "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/TTF"
    FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load           "extmod"
#    Load  "dri"  
   Load           "record"
    Load           "glx"
#    Load  "dri2"
    Load           "dbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
    Option "XkbLayout" "us"
    Option "XkbVariant ""
    Option  "XkbOptions" "terminate:ctrl_alt_bksp" 
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    Option         "Enable" "true" 
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    Option         "Enable" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    Screen         0
    VendorName     "nVidia Corporation"
    BoardName      "GT200 [GTX260-216]"
    Option "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
    Option "DPMS" "True"
    Option "RegistryDwords" "PerfLevelSrc=0x3333"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    Screen         1
    VendorName     "nVidia Corporation"
    BoardName      "GT200 [GTX260-216]"
    Option "RenderAccel" "True"
    Option "TripleBuffer" "True"
    Option "DPMS" "True"
    Option "RegistryDwords" "PerfLevelSrc=0x3333"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth          24
        Modes          "1280x1024_75.00"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth   24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth          24
    Modes        "1280X1024_75.00"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Skripka · 2010-08-06 01:41:15

Dammit.

After trying:

#nvidia-xconfig --twinview

Now I cannot even get the second monitor to show anything than the X Cursor on a black screen...Nvidia-Settings says that both panels are now on seperate X-screens...and I'm getting flumoxed as to at least get both panels back working.

Good news is that I have one panel with compositing...except the other panel is dark now, unlike before.

EDIT: With a bare Xorg.conf bare 10-monitor.conf and bare 20-monitor.conf I've gotten both panels back...but back to no compositing. "Bare in this case is copying and pasting the config from here:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xor … ual_screen

I also tried

#nvidia-xconfig --composite

No Joy.

My latest still non-compositing xorg.conf:

# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig
# nvidia-xconfig:  version 256.44  (buildmeister@builder103.nvidia.com)  Thu Jul 29 01:52:55 PDT 2010

Section "ServerLayout"
 #Screen1 at the right of Screen0
    Identifier     "DualSreen"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "1" #To move windows between screens
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "keyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from default
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    Option         "Enable" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    Option         "Enable" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    Screen          0
    Option "DamageEvents" "True"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    Screen          1
    Option "DamageEvents" "True"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes      "1280x800_75.00"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

EDIT2: From what I've been reading, Xinerama and compositing just don't work together...Is there a way to get Plasma compositing on both monitors? I tried commenting out Xinerama but then I get a Plasma screen and a black X screen.

Last edited by Skripka (2010-08-06 03:04:36)

Skripka · 2010-08-06 15:40:19

Update:

SOLVED!!

I had to comment out the Xinerama line in the last Xorg...Alter the TwinView lines in eace "Screen" section to "1"...swap my monitor inputs--and BAM compositing KDE on 2 monitors by Nvidia.

Marking as solved

Arch Linux

#1 2010-08-03 17:09:14

[SOLVED] Switching to Dual-Head, KDE4, Nvidia, XOrg1.8 question

#2 2010-08-03 17:12:39

Re: [SOLVED] Switching to Dual-Head, KDE4, Nvidia, XOrg1.8 question

#3 2010-08-03 17:24:23

Re: [SOLVED] Switching to Dual-Head, KDE4, Nvidia, XOrg1.8 question

#4 2010-08-03 17:26:11

Re: [SOLVED] Switching to Dual-Head, KDE4, Nvidia, XOrg1.8 question

#5 2010-08-03 21:10:41

Re: [SOLVED] Switching to Dual-Head, KDE4, Nvidia, XOrg1.8 question

#6 2010-08-05 22:45:24

Re: [SOLVED] Switching to Dual-Head, KDE4, Nvidia, XOrg1.8 question

#7 2010-08-06 01:41:15

Re: [SOLVED] Switching to Dual-Head, KDE4, Nvidia, XOrg1.8 question

#8 2010-08-06 15:40:19

Re: [SOLVED] Switching to Dual-Head, KDE4, Nvidia, XOrg1.8 question

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