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orcane

Member

Registered: 2011-04-15

Posts: 21

Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

Hey ho,

I have a problem, I can't get all 3 monitors to work properly. I'm using only the free drivers. I have one GForce 9500GT where I plugged in 2 displays (19" and 22") and I bought an ATI radeon 9200 as PCI Version for the other 19" display. But I only get 2 of them on the nvidia card to work!

Here's my 10-monitor.conf:

Section "Device"
  Identifier "GForce 9500GT"
  Driver "nouveau"
  BusId "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier "Device0"
  Driver "radeon"
  Option "ZaphodHeads" "DVI-0"
  VendorName "ATI"
  BusId "PCI:5:2:0"
EndSection

Here's my output of lspci | grep VGA:

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G96 [GeForce 9500 GT] (rev a1)
05:02.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV280 [Radeon 9200 SE] (rev 01)

I tried dmesg | grep "radeon" and I can see via lsmod that the driver and modules were loaded correctly. So I don't know what else I can try. Xrandr only shows me the output of the 2 displays plugged in working on the nvidia card. I do configure them via Gnome Settings.

When I switched the order in the 10-monitor.conf, I can work with the one display on the ATI card but the others stay blank and vice versa. So thanks for any advice and help!

scjet

Banned

Registered: 2011-07-23

Posts: 172

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

on a long shot, nvidia cards, even newer, may not be able to do triplehead+ displays.? (I read it on some Winblowz/nvidia forum?)
I know however that "newer"  ATI cards can do 3 monitors easily. 'cause I did it on mine with proprietary Catalyst (on Windows), using a Radeon 6850
  I have yet to try it with Arch/Linux
(twinview, of course though, works like a charm -lol).
However, as far as nvidia, take the 3 or more Monitor's with a grain of salt, since I don't have a comparable nvidia card to actually test this, but just droppin' my 2cents.

Last edited by scjet (2011-08-09 20:36:02)

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mandos

Member

From: Greece

Registered: 2006-01-23

Posts: 101

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

I just brought back home my 3rd monitor and trying to do the same thing. I have two nvidias (7600,8600) and a Quad-Head was really in XP/7

In Linux it seems that only one card is working at a time. This is probably fixable somehow, but I haven't found out how to fix it yet. It might be a problem with Nouveau, I'll try the nvidia-drivers in a moment.

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BurntSushi

Member

From: Massachusetts

Registered: 2009-06-28

Posts: 362

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

First of all, forget about xrandr. It isn't going to do you any good with two GPUs, since the RandR spec doesn't support more than one GPU at the moment.

With that said, to the OP, I've very rarely heard anything good about getting two GPUs of a different make/model to cooperate. I do know that xrandr should not be the path you pursue. You'll likely need to be editing some xorg.conf files more than what you've done.

@mandos - Yes, you'll probably need to use the nvidia blob drivers since nouveau uses xrandr which doesn't support more than one GPU. You'll have better luck getting help over at the nvnews.net linux forums.

If you're really after three monitors, check out my thread: success with triple monitors using eyefinity and xf86-video-ati.

Last edited by BurntSushi (2011-08-24 14:41:18)

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mandos

Member

From: Greece

Registered: 2006-01-23

Posts: 101

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

@BurntSushi
thnx for the info, I made it work with nvidia, it was quite easy actually.
I also have the projector connected but I'm thinking of separating it to another X screen.
I am using Xinerama at the moment. For some reason I really like the way XFCE4 behaves with Xinerama. Without it it maximizes my windows to all screens, with xinerama each screen is separate. I don't know if I'm loosing something because of Xinerama though...

I don't have an ATI card, but I'lm currently going to read your other post about eyefinity

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BurntSushi

Member

From: Massachusetts

Registered: 2009-06-28

Posts: 362

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

For some reason I really like the way XFCE4 behaves with Xinerama. Without it it maximizes my windows to all screens, with xinerama each screen is separate.

This is par for the course for any window manager updated in the last several years.

I don't know if I'm loosing something because of Xinerama though...

If you're truly using Xinerama, then you don't get graphics acceleration.

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Education is favorable to liberty. Freedom can exist only in a society of knowledge. Without learning, men are incapable of knowing their rights, and where learning is confined to a few people, liberty can be neither equal nor universal.

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mandos

Member

From: Greece

Registered: 2006-01-23

Posts: 101

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

I see.
I'll do some tests without Xinerama then, to see if it affects my workflow, although I don't believe I'll see any difference, Vi and SSH probably won't care for hardware acceleration

Thanks for all your info. I also read your other post, with the ATIs, and it is very helpfull!

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mandos

Member

From: Greece

Registered: 2006-01-23

Posts: 101

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

I have some update on the problem, and sadly it seems that nVidia driver isn't at all flexible!

I have 3 Eizo monitors, all on my desk, and a projector which I use once in a while and I don't care for him to be on the same "desktop".
Two nV cards (7600 & 8600, pretty good for my needs both of them).

By enabling Xinerama I can have 3 of my 4 monitors act together, and windows get maximized on one of the 3 monitors. Thumbs UP! I don't have hardware acceleration though as mentioned above, I think I see the problem when viewing flash content.

I switched of Xinerama, sadly nVidia drivers can't create a TwinView of the 3 out of 4 monitors. They can twinview only monitors that are on the same graphics-card.
I tried it, I didn't really liked it because full-screen is messy (especially videos that span among both monitors).

I must say that nouveau seemed better than nvidia, if it could support a second video card.
The problem acctually starts from the existance of two video cards, I'm pretty sure that a card with quad-head capabilities would work easily out of the box!

I'll switch back to xinerama for now, and I'll have my eyes open for some good and logically-priced new card!

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gorky

Member

From: Kraków, Poland

Registered: 2010-07-05

Posts: 96

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

I'll switch back to xinerama for now, and I'll have my eyes open for some good and logically-priced new card!

You may look at the Sapphire Flex cards. They can drive three monitors via DVI out-of-the-box and have fourth output (display port but there are active DP2DVI adapters available) which you can use to connect the beamer.
Its probably the cheapest quad-graphics solution, available from about ~100$.

mandos

Member

From: Greece

Registered: 2006-01-23

Posts: 101

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

gorky thanks for the info! They are indeed logically priced, and way better than my combination of older nvidia cards. I'm already making arrangements to get one

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gorky

Member

From: Kraków, Poland

Registered: 2010-07-05

Posts: 96

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

No problem, I just did similar research recently and thought you might be interested
ATI cards are pretty configurable via RandR, too (assuming you are going to use the open driver).

mandos

Member

From: Greece

Registered: 2006-01-23

Posts: 101

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

I don't really care which driver I use as long as its stable and does the trick.

My gaming years seem to be past me

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Nowaker

Member

From: Gdańsk, Poland

Registered: 2011-10-26

Posts: 20

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

Two NVidia cards working with three monitors xorg.conf: http://wklej.org/id/555276/txt/ (whole story: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=38759)
Two NVidia cards working with four monitors xorg.conf: http://wklej.org/id/563558/txt/ (whole story: https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=39099) - you will need a fresh driver from Git

So - it works. ;-)

Now I'm struggling with one NVidia and one ATI. Results for now:
NVidia (nouveau) + ATI (radeon) via ZaphodHeads + Xinerama -> mess on one screen (quite similar to the first bug reported by me in NVidia drivers)
NVidia (nouveau) + ATI (radeon) via Virtual screen + Xrandr -> it works, but you get two seperate X instances - windows are not draggable between graphic cards
(Tried fresh radeon drivers from Git)

Last edited by Nowaker (2011-10-26 00:44:18)

gorky

Member

From: Kraków, Poland

Registered: 2010-07-05

Posts: 96

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

NVidia (nouveau) + ATI (radeon) via Virtual screen + Xrandr -> it works, but you get two seperate X instances - windows are not draggable between graphic cards

And it won't be any better until RandR 2.0.

Last edited by gorky (2011-10-26 08:50:03)

kinu

Member

Registered: 2009-06-13

Posts: 64

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

Hi,

So, with two cards (for 3 monitors) I can't use Twinview, and have to use Xinerama, but with this I can't use hardware acceleration (no  compiz,  3D,..).

Do I understand correctly?

Nowaker

Member

From: Gdańsk, Poland

Registered: 2011-10-26

Posts: 20

Website

Re: Xorg TripleHead Configuration Problem with 2 Video Cards

Mostly. No compiz, however simple GLX works - I am able to run glxgears.

Last edited by Nowaker (2011-11-12 00:07:00)