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#1 2008-09-12 23:22:33

ColdPie
Member
Registered: 2007-09-18
Posts: 47

Dual head support for Radeon 4850

I just upgraded my computer from an Nvidia 5900 to a new Radeon 4850.  However, I'm having loads of trouble getting decent dual head support.  The best I can manage is the crappy two xserver approach with the Catalyst drivers.  Not being able to drag windows from one screen to the other is an absolute deal killer.  I'd very much like some way to configure this card to use both screens, in the same manner that Nvidia's proprietary drivers allow.  That includes being able to drag windows across screens, without the screens actually just being one display (e.g. applications properly maximize to just their one screen).

As I mentioned, the Catalyst drivers work, but not acceptably.

The OSS drivers (xf86-video-ati) do not work at all, making X throw up a "No device found" error.  I read on the wiki that the OSS drivers have better dual head support, so getting these to work might be the solution.

Is this even possible with this card, or am I going to have to look into returning this thing and going with a newer Nvidia card?

Thanks for any help.

xorg.conf for the Catalyst drivers (borrowed from somewhere online):

Section "Files"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
    FontPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
    FontPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
    FontPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
    FontPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
    FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
    FontPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
    # path to defoma fonts
    FontPath    "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
    Load    "i2c"
    Load    "bitmap"
    Load    "dbe"
    Load    "ddc"
    Load    "dri"
    Load    "extmod"
    Load    "freetype"
    Load    "glx"
    Load    "int10"
    Load    "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Generic Keyboard"
    Driver      "kbd"
    Option      "CoreKeyboard"
    Option      "XkbRules"  "xorg"
    Option      "XkbModel"  "pc105"
    Option      "XkbLayout" "de"
    Option      "XkbVariant"    "nodeadkeys"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Configured Mouse"
    Driver      "mouse"
    Option      "CorePointer"
    Option      "Device"        "/dev/input/mice"
    Option      "Protocol"      "ImPS/2"
    Option      "Emulate3Buttons"   "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Device0"
    Driver      "fglrx"
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen      0
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Device1"
    Driver      "fglrx"
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen      1
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "Monitor0"
    Option      "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier  "Monitor1"
    Option      "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen0"
    Device      "Device0"
    Monitor     "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       1
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       4
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       8
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       15
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       16
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen1"
    Device      "Device1"
    Monitor     "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth 24
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth   24
        Modes       "1280x1024" "1024x768" "832x624" "800x600" "720x400" "640x480"
    EndSubsection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier  "Default Layout"
    InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
    InputDevice "Configured Mouse"

    Screen  0   "Screen0"
    Screen  1   "Screen1"   RightOf   "Screen0"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Group "video"
    Mode    0666
EndSection

Last edited by ColdPie (2008-09-12 23:24:05)

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#2 2008-09-13 03:43:17

byte
Member
From: Düsseldorf (DE)
Registered: 2006-05-01
Posts: 2,046

Re: Dual head support for Radeon 4850

'aticonfig' does that and much more.

1000

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#3 2008-09-13 04:44:31

ColdPie
Member
Registered: 2007-09-18
Posts: 47

Re: Dual head support for Radeon 4850

byte wrote:

'aticonfig' does that and much more.

If I'm ever in Germany I will buy you more beers than you could possibly ever drink.

Thank you.


Edit: In case someone runs across this and wants the solution I ended up with:
Run `modprobe fglrx` (or add to modules and reboot, etc.)
Run `Xorg -configure` to generate a default xorg.conf.new in /root. This should use the fglrx drivers automatically (verify this).
Move this file to /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Follow the instructions here with regard to preparing the automatically generated xorg file  (DefaultDepth and Section "DRI" were all I had to do)
Run `aticonfig --desktop-setup=horizontal --screen-layout=right`. Tweak the options for your setup, obviously.
Run `startx` to verify that it works!

And here's my final xorg.conf:

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "X.org Configured"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
    RgbPath      "/usr/share/X11/rgb"
    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  "glx"
    Load  "xtrap"
    Load  "GLcore"
    Load  "dri"
    Load  "dbe"
    Load  "record"
    Load  "extmod"
    Load  "freetype"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier  "Keyboard0"
    Driver      "kbd"
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"
    VendorName   "Monitor Vendor"
    ModelName    "Monitor Model"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier  "Card0"
    Driver      "fglrx"
    VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
    BoardName   "Unknown Board"
    Option        "DesktopSetup" "horizontal"
    BusID       "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
    Group "video"
    Mode 0666
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Screen0"
    Device     "Card0"
    Monitor    "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth 24
    SubSection "Display"
        Viewport   0 0
        Depth     24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Last edited by ColdPie (2008-09-13 04:52:59)

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#4 2008-09-13 05:10:34

byte
Member
From: Düsseldorf (DE)
Registered: 2006-05-01
Posts: 2,046

Re: Dual head support for Radeon 4850

Heh, my beer threshold isn't very high anyway tongue

And thanks for the nice description, I got my new system together with a 4850 a few days ago but didn't install Arch yet. Good to know it's working fine.
Do you know about the recent support for temperature monitoring?

1000

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#5 2008-09-16 22:05:05

AllFather
Member
Registered: 2006-10-03
Posts: 40

Re: Dual head support for Radeon 4850

howdy
Im just leeching on to this thread if noone minds smile

I also got this working a few months ago, but my problem is this:
I run 1x24 & 1x20, and eventough this command "works", if i printscreen, i get a large black "space" on the right side of the small monitor.
This is cause the ati says i use 2x24" monitors eventhough the ati tool can detect both screens and their default max res.
it says : big desktop right of screen 1
resolution 3840x1200, and that is 2x24" @ 1920x1200.
it should be1 3520x1200.

i tried to run:
aticonfig –initial=dual-head –screen-layout=left –dtop=horizontal,reverse –overlay-type=Xv –resolution=0,1920×1200 –resolution=1,1600×1200 –overlay-on=1
but then i get:
Invalid MIT-MAGIC-COOKIE-1 keyaticonfig: invalid option -- ''
aticonfig: parsing the command-line failed.

Any ideas? (=

2007.08 - The last proper ARCH install cd.
RIP installer :'-(

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