Arch Linux

Jello_Raptor

Member

Registered: 2011-08-31

Posts: 9

[Unsolved] Awesome, Composition, xinerama and the Nvidia drivers.

I have a setup that uses the Awesome WM, 3 monitors under xinerama, and the proprietary nvidia drivers, and I find conflicting information about the compatibility between xinerama, compositing and the nvidia drivers. At the moment trying to run a composition manager (xcompmgr and cario) the whole screen except for the awesome menu bar turns a single color (grey for xcomp, and black for cairo) and my machine locks up.

The arch wiki ( https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Composite ) says these don't work together but wikipedia does ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xinerama#cite_note-2 ).

Help?

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,354

Re: [Unsolved] Awesome, Composition, xinerama and the Nvidia drivers.

You'll need to ask nvidia about this, since most likely the issue is on their end. They reimplement a whole bunch of things (closed-source, of course), which can cause lots of problems, especially with 3 monitors and other rarely-used setups.

Any reason you need composition? The easiest solution is actually not to use it.

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jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
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Jello_Raptor

Member

Registered: 2011-08-31

Posts: 9

Re: [Unsolved] Awesome, Composition, xinerama and the Nvidia drivers.

there's nothing in particular that forces me to use it, I would just like my system to look nice.

ngoonee

Forum Fellow

From: Between Thailand and Singapore

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 7,354

Re: [Unsolved] Awesome, Composition, xinerama and the Nvidia drivers.

there's nothing in particular that forces me to use it, I would just like my system to look nice.

Then either you go the path of least resistance (don't use composition) or you lurk in nvidia's linux forums waiting for an answer. Good luck. AaronP is overworked judging by the sheer number of posts he needs to reply to, great guy.

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Allan-Volunteer on the (topic being discussed) mailn lists. You never get the people who matters attention on the forums.
jasonwryan-Installing Arch is a measure of your literacy. Maintaining Arch is a measure of your diligence. Contributing to Arch is a measure of your competence.
Griemak-Bleeding edge, not bleeding flat. Edge denotes falls will occur from time to time. Bring your own parachute.

GSF1200S

Member

Registered: 2008-12-24

Posts: 474

Re: [Unsolved] Awesome, Composition, xinerama and the Nvidia drivers.

Xinerama doesnt support compositing. The only options if you want compositing is Twinview or running Separate X sessions on all three screens. However, it isnt possible to run twinview from multiple videocards- youd have to have all 3 outputs from one card. Separate X is the only way you are going to get compositing support on all three screens, and in my experience Awesome has some issues with separate X (though it works great with Xinerama or Twinview).

pocm

Member

Registered: 2010-08-02

Posts: 15

Re: [Unsolved] Awesome, Composition, xinerama and the Nvidia drivers.

From what I understand, the commit cited in the wikipedia article only removes an artificial barrier to simultaneous Xinerama+Compositing but does not address the structural incompatibilities or fix any related bugs, so your X server will happily try to use them together and fail miserably. It is really a red herring. I have never heard of a single setup where they have worked together - some dev has just swept the problem further under the rug.

My guess is nobody wants to invest the time, hoping Wayland will make it irrelevant in a few years.