How To: Svideo / Dual Monitor(xinerama) / Dual Monitor(cloned desktop) on i945

featherking--

OK, will do.

Thanks!

@ripfox
not sure what the issue was with the other xorg, it does work fine on my machine..? oh well, glad the original works

@dgermann
let me know if that script works for you, i was missing 'fi' and thats all it took to mess things up!

hey folks:

i took the liberty of modifying featherking's switchmon script to automate things even further. my version disables/enables beryl and restarts the X-session as well as switching xorg files. so when you run the script, all you have to do is log back in.

note: i included commands for disabling beryl in both KDE and GNOME - you have to uncomment the appropriate lines for your DE (or comment out both if you don't use beryl). if you take a look at the script, it should be pretty self-explanatory.

here it is:

Code:

---

#!/bin/sh
#
cmd=${0##*/}                              # Command's basename
msg="\n\tUsage: $cmd [1|2|3|4]\n\t\t1 = single monitor\n\t\t2 = SVideo
Dual Monitor\n\t\t3 = Svideo Clone\n\t\t4 = Dual Monitor\n\t\t5 = Clone
Desktop"

if [ $# -lt 1 ]; then
        echo $msg
        exit 0
fi
if [ $1 = "4" ]; then
        echo -e "\nChanging to Dual Monitor mode"
        # The following two lines are important only if you use Beryl.
        # Uncomment the appropriate line for your DE.  Comment both out if you don't use Beryl.
        mv ~/.config/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/.config/beryl-manager.off # <-GNOME
        #mv ~/.kde/Autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/.kde/beryl-manager.off # <-KDE
        sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.dual /etc/X11/xorg.conf
        sudo pkill Xorg
        echo
        exit 2
fi
if [ $1 = "5" ]; then
        echo -e "\nChanging to Cloned Desktop mode"
        # The following two lines are important only if you use Beryl.
        # Uncomment the appropriate line for your DE.  Comment both out if you don't use Beryl.
        mv ~/.config/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/.config/beryl-manager.off # <-GNOME
        #mv ~/.kde/Autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/.kde/beryl-manager.off # <-KDE
        sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.clone /etc/X11/xorg.conf
        sudo pkill Xorg
        echo
        exit 2
fi
if [ $1 = "3" ]; then
        echo -e "\nChanging to S-Video(Clone) mode"
        # The following two lines are important only if you use Beryl.
        # Uncomment the appropriate line for your DE.  Comment both out if you don't use Beryl.
        mv ~/.config/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/.config/beryl-manager.off # <-GNOME
        #mv ~/.kde/Autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/.kde/beryl-manager.off # <-KDE
        sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.sclone /etc/X11/xorg.conf
        sudo pkill Xorg
        echo
        exit 2
fi
if [ $1 = "2" ]; then
        echo -e "\nChanging to S-Video(Dual) mode"
        # The following two lines are important only if you use Beryl.
        # Uncomment the appropriate line for your DE.  Comment both out if you don't use Beryl.
        mv ~/.config/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/.config/beryl-manager.off # <-GNOME
        #mv ~/.kde/Autostart/beryl-manager.desktop ~/.kde/beryl-manager.off # <-KDE
        sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.svideo /etc/X11/xorg.conf
        sudo pkill Xorg
        echo
        exit 2
elif [ $1 = "1" ]; then
        echo -e "\nChanging to single monitor mode"
        # The following two lines are important only if you use Beryl.
        # Uncomment the appropriate line for your DE.  Comment out both if you don't use Beryl.
        mv ~/.config/beryl-manager.off ~/.config/autostart/beryl-manager.desktop # <-GNOME
        #mv ~/.kde/beryl-manager.off ~/.kde/Autostart/beryl-manager.desktop # <-KDE
        sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf.single /etc/X11/xorg.conf
        sudo pkill Xorg
        echo
        exit 1
else
        echo "Invalid Number" $msg
        exit 0
fi

---

if, like me, you have a roommate who hates the command line, you can create buttons in your gnome-panel to make things even easier. to make them: right click the panel and choose "Add to Panel...". choose "Custom Application Launcher" and set the type to "Application in Terminal". Give it a name, icon, and comment. For command, it should say "switchmon 1" - repeat this for every xorg configuration you use, replacing "switchmon 1" with the appropriate switchmon command.

now if only i could get gnome to automatically log back in...

cheers, groggyboy

@groggyboy
You script works great here. I am going to replace mine in the original 'how to' with this script. I hope you are okay with that, if not post and i will take it down!

Also, I just added in groggyboys new script, and added a section at the bottom on how to 'Create a Gnome Launcher'. I never thought of posting my launcher so I posted the command that I use in my own launcher. The command of course can be changed to any certain script you want to run. (i.e. 'switchmon 2' all the time instead of my command)

@ALL with blue video issues
Ive been playing around with the svideo clone configuration some (the one i usually use) and as i said when i first created it, i never had any video playback issues. I have discovered a fix for xine and mplayer but not for VLC. I have added it to the main howto near the bottom. The blue video on the tv that appears is not an xorg bug or an xorg error, it is how these programs use xorg to overlay the video on the TV.

@ripfox
i believe these fixes would get that clone svideo mode working for your video playback. I am now running all 5 xorg.confs with no problems

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by featherking

You script works great here. I am going to replace mine in the original 'how to' with this script. I hope you are okay with that, if not post and i will take it down!

---

glad you like it!;)

cheers, groggyboy

Hi all!
Regarding the blue video issue, following the directions on http://intellinuxgraphics.org/man.html, (on the monitorlayout and clone option) you cannot have video overlay on both pipes. so using Option "MonitorLayout" "LFP+TV,NONE" should work :-?
i can't test this right now, but maybe this could be useful for someone.
bye!

@bitmastro
Ive read the man page before and have actually tried quite a few different configurations of this (LFP+TV,NONE or TV+LFP,NONE or NONE,TV+LFP or NONE,LFP+TV etc. etc) and was never able to get it to do anything regardless of what the man page says. On my laptop, either X would not start or it would turn off my laptop screen and nothing would appear on the TV.

Using the fixes for blue video I have posted in the 'How To' I run the 'Svideo Clone' mode with no problems. Having said that, if you do find a way to get this to work let me know because some programs still have the blue video issue despite the fixes (VLC for example)

I just tried out this excellent tutorial, and everything works fine except one thing. The TV screen is black and white (and slightly wavy too). I know that it's not the s-video cable since it works fine with my DVD player. Any reasons why this may be?

@zachstruck
Odd, I havent heard of any problems, and i havent had any problems with B&W screen myself... What conf are you trying to use? and please post your xorg.conf that is giving you the B&W screen