HowTo: ATI FGLRX Dual Monitor "Big Desktop" Mode

[asdf25]

"Big Desktop" is where both monitors run on the same X server, and you can move windows between them and other such useful stuff.

This isn't really much of a HowTo, just an example xorg.conf you can use. It took me a long time to figure out, and I saw some other posts of people trying to get it to work, so here it is.

I haven't tried to get TV-out working, so if someone gets that working it'd be a good thing to post here. Also, I'm using a Radeon 9800 Pro.

Also, you'll have to change the BusID lines if your card isn't at "1:0:0"; you can see where it is by running "Xorg -scanpci". I think it'll be "1:0:0" for most people though.

# File: xorg.conf
# File generated by fglrxconfig (C) ATI Technologies, a substitute for xf86config.

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Server Layout"
Screen 0 "Screen0"
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
RgbPath "/etc/X11/rgb"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"

SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension
EndSubSection
Load "glx"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
#Load "ddc" # this is probably safe to turn on
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "int10"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "kbd"
Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc101"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection

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

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

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Graphics Adapter"
Driver "fglrx"

# === disable PnP Monitor ===
Option "NoDDC" # this probably isn't necessary?


# vendor=1002, device=4e45
Option "no_accel" "no"
Option "no_dri" "no"


Option "mtrr" "off" # disable DRI mtrr mapper, driver has its own code for mtrr
#Option "TVHSizeAdj" "0"
#Option "TVVSizeAdj" "0"
#Option "TVHPosAdj" "0"
#Option "TVVPosAdj" "0"
#Option "TVHStartAdj" "0"
#Option "TVColorAdj" "0"
#Option "GammaCorrectionI" "0x00000000"
#Option "GammaCorrectionII" "0x00000000"
# === OpenGL specific profiles/settings ===

Option "Capabilities" "0x00008000"
# Note: When OpenGL Overlay is enabled, Video Overlay
# will be disabled automatically
# === Video Overlay for the Xv extension ===
Option "VideoOverlay" "on"
# === OpenGL Overlay ===
Option "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
# === Center Mode (Laptops only) ===

Option "CenterMode" "off"
# === Pseudo Color Visuals (8-bit visuals) ===
Option "PseudoColorVisuals" "off"
# === QBS Management ===
Option "Stereo" "off"
#Option "StereoSyncEnable" "1"
# === FSAA Management ===
Option "FSAAEnable" "no"
#Option "FSAAScale" "1"
#Option "FSAADisableGamma" "no"
#Option "FSAACustomizeMSPos" "no"
#Option "FSAAMSPosX0" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosY0" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosX1" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosY1" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosX2" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosY2" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosX3" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosY3" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosX4" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosY4" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosX5" "0.000000"
#Option "FSAAMSPosY5" "0.000000"
# === Misc Options ===
Option "UseFastTLS" "2"
Option "BlockSignalsOnLock" "on"
Option "OverlayOnCRTC2" "0"
Option "IgnoreEDID" "off"
Option "HSync2" "31.5-70" #Second monitor horizontal sync
Option "VRefresh2" "50-75" #Second monitor vertical sync
Option "ScreenOverlap" "100" # Pixels for Overlapping. Set to 0 to disable
Option "NoTV" "yes"
Option "TVStandard" "NTSC-M"
Option "UseInternalAGPGART" "no"
Option "ForceGenericCPU" "no"
Option "KernelModuleParm" "agplock=0" # AGP locked user pages: disabled
Option "DesktopSetup" "Horizontal,Reverse"
Option "ForceMonitors" "crt1,crt2,notv"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Graphics Adapter 2"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
Screen 1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "ATI Graphics Adapter"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "ATI Graphics Adapter 2"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
#Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
# Access to OpenGL ICD is allowed for all users:
# Access to OpenGL ICD is restricted to a specific user group:
# Group 100 # users
# Mode 0660
Mode 0666
EndSection

[Blarion]

Wicked cool, but can't you do essentialy the same thing using multiple desktops?

[asdf25]

Wicked cool, but can't you do essentialy the same thing using multiple desktops?

Not sure what you mean... the only other dual monitor setup I saw was the one where each monitor runs on a seperate X server and you can't move windows between them.

[zachtib]

cool, ill give it a try when i get home

[jsoverson]

F'in brilliant. I've been tweaking around with this for hours and this xorg.conf set me in the right direction. Thanks a million.

[pHr34kY]

I managed to get this going with a slightly different approach:

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "Default Layout"
	Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
	Option	    "Dualhead" "true"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "glx"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Generic Keyboard"
	Driver      "kbd"
	Option	    "XkbRules" "xorg"
	Option	    "XkbModel" "pc105"
	Option	    "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Configured Mouse"
	Driver      "mouse"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor1"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Device0"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	Option	    "DesktopSetup" "horizontal"
	Option	    "OverlayOnCRTC2" "1"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "Device1"
	Driver      "fglrx"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Device0"
	Monitor    "Monitor0"
	DefaultDepth     24
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen1"
	Device     "Device1"
	Monitor    "Monitor1"
	DefaultDepth     24
EndSection

I'm running an onboard Radeon HD3200 on an AMD790G chipset. The primary (left) screen is on DVI and the other on VGA. So far it works a treat - even with Compiz on both displays!

This is running on Hardy Alpha 6, and as you can see, the config file is very minimal.

[pHr34kY]

...I left one thing out of the above config.

You need to specify "TexturedVideo" to get hardware accelerated video playback:

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Device0"
        Option      "DesktopSetup" "horizontal"
        Option      "OverlayOnCRTC2" "1"
        Option      "TexturedVideo" "on"
        Driver      "fglrx"
EndSection

[pschless]

Phreaky's config *almost* worked for me... when I restart X, the login screen is dual-ed correctly (laptop lcd has login prompt, second monitor is extended to the right). However, after I login, the monitors are switched to 'clone' mode, and I cannot figure out how to get it to keep the extended (rather than cloned) mode..

Anybody else run into this issue or know how to solve it?

[wootah]

Interesting. I have an ATI card and I have been trying to get a dual head setup with TV-Out where I can use composition on both along with compiz. I can use two outputs (one is an actual TV) and get accelerated graphics on both (running Nexuiz on a TV is kinda cool ) but compiz refuses to work when setup like that. If I remove everything related to using two outputs (and just use my primary monitor) then compiz works fine.

Insights?

PS: The thread that I have been talking on in relation to this is http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=796539

[aswart]

Hi

I have an extra monitor (Phillips 107S) plugged into my Acer notebook (with ati mobility radeon X700). I run hardy and installed the latest ATI driver. I can obtain a 'big desktop', swop them arround in different configurations, but I cant get my notebook LCD to be the primary display. The login screen always appears on the external screen. Also, in the ATI Catalyst control centre, my notebook screen is identified as "Phillips 107S" and the Phillips identified as the default monitor.

How can I change the default monitor to be my notebook LCD? Running "aticonfig --swap-screens=on" has no effect on the default monitor. I end up always having my toolbars and login screen on the external monitor...

any help appreciated!