Dual head text console / X HOWTO sought

[Pigeon]

I have two graphics cards, a SiS 6326 PCI card and a Radeon 7500 AGP
card. Having just acquired a second monitor, I am keen to set up a
dual head system capable of the following configurations:

1) Dual head text console. A keystroke combination switches the focus
of the keyboard from one monitor to the other; the usual Alt-F<n> then
switches between VTs on that monitor.

2) Dual head, text console and X. The PCI card is used for the text
console and the AGP card for X. The usual [Ctrl-]Alt-F<n> switches
focus between text VTs and X.

Google has not been very useful; it has a tendency to find:

- Framebuffer dual head HOWTOs. I'm talking about real text modes, not
framebuffer. One purpose of this setup is to experiment with
programming the AGP card in text mode, using the PCI card at 100x36
to provide the VTs from which to write/run the experimental code.
- Stuff about single video cards with dual head outputs, mostly Matrox
G400/450s. This is not the setup I've got!
- Xinerama HOWTOs and other X-only dual head things. This is a lesser
priority.

If anyone can point me to a good HOWTO on this sort of thing, I would
be most grateful.

Thanks,

--
Pigeon

Be kind to pigeons
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[David Z Maze]

Pigeon <jah.pigeon@ukonline.co.uk> writes:

> 1) Dual head text console. A keystroke combination switches the focus
> of the keyboard from one monitor to the other; the usual Alt-F<n> then
> switches between VTs on that monitor.
>
> 2) Dual head, text console and X. The PCI card is used for the text
> console and the AGP card for X. The usual [Ctrl-]Alt-F<n> switches
> focus between text VTs and X.

I don't believe either of these are possible. If it was at all, it'd
be built into the kernel.

> - Framebuffer dual head HOWTOs. I'm talking about real text modes, not
> framebuffer. One purpose of this setup is to experiment with
> programming the AGP card in text mode, using the PCI card at 100x36
> to provide the VTs from which to write/run the experimental code.

For a small amount of money, you can probably find either a used
computer or an actual serial terminal; this is good to log into the
machine over either the network or a serial port to do this sort of
thing. You also may be able to convince your system to not believe
immediately in the AGP card, such that it boots using the PCI card as
its primary display, or configure X to use your keyboard and only the
PCI card.

> - Xinerama HOWTOs and other X-only dual head things. This is a lesser
> priority.

....but very easy to set up, if you're willing to dig into the
XF86Config file.

--
David Maze [email]dmaze@debian.org[/email] [url]http://people.debian.org/~dmaze/[/url]
"Theoretical politics is interesting. Politicking should be illegal."
-- Abra Mitchell


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[Yann Droneaud]

pigeon wrote:

> I have two graphics cards, a SiS 6326 PCI card and a Radeon 7500 AGP
> card. Having just acquired a second monitor, I am keen to set up a
> dual head system capable of the following configurations:
>
> 1) Dual head text console. A keystroke combination switches the focus
> of the keyboard from one monitor to the other; the usual Alt-F<n> then
> switches between VTs on that monitor.
>

This is not possible, kernel doesn't handle that, but i could be wrong.

Enable framebuffer for the two card, and you will get 2 framebuffers
devices, but only the first one will be used (fb0). Then, you have to
map one VT to a framebuffer with the tool con2fb (i don't remember
well), or you can use my fancy getty: fbgetty. You have to replace call
to getty in /etc/inittab by fbgetty <tty> <framebuffer>.

So you will get a mix of the behaviors you describe.
ALT-Fn will switch the focus and VT on all monitors. This can lead to
really complex configuration.
Cool configuration is using fb0 with tty1 to 12, and fb1 with tty13 to
24, so you select focus on your first screen with ALT-Fn and your second
screen with ALT Gr-Fn.

> 2) Dual head, text console and X. The PCI card is used for the text
> console and the AGP card for X. The usual [Ctrl-]Alt-F<n> switches
> focus between text VTs and X.
>
> Google has not been very useful; it has a tendency to find:
>
> - Framebuffer dual head HOWTOs. I'm talking about real text modes, not
> framebuffer. One purpose of this setup is to experiment with
> programming the AGP card in text mode, using the PCI card at 100x36
> to provide the VTs from which to write/run the experimental code.
> - Stuff about single video cards with dual head outputs, mostly Matrox
> G400/450s. This is not the setup I've got!
> - Xinerama HOWTOs and other X-only dual head things. This is a lesser
> priority.
>
> If anyone can point me to a good HOWTO on this sort of thing, I would
> be most grateful.
>
> Thanks,
>

--
Yann Droneaud <yann.droneaud@mbda.fr>
MBDA France Missile Systems -- [url]http://www.mbda.net/[/url]
Etudes Logiciels Sol, Bourges
Bureau +33 (0) 2 48 55 71 58 | Portable +33 (0) 6 88 40 82 43



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