[SOLVED] Dual Monitor (extended desktop) - Second Display only shows mouse ptr

[Len]

Hi folks,

I've been struggling with this problem for a few days now and can't seem to solve it nor find the break through piece on info I need to get dual monitors (extended desktop) working on my 4.7.1 tinycore64 system.

My problem
=======

   I'm trying to get my desktop to extended across both monitors (that are placed side-by-side), but the best I seem to get is one monitor showing fine (background, wallpaper, windows, panel, mouse pointer, etc) but the other will only show my mouse pointer.  Otherwise it (the secondary display) only shows black.  If I grab a window, and drag it from one display to the other, the mouse cursor shows up on the secondary display with the move window pointer (4way arrow thingy), but the window itself is no where to be seen.  If I release the window somewhere on the secondary display, the workspace panel item shows that the window is there on that portion of the workspace, but (again) I see nothing -- just the mouse pointer (now reverted back to the normal image).


My current setup
===========

   Motherboard: ASUS C60M1-I
   Graphics: onboard Radeon HD 6290
   RAM: 8GB
   Monitor 1: some 19" ASUS that's a few years old
   Monitor 2: some 19" ASUS that's a few years old
   USB Keyboard and Mouse
   no other hardware

I'm netbooting TinyCore64 (not CorePure64) and using xfce4 as my window manager (is that the correct term?).  I've also got xf86-video-ati loaded but had to add the boot option "radeon.modeset=0" in order for the video driver to load properly and X start up without problems.

xrandr shows this
===========

Code: [Select]

      Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2560 x 1024, maximum 2560 x 1024
      DVI-0 connected 1280x1024+1280+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 474mm x 296mm
         1280x1024      75.0*+   60.0 
         1440x900       59.9 
         1280x960       60.0 
         1280x800       59.9 
         1152x864       75.0 
         1024x768       75.0     70.1     60.0 
         832x624        74.6 
         800x600        72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2 
         640x480        75.0     72.8     66.7     59.9 
         720x400        70.1 
      VGA-0 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 474mm x 296mm
         1280x1024      75.0*+   60.0 
         1440x900       59.9 
         1280x960       60.0 
         1280x800       59.8 
         1152x864       75.0 
         1024x768       75.0     72.0     70.1     60.0 
         832x624        74.6 
         800x600        72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2 
         640x480        75.0     72.8     66.7     59.9 
         720x400        70.1 
I've attached my Xorg.0.log file.

My xorg.conf file
===========

Code: [Select]

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

Section "Files"
ModulePath   "/usr/local/lib/X11/modules"
FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/"
FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/OTF"
FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath     "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load  "glx"
Load  "dri"
Load  "extmod"
Load  "dbe"
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   "VGA"
Option       "Primary" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier   "DVI"
Option       "RightOf" "VGA"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier  "Card0"
Driver      "radeon"
Option      "DVI-0" "DVI"
Option      "VGA-0" "VGA"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device     "Card0"
Monitor    "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24

SubSection "Display"
Viewport   0 0
Depth     24
Modes     "1280x1024" "1280x1024"
Virtual   2560 1024
EndSubSection
EndSection---END OF XORG.CONF---

When I first boot up, the secondary display is mirroring my primary display.  I open a terminal and type:

Code: [Select]

xrandr --output DVI-0 --right-of VGA-0
then I end up in my current state where my secondary display seems to be extending the workspace, but I see only my mouse cursor when I move it towards that side of the workspace.

I appreciate any help I can get to resolve this issue.

Thanks!


Len

    [EDIT]: Added code tags.  Rich

[Rich]

Hi Len
Maybe this has some useful information:
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/X.Org/Dual_Monitors

[Len]

Rich,

Thanks for moving this discussion to a more appropriate location.

I had already checked out that wiki article that you mentioned.

I did experiment a bit more and have found that whatever resolution my primary display is at boot time seems to be the total area of the virtual screen size (expanded desktop) for which I see my wallpaper/background and any windows appear.

For example:
1. I reboot
2. my primary display is at 1440x900, my secondary display is mirroring my primary
3. I resize my primary and secondary displays to 1280x1024 and set my secondary to be on the right of my primary
   a. xrandr --output VGA-0 --mode 1280x1024
   b. xrandr --output DVI-0 --mode 1280x1024 --right-of VGA-0

This results in my workspace extending across my primary and secondary displays, but only an area 1440x900 had my background colour, my wallpaper (centered between my 2 displays) and any active windows.

The reset of the 2560x1024 is black and only my mouse pointer appears in that area.

So... it looks like the desktop *IS* extended, just that rendering anything besides my mouse pointer is not happening in any region outside of my primary display's initial dimensions.

...now if only I could make my primary display start up in 2560x1024 or larger... then I might have the dual display extended desktop that I'm hoping to achieve.  Of course that would make my dual display a moot point


Len

[Rich]

Hi Len
From the Wiki article:

Code: [Select]

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier     "Monitor0"
  Option         "Primary"    "false"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier     "Monitor1"
  Option         "RightOf" "Monitor0"
  Option         "Primary"    "False"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier     "Card"
  Driver         "nouveau"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  Identifier          "Screen"
  Device              "Card"
  Monitor             "Monitor0"
  DefaultDepth       24
  SubSection "Display"
    Modes           "1280x1024"
    Virtual          2560 1024
  EndSubSection
EndSectionNow your version:

Code: [Select]

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "VGA"
   Option       "Primary" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
   Identifier   "DVI"
   Option       "RightOf" "VGA"
EndSection

Section "Device"
   Identifier  "Card0"
   Driver      "radeon"
   Option      "DVI-0" "DVI"
   Option      "VGA-0" "VGA"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "Screen0"
   Device     "Card0"
   Monitor    "Monitor0"
   DefaultDepth 24

   SubSection "Display"
      Viewport   0 0
      Depth     24
      Modes     "1280x1024" "1280x1024"
      Virtual   2560 1024
   EndSubSection
EndSectionYour Identifiers don't match between the Monitor and Screen sections.

[Rich]

Hi Len
Try changing:

Code: [Select]

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "Screen0"
   Device     "Card0"
   Monitor    "Monitor0"to:

Code: [Select]

Section "Screen"
   Identifier "Screen0"
   Device     "Card0"
   Monitor    "VGA"

[Len]

Rich,

Thanks for catching that error in my xorg.conf

I did as you suggested but still got the same results.  I took one step further and started from the basic xorg.conf file listed in the wiki article you mentioned a couple posts back.  I only changed the driver in the "Device" section to "radeon".

I'm still getting the same behaviour I described in my previous post.  My desktop seems to be extended to 2560x1024, but I only see my wallpaper, background, and any windows in the upper left space within that full 2560x1024 eqaul to the original dimension of my primary display at the time of start up. However, I can see my mouse pointer in any of the 2560x1024 region spanning both of my displays.

...something seems to be preventing rendering outside that original dimension....

Anyway, for your enjoyment, this is my current xorg.conf:

Code: [Select]

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier     "Monitor0"
  Option         "Primary"    "false"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
  Identifier     "Monitor1"
  Option         "RightOf" "Monitor0"
  Option         "Primary"    "False"
EndSection

Section "Device"
  Identifier     "Card"
  Driver         "radeon"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
  Identifier          "Screen"
  Device              "Card"
  Monitor             "Monitor0"
  DefaultDepth       24
  SubSection "Display"
  Modes         "1280x1024"
  Virtual          2560 1024
  EndSubSection
EndSection=-=-=-=-END OF FILE-=-=-=-=

    [EDIT]: Added code tags.  Rich

[Rich]

Hi Len
In:

Code: [Select]

Section "Device"
  Identifier     "Card"
  Driver         "radeon"
EndSectiondon't you need to specify which monitor connects where? Like:

Code: [Select]

Section "Device"
  Identifier     "Card"
  Driver         "radeon"
  Option      "DVI-0" "Monitor0"
  Option      "VGA-0" "Monitor1"
EndSection

[Len]

Rich,

I added those definitions for Monitor0 and Monitor1 (VGA-0 and DVI-0 respectively) but have the same behaviour.

If I get some free time this weekend, I might install a different window manager/desktop environment to see if it's a problem with xfce and its components.

Thanks for your help so far, Rich!


Len

[Len]

Looks like the most recent update to pixman.tcz (to 0.28.2) solved my problem.  I also had to remove the "radeon.modeset=0" from my boot option, but that alone did not solve my problem.  With the previous pixman, I had to have it in order for my X session to even start with my xf86-video-ati driver.

I should go back through the release notes of pixman to see what changed in 0.28.2, but I might save that for later... I now have an even larger display than I originally wanted!  3360x1050 (each monitor at 1680x1050)

[Rich]

Hi Len
Congratulations, good to hear you got it working.