ATI 9700 & Dual Head

[knichel]

I have been trying (unsuccessfully) to get my dual head setup working properly.  I have a laptop with and ATI 9700 Radeon Mobility video with 128 MB dedicated vram.  I have a dual display setup and it is working to some extent.  My laptop screen is set to 1280x800 and my external Dell Flat Panel is 1024x786 (sort of).

I have 2 separate desktops with their own desktop folders (Desktop and Desktop1) in ~/  and each has its own taskbar/panel/kmeu.  When I open an application on the external desktop, it opens as if the screen is wider than it really is.  The window opens with about 1/3 of it off screen to the right. 

See attached image below...

Also, the same thing happens when I Maximize a window causing me to lose the Minimize, Maximize, Close buttons at the top right of the window.

My current xorg.conf is...

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf(5) manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#  sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier    "Default Layout"
	Screen        "Default Screen" 0 0
	Screen        "aticonfig-Screen[1]" RightOf "Default Screen"
	InputDevice    "Generic Keyboard"
	InputDevice    "Configured Mouse"
	InputDevice    "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
	InputDevice    "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
	InputDevice    "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
	InputDevice    "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "Files"

	# path to defoma fonts
	FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc"
	FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/cyrillic"
	FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi/:unscaled"
	FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1"
	FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi"
	FontPath    "/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi"
	FontPath    "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
	Load  "bitmap"
	Load  "ddc"
	Load  "dri"
	Load  "extmod"
	Load  "freetype"
	Load  "glx"
	Load  "int10"
	Load  "vbe"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
	Option	    "AIGLX" "off"
EndSection

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

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

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "Synaptics Touchpad"
	Driver      "synaptics"
	Option	    "SendCoreEvents" "true"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/psaux"
	Option	    "Protocol" "auto-dev"
	Option	    "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "stylus"
	Driver      "wacom"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
	Option	    "Type" "stylus"
	Option	    "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"		# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "eraser"
	Driver      "wacom"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
	Option	    "Type" "eraser"
	Option	    "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"		# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier  "cursor"
	Driver      "wacom"
	Option	    "Device" "/dev/input/wacom"
	Option	    "Type" "cursor"
	Option	    "ForceDevice" "ISDV4"		# Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier  "Laptop LCD"
	HorizSync    28.0 - 64.0
	VertRefresh  43.0 - 60.0
	Option	    "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier  "aticonfig-Monitor[1]"
	VertRefresh  60.0 - 60.0
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "AIT Radeon 9700"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	Option	    "ATIFGLEXTENSION" "cursor"
	Option	    "PairModes" "1280x800+1280x800,1280x800+1024x768"
	Option	    "EnableMonitor" "crt1,lvds"
	Option	    "ForceMonitors" "crt1,lvds"
	Option	    "VideoOverlay" "on"
	Option	    "OpenGLOverlay" "off"
	Option	    "OverlayOnCRTC2" "1"
	BusID      "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[1]"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID      "PCI:1:0:0"
	Screen      1
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Default Screen"
	Device    "AIT Radeon 9700"
	Monitor    "Laptop LCD"
	DefaultDepth    24
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth    1
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x854" "1280x800" "1280x768" "1200x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth    4
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x854" "1280x800" "1280x768" "1200x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth    8
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x854" "1280x800" "1280x768" "1200x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth    15
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x854" "1280x800" "1280x768" "1200x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth    16
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x854" "1280x800" "1280x768" "1200x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth    24
		Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x854" "1280x800" "1280x768" "1200x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]"
	Device    "aticonfig-Device[1]"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[1]"
	DefaultDepth    24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport  0 0
		Depth    24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
	Mode        0666
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
	Option	    "Composite" "disable"
EndSection

I got this far by donwloading and installing the proprietary drivers from ATI and running aticonfig like  this...

sudo aticonfig  --initial --overlay-type=Xv
sudo aticonfig  --initial=dual-head --screen-layout=right --vrefresh=0,60
sudo aticonfig --desktop-setup=horizontal --sync-vsync=on --add-pairmode=1280x800+1024x768
sudo aticonfig  --query-monitor
sudo aticonfig --enable-monitor=crt1,lvds
sudo aticonfig --force-monitor=crt1,lvds

When I tried to add 1280x800+1280x1024 I get an error...

FGLRX_AddPairMode failed when try to add mode : 1280x800+1280x1024
Warning: Option 'DesktopSetup' doesn't affect running session.
Warning: Option 'Capabilities' doesn't affect running session.
Using /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Saved back-up to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.fglrx-1

Xrandr on the secondary display shows...

Screen 1: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 1024 x 768
default connected 1024x768+0+0 0mm x 0mm
  1024x768      60.0*
  1024x480      60.0
  848x480        60.0
  800x600        60.0    56.0    47.0
  720x576        60.0
  720x480        60.0
  640x480        60.0
  640x400        60.0
  640x350        60.0
  512x384        60.0
  400x300        60.0
  320x240        60.0
  320x200        60.0

I know that this monitor is capable of 1280x1024 because it was set to that when it was on my old desktop computer and other computers in my classroom use the same monitor with that setting.

I have a program that looks awful on 1024x768 and needs 1280x1024.  I am a teacher and use my secondary Desktop for displaying on my Smartboard.  So, that screen needs to go to 1280x1024.

Back when I was using Feisty, I had it set to 1280x1024 and tried to reproduce the steps to get back to that setting, but have not been successful.

Please help...

--
Mike

[tinker]

Re: ATI 9700 & Dual Head

EndSection (This is the end of the Screen section for your "Laptop LCD")

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]"
Device "aticonfig-Device[1]"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[1]"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

What I would be tempted to try would be change the Section that the ATI driver module auto configures, to

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]"
Device "aticonfig-Device[1]"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[1]"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" # (Since you are already confident that your monitor supports those.)
EndSubSection
EndSection

Since this is for your Smartboard and your LCD is the main console, experimentation is pretty safe. You can always change the file back from the backup you saved before you modified the file. Or, worst case, shutdown, disconnect, reboot, and fix it. It looks like the monitor isn't answering correctly its capabilities to a query or perhaps default for it may not be correct but that's a guess that might fit the data. I'm definitely not a monitor expert.

You might still have to do something with "PairModes" too so the system knows what's available, I don't know if it does it automatically once the resolution is available to the monitor.