> I am looking for URL's patches info on multihead. Can I use two
> different vid cards or do they have to be the same type?? I have a MM II
> 8Meg and a Diamond Stealth 3D 2000 4Meg card .... I am not so much
> interested in doing X on both but as for console .... so I can irc,
> debug, whatever on the smaller 15 monitor and use my larger 21 for X.
> How easy would it be for me to setup X on both if possible???
[ Note: The first part of my response is/will soon be obsolete due to the
GGI project. ]
I have more experience doing multiheaded X on Intel boxes than X+text.
For X+text, there is a patch to add a mono card to a box w/SVGA (I am unsure
if this will allow the same thing with 2 SVGA cards, but you should have a
look at it):
http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/kernel/patches/console/multimon-2.0.27.lsm
For multiheaded X, you need first of all hardware that will play nice. If
your cards don't get along well with each other, it'll never work. In the
words of Jason Burrell on this list a few months back: "'You're a Cirrus.
You're crap. I'm an S3. I rule. Thank you and please drive through.'"
Your above cards will probably work (the Matrox is definitely good; the S3 is
a little worrisome). Basically, if you can boot the system with both cards
in and nothing seems funny, it will probably work. I know from experience
that multiple Matrox Mill cards work very well. :)
Second you need an X server which supports multiple displays; XFree doesn't.
Accelerated X does, but they can be very limiting in their supported card
list. Call before you buy (and expect to pay a lot). Metro-X also supports
multiheading (in the stock package; no extra $$), but in my experience
Metro-X doesn't work as well, but YMMV. They tend to have a longer list of
supported cards... call before you buy for them, too.
AccelX @Xi Graphics: http://www.xig.com
MetroX @MetroLink: http://www.metrolink.com
As another option (a free one) the GGI project is working to make
multiheading easy && free (among a great many other things; it's a very
ambitious project!) I believe they've got betas out which support
multiheaded X for a short list of cards. Check out the linux-ggi mailing
list and/or websites for recent information. I maintain a number of
mailing-list archives, including linux-ggi, in a searchable database-driven
site. Also, this issue has been discussed several times in linux-kernel; it
would probably be fruitful to read some of these older threads (I archive
linux-kernel as well).
Linux-GGI: http://synergy.caltech.edu/~ggi/
linux-ggi mailing list archives (mine):
http://www.progressive-comp.com/Lists/?l=linux-ggi&r=1&w=2#linux-ggi
linux-ggi mailing list archives (official):
http://synergy.caltech.edu/~ggi/mailinglist/index.html
I think linux-ggi is the best bet, but it may not yet be ready. (Perhaps one
of the linux-ggi folks who also reads linux-kernel will speak up here to set
me straight ;)
Hope this helps,
Hank Leininger <hlein@progressive-comp.com>
What is a well balanced diet, O Druid?
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