Re: TiBook Dual Display
On Tue, 16 Oct 2001, Gregory P. Keeney wrote:
> What are the issues preventing a Dual Head X configuration on a TiBook
> (1st generation, i.e., Rage128 Mobility).
Mainly that, from what I understand, the 2-heads-off-one-CRTC model that
dual-head with notebooks using the Rage Mobility family chips use is
mostly undocumented. I can only imagine that trying to get one CRTC (draw
engine) to do the drawing for 2 heads is a serious bit of magic. (I think
the Trident CyberBlade chips used in some x86 laptops do something
similar.)
> Mac OS (X & 9) Handle multiple monitors beautifully (way better than X11
> can); I simply suspend my TiBook, plug in a new display device, bring
> the machine out of suspend and BLAM! it works.
Yes, that's because they were designed from the ground up with that
ability. I don't know if that can be added to X or not (probably not till
the Resize-and-Rotate extension is working in the mainline XFree server,
at least).
> I would suspect that this could be done at the kernel level (the
> detecting of new external displays), but would require a restart of X
> (not ideal, but definitely exceptable).
That's not the main problem. The main problem is just knowing how to tell
the chip to do what you want it to do.
> I have used Ben's mirror utility, and that is very nice, but what I
> really want is the extra screen realestate. (I have an extra 17" monitor
> at work, and a gorgeous 21" at home...)
That's easy - you're just having the same image output to both displays.
The Mobility family's dual-head mode is (from what I've been given to
understand) much, much trickier.
> I am willing to help, and I can code, but I am definitley not a kernel
> hacker (as anyone who has seen my caps lock hack can tell...).
Unless you can squeeze the necessary docs out of ATI (either in the clear,
or under NDA w/source exception, like the XFree guys have to do), I don't
think this feature will be available to Linux users for awhile.
Derrik Pates | Sysadmin, Douglas School | #linuxOS on EFnet
dpates@dsdk12.net | District (dsdk12.net) | #linuxOS on OPN
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