Summary: How to run 2nd video card on a Ultra 5 (PGX-32)

From: Tony Magtalas <ttk67_at_yahoo.com>
Date: Thu May 15 2003 - 22:09:10 EDT
Many thanks to the many respondents from the list.
(too many to list)
The consensus is to copy the Xservers file from the
/usr/dt directory to /etc/dt/config/Xservers and
modify
using the new frame buffer. 
James Noyes <jnoyes-sml@retrogeeks.com> sums it best:

-----

Tony:
I've run two and even three video cards/monitors wth
my U5/U10.  It's actually quite easy.  To activate the
extra frame buffer (your Raptor/PGX32):

- Be sure you've installed the current Raptor drivers
(TSIpgx, TSIpgxw, and TSIpgxx packages) from the CD. 
Uninstall old versions first, if there are any.
- Bypass dtlogin (choose "command-line login" from the
drop-down) and log into the text console as root.
- Set your Raptor's resolution and color depth how you
want them (run "GFXconfig -i" - be sure to save before
exiting).  I recommend 1280x1024 with 8 & 24 bit
color.  You may need to experiment to get a refresh 
rate that works with your monitor.
- Copy the /usr/dt directory tree to /etc/dt (use "cd
/usr;cp -Rp dt /etc" to keep permissions intact).
- Edit the file /etc/dt/config/Xservers using your
favorite editor.
- Change the line that defines display :0 (towards the
end of the file) to add the new device.  As an
example, here's mine:

  :0  Local local_uid@console root
/usr/openwin/bin/Xsun -dev /dev/fbs/ffb0 defdepth 24
defclass TrueColor -dev /dev/fbs/gfxp0 right defdepth
24 defclass TrueColor

Each of the "-dev /dev/fbs/XXX option option ..."
entries is a frame buffer (video card) that you want X
to use.  In my case, I use /dev/fbs/ffb0 and
/dev/fbs/gfxp0 since I use a Creator3D UPA and a
Raptor PCI.  In your case, you'll want to use
/dev/fbs/gfxp0 and /dev/fbs/m640 to use the Raptor 
and the on-board video.
The defdepth 24 and defclass TrueColor options set my
displays to 24-bit color.
You may find that using the onboard video at 24-bit
color depth limits 
your resolution quite a bit.  You can use defdepth 8
and just leave defclass out to use 8-bit color
instead.
Finally, for each device other than the first, you can
put "right" "left" "top" or "bottom" to choose where
that device's screen appears in relation to the
previous.  In my case I use "right", so my Raptor's
display is to the "right" of the Creator's display,
and the mouse pointer will move off the right edge of
the
Creator's monitor and onto the left edge of the
Raptor's monitor.

- Once you've saved the changes to Xservers, shut down
and restart 
dtlogin
   ("/etc/init.d/dtlogin stop;/etc/init.d/dtlogin
start").
- Exit the text console and log in to CDE or
OpenWindows as usual.
- Enjoy the extra space!

Some notes:
- You cannot drag a window from one monitor to
another, unless you activate "Xinerama" mode.  CDE
doesn't play well with Xinerama, so I suggest just
learning to use the two screens independently.
- You can choose which specific screen you want to
start an application on by setting your DISPLAY
variable to :0.0 or :0.1 instead of just :0
- It might be tempting to add another Raptor to run 3
displays.  Don't.  There's a hardware bug that
prevents more than one Raptor from working together in
a U5/U10 system.
- You cannot use the Raptor as text console on the
U5/U10 unless you disable the onboard video.  You
probably don't want to do this, so your on-board 
video will remain as your text console no matter what.

Any other questions, feel free to ask me - I've done
this a zillion times.
Multi-head support in X is VERY nice, and I don't
think I'll ever go back to a single monitor setup.

Cheers,
James Noyes
(jnoyes-sml@retrogeeks.com)

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Received on Thu May 15 22:09:02 2003

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