Thanks for your input.
I actually got a bit snowed under with work so never had time to check this mail account, but essentially, I came to the same conclusions as yourself on a trial and error basis.
Here is the post I did to the matrox forum, which you may find interesting:-
Dr Andrew C Aitchison wrote:
On Wed, 26 Nov 2003, Stephen CS Howe wrote:
Hi, I found your very interesting XFree config file on the mailing list.
Note:If you can't be bothered reading all this, just post me your latest Xfre86config, and I will look at it for hints.
I am trying to get my matrox dual -head card working with a Samsung Syncmaster 191T FPD and a Philips 105S 19 inch CRT monitor.
I have got quite close, but my main problems stem from the fact that the head allocation from the card is not clear, as it apparently reconfigures the head allocation depending on what you connect to it.
The card calls the DVI monitor head 0, if it finds it at power on, otherwise the VGA head is head 0.
There is the config file Option "SwappedHead" "true"
which reverses the head allocation.
Anyway, I have a number of questions:-With the mga_drv.o driver from XFree86 yes.
1Do I need Xinerama to spread my desktop across 2 monitors ?
If I remember correctly, the XFree86 driver on the CD that comes with the card
will do
2Do I need DPI working to get my LCD monitor working ? If so, are Xinerama and DPI mutually exclusive?
DPI ? Do you mean DVI ?
There shouldn't be a conflict between Xinerama and DVI.
(The DVI socket will actually do DVI-A (analog) if you use the DVI->VGA adaptor; for some monitors the picture quality may be as good.)
If you do mean DPI, as in dots-per-inch, yes there is a problem with dual-head setups. If you rely on DPMS to provide the server with the
screen size, then the driver only asks the first head, and reports
those values for both screens.
I would recommend that you put a line like
DisplaySize 376 301 # millimeters
in each monitor section of the config file.
The size doesn't have to be the correct one, it may be best to multiply the number of pixels on each screen by the DPI, so that both monitors report say 75 or 100 DPI.
3. I have the following plan to discover good settings for my monitors:-
1. Plug in monior one only, autoconfigure from redhat GUI and save XFree86 config.
2. Remove Monitor 1 and plug in monitor 2, then rerun redhat GUI to configure second monitor.
3. Plug in both monitors, cut n paste each monitor configs from individual files, and add the bits necessary for dual head to my xfree86config.
does this sound like a good plan for a no-brainer like myself ?
Seems worth a try.
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