Dual Monitor setup for desktop .....Don't delay, step on up!

Using applications, configuring, problems
Message
Author
User avatar
Karl Godt
Posts: 4199
Joined: Sun 20 Jun 2010, 13:52
Location: Kiel,Germany

#31 Post by Karl Godt »

about the "grep" :

Code: Select all

pman grep
should present something like this : http://unixhelp.ed.ac.uk/CGI/man-cgi?grep
grep is a common linux command for the shell.

Code: Select all

-SCRNSECTION="
+#handle multiple screens
+SCREEN_LIST=$(grep -o '^[^a-zA-Z]*Screen[^"]*"Screen[0-9]\+"' /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -o 'Screen[0-9]\+' | grep -o '[0-9]\+')
+SCRNSECTION=""
+for i in $SCREEN_LIST; do
+SCRNSECTION="$SCRNSECTION
 Section \"Screen\"
-	Identifier \"Screen0\"
-	Device     \"Card0\"
-	Monitor    \"Monitor0\"
-    DefaultDepth $FINALDEPTH
-    Subsection \"Display\"
-        Depth       $FINALDEPTH
-        Modes       \"${FINALXY}\"
-    EndSubsection
+	Identifier \"Screen$i\"
+	Device     \"Card$i\"
+	Monitor    \"Monitor$i\"
+	DefaultDepth $FINALDEPTH
+	Subsection \"Display\"
+		Depth       $FINALDEPTH
+		Modes       \"${FINALXY}\"
+	EndSubsection
 EndSection
 "
+done
 echo "$SCRNSECTION" >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf
is interesting code for me. Thanks for digging it up.

This code should create a monitor section for the monitors

Code: Select all

grep -o '^[^a-zA-Z]*Screen[^"]*"Screen[0-9]\+"' /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -o 'Screen[0-9]\+' | grep -o '[0-9]\+'
that are written into xorg.conf .
Simply

Code: Select all

grep -o '^[^a-zA-Z]*Screen[^"]*"Screen[0-9]\+"' /etc/X11/xorg.conf
in my one monitor setup it is :

Code: Select all

	Screen      0  "Screen0"
and

Code: Select all

grep -o '^[^a-zA-Z]*Screen[^"]*"Screen[0-9]\+"' /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -o 'Screen[0-9]\+' | grep -o '[0-9]\+'
gives

Code: Select all

0
So it should be

Code: Select all

for monitor in 0 1;do
SCRNSECTION="$SCRNSECTION
 Section \"Screen\"
	Identifier \"Screen$monitor\"
	Device     \"Card$monitor\"
	Monitor    \"Monitor$monitor\"
	DefaultDepth $FINALDEPTH
	Subsection \"Display\"
		Depth       $FINALDEPTH
		Modes       \"${FINALXY}\"
	EndSubsection
 EndSection
 "
done
 echo "$SCRNSECTION" >> /etc/X11/xorg.conf
to create two monitor sections.

These two monitors must be inside xorg.conf already at this stage.

One problem to me is that the whole xorgwizard seems to need "for loops" also for the different FINALDEPTH and FINALXY of the monitors, if there is a program available - besides ddcprobe - to detect them .

User avatar
Karl Godt
Posts: 4199
Joined: Sun 20 Jun 2010, 13:52
Location: Kiel,Germany

#32 Post by Karl Godt »

BTW, Karl said Racy-5.3 has Xorg-server 1.11.x . How can i determine if Slacko has the same? I see in my xorgwizard:

Code: Select all

Xorg -version
in urxvt console.

User avatar
canbyte
Posts: 264
Joined: Sat 10 Jan 2009, 20:20
Location: Hamilton, Canada

SOLUTION!!!

#33 Post by canbyte »

edit - New visitors - let's make this thread a 'one-stop' for others (and resource for developers) by adding your card info and how it works or doesn't, what you did about it and tweaks for different resolutions, etc. If extended pages are added, pm me and i'll put pointers in the first post. Thanks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------



Bad news, good nows,,,,, broke finger today so hard ta type right,,, bummur

Good nows, got proper extended screen working using the ubuntu idoa in earlier link from monsie

here are changes to /etc/x11/xorg,conf:
paste the following just after the line that says :
#everything past here is auto-generated by Puppy's Xorg Wizard...
edit: this line isn't aways present, in which case, just start replacing at the first line in the following.

(overwrite to end of file - except last line which is your info for reference)
and after pasting, change card details, monitor names, etc. EDIT: monitor section for old crt monitors at end of post.
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Xinerama Screen"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
# Screen 1 "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0" yup, this line goes below!
Option "Xinerama" "true"
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection


Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
Option "XkbLayout" "us" #xkeymap0
# Option "XkbVariant" "dvorak"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" #mouse0protocol
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
#Option "Emulate3Buttons"
#Option "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" #scrollwheel
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
#DisplaySize 410 260 # mm
Identifier "acer"
VendorName "ACR"
ModelName "Acer AL1916W"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30.0-82.0
VertRefresh 56.0-72.0
#UseModes "Modes0" #monitor0usemodes
Option "PreferredMode" "1024x768"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes0"
#modes0modeline0
EndSection


Section "Monitor"
Identifier "asus"
#DisplaySize 520 290 # mm
VendorName "ACI"
ModelName "ASUS VH242H"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30.0-85.0
VertRefresh 55.0-71.0
#UseModes "Modes0" #monitor0usemodes
Option "PreferredMode" "1024x768"
Option "RightOf" "acer"
EndSection



Section "Device"
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "Radeon"
Option "Monitor-VGA-0" "acer"
Option "Monitor-DVI-0" "Asus"
BusID "PCI:4:9:0"
EndSection


Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "acer"
Monitor "asus"
DefaultDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Virtual 2048 768
Depth 16
# Modes "1024x768"
EndSubsection
EndSection

#PuppyHardwareProfile=ATI_RADEON_9200AcerAL1916W
edit Sept 30, - when running under Lupu 528, the colours went wonky and needed to be set at 24, not 16. After changing the Depth parameter above to 24, the colours got better but the larger screen (ASUS) is too light / washed out so maybe there's a way to fix that


easier to comment out than retype - It's really time for a beer!

edit - note the vga / dvi commands in device section - makes sense, since the card doesn't know the dvi-vga adaptor is there.
also note that rightof is in quote marks, not sure if required but aint gonna fool with it now!! As noted earlier, I never got 'leftof' to do anything but crash but maybe it works now - but not trying it!!

i assume i can remove all lines starting # or ## or ###?? does it matter if # is not at start of line? edit - seems so, i just did.


Here is what xorg -version says in answer to Karl's question
# xorg -version
bash: xorg: command not found
# Xorg -version

X.Org X Server 1.9.5
Release Date: 2011-03-17
X Protocol Version 11, Revision 0
Build Operating System: Slackware 13.37 Slackware Linux Project
Current Operating System: Linux puppypc12547 3.1.10-slacko_4gA #1 SMP Tue Mar 13 14:58:11 EST 2012 i686
Kernel command line: video=640x480 initrd=initrd.gz pmedia=cd BOOT_IMAGE=vmlinuz
Build Date: 18 March 2011 12:08:03AM

Current version of pixman: 0.20.2
Before reporting problems, check http://wiki.x.org
to make sure that you have the latest version.
#

i didn't got into tho grep stuff as i was hoping to avoid anything non-noob which thankfully worked out, Thanks a bailout for all your holp and monsie and maarten256 from ubuntuforum,org too, i bottor not count chickons befor hatching so better go now to save everything,

edit - reboot, restart completed, still working, i'll go above and take out commented lines mostly but leave a few so noobs see what's not needed.
PS. I'll attach the working log file in case it is useful.


Thanks again
Choors!

EDIT JAN 2013: Am fooling around with 2nd setup using old monitors in a different section of the house. One monitor is an old CRT type. Here is the section that handles that ok. You'll notice an easier protocol for naming monitors which needs the rest to be changed accordingly.
Section "Monitor"
#DisplaySize 410 260 # mm
Identifier "monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 35-81
VertRefresh 59-76
#UseModes "Modes0" #monitor0usemodes
Option "PreferredMode" "1024x768"
EndSection
If Monsie happens to catch this, I'm having hardware problems so i've hand to shelve getting a new / old pc to support dual monitors until i find a cheap box that will run it in both windows and puppy. The old P3 couldn't handle the nvidia card so i took it out and gave up. Back as situation develops. [/quote]
Attachments
dualScreenGoodLog.zip
(11.28 KiB) Downloaded 487 times
Last edited by canbyte on Tue 29 Jan 2013, 16:37, edited 6 times in total.
[color=orange]1. Dell Dimension E521, AMD Athln 64, 2 GHz 1.93GB ram,
Puppy 533 on CD, accesses flash drive only,
FFox Nightly12.0
2. Compaq P3 733Hz 375RAM
Printer: Oki C3400 > LAN [/color]

User avatar
Karl Godt
Posts: 4199
Joined: Sun 20 Jun 2010, 13:52
Location: Kiel,Germany

#34 Post by Karl Godt »

It's really time for a beer!
+1
Second that.
Congrats !

User avatar
canbyte
Posts: 264
Joined: Sat 10 Jan 2009, 20:20
Location: Hamilton, Canada

#35 Post by canbyte »

cheers ...
small gremlin crept in - on boot or xwin, the desktop opens with a dialog box saying SFS-load-on-fly. I can't recall opening this (probably from install package). No big deal but where to look to stop it from opening??
[color=orange]1. Dell Dimension E521, AMD Athln 64, 2 GHz 1.93GB ram,
Puppy 533 on CD, accesses flash drive only,
FFox Nightly12.0
2. Compaq P3 733Hz 375RAM
Printer: Oki C3400 > LAN [/color]

User avatar
Karl Godt
Posts: 4199
Joined: Sun 20 Jun 2010, 13:52
Location: Kiel,Germany

#36 Post by Karl Godt »

In former times the

/usr/sbin/delayedrun

was used to launch

Code: Select all

bootmanager extrasfs quiet
if some extra .sfs were detected somewhere.

Am running full mainly.

User avatar
Monsie
Posts: 631
Joined: Thu 01 Dec 2011, 07:37
Location: Kamloops BC Canada

Dual Monitor setup for desktop ..... (solved)

#37 Post by Monsie »

Hi canbyte,

Way to go! You managed to hang in there :D

When you are able to type better, please consider posting your Xorg.conf in a condensed write-up for future reference. I'm sure there are many others who would be interested in running a dual monitor setup at some point (myself included). This could save users a lot of time spent searching for answers, and so the community will benefit overall.

Congrats,
Monsie
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

User avatar
canbyte
Posts: 264
Joined: Sat 10 Jan 2009, 20:20
Location: Hamilton, Canada

#38 Post by canbyte »

Thanks Monsie, what a relief! For now I've edited the first post and the solution above so users can hopefully navigate easily - and who knows, the junk might be useful if someone is having problems with the final setup.

Also thanks Karl - i made a file like you suggested. Presumably it worked - the gremlin went away! All's well that ends well.

:)
[color=orange]1. Dell Dimension E521, AMD Athln 64, 2 GHz 1.93GB ram,
Puppy 533 on CD, accesses flash drive only,
FFox Nightly12.0
2. Compaq P3 733Hz 375RAM
Printer: Oki C3400 > LAN [/color]

DarwinIcesurfer
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat 08 Sep 2012, 22:25

ATI Driver 12.4 and GUI work for Radeon 3200

#39 Post by DarwinIcesurfer »

I spent a significant amount of time trying to get a dual monitor setup in place for my HP dv7 laptop with a ATI Radeon 3200 video chip. While this thread was very useful to understand all the settings in the xorg.conf file, I found the easiest way to get the system working was to use the prebuilt ATI drivers and the ATI Catalyst GUI. I found the .pet at http://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/pe ... es-slacko/ under amd_fglrx which surprised me because I was looking for ATI or Catalyst. It turns out that amd acquired ATI and the fglrx is the open source version of Catalyst. After installing Catalyst I had to reboot the system and it told me that I should run aticonfig -- initial from a terminal upon reboot. While that program can be used to change the xorg.conf file, I found it much easier to use the Catalyst GUI that was installed under menu-> system -> (I forgot the title of the next menu) -> ATI Catalyst.

I initially didn't want to use the 12.4 driver because there were notes in the ATI documentation that the old radeon chip driver support ended with [?? somewhere below 10, can't find exact quote ??]. However in some later posts I found that ATI had reversed their decision and was now supporting my old Radeon chip in the 12.4 (and perhaps newer) drivers.

I hope that this post may save someone else a few hours trying to get a dual monitor setup for their ATI based system.

One annoying thing about the ATI driver is that the taskbar is forced onto the monitor that is connected to the laptop rather than on the laptop, this is unfortunate if you want to use a projector. If anyone has a solution to that I'd appreciate hearing about it!

User avatar
canbyte
Posts: 264
Joined: Sat 10 Jan 2009, 20:20
Location: Hamilton, Canada

#40 Post by canbyte »

Well, here i am again, trying to get a dual screen working on my old compaq p3 with a nvidia 8400gs installed. I tried the same mods to xorg.conf as per the above post (see below) but without success. It just doesn't want to recognize the 'virtual' command to form a contiguous screen.

Here's the changes to my xorg.conf so far. Much appreciated any thoughts as to what to try next. You can see some trials that i commented out with #. Below I'll ask about nvidia drivers.


Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
#Identifier "Twinview Screen"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
Option "XkbLayout" "dvorak" #xkeymap0
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" #mouse0protocol
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
#Option "Emulate3Buttons"
#Option "Emulate3Timeout" "50"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" #scrollwheel
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 31.5-48.5
VertRefresh 40-70
#UseModes "Modes0" #monitor0usemodes
Option "PreferredMode" "1024x768"
EndSection

Section "Modes"
Identifier "Modes0"
#modes0modeline0
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor1"
#DisplaySize 520 290 # mm
VendorName "Dell"
ModelName "Dell"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 30.0-85.0
VertRefresh 55.0-71.0
#UseModes "Modes0" #monitor0usemodes
Option "PreferredMode" "1024x768"
Option "RightOf" "monitor0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
### <percent>: "<f>%"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "SWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "HWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "NoAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
#Option "UseFBDev" # [<bool>]
#Option "Rotate" # [<str>]
#Option "VideoKey" # <i>
#Option "FlatPanel" # [<bool>]
#Option "FPDither" # [<bool>]
#Option "CrtcNumber" # <i>
#Option "FPScale" # [<bool>]
#Option "FPTweak" # <i>
#Option "DualHead" # [<bool>]
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "nv" #card0driver
BusID "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Option "Twinview"
Monitor "Monitor0"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
#Option "metamodes" "1024x768_60 +0+0" #METAMODES_0
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Virtual 2048 768
# Twinview 2048 768
# Screen "2048x768"
# virtual "2048x768"
Modes "1024x768"
# Modes "Twinview"
EndSubsection
EndSection

#PuppyHardwareProfile=NVIDIA

Nvidia has drivers on this page but I need help with understanding the instructions (what is the puppy equivalent).
http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/52240

Also, I'm a little reluctant to install commercial drivers and am hoping that the above code can be made to work as it did for my other machine.

Installation instructions: Once you have downloaded the driver, change to the directory containing the driver package and install the driver by running, as root, sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-310.19.run

One of the last installation steps will offer to update your X configuration file. Either accept that offer, edit your X configuration file manually so that the NVIDIA X driver will be used, or run nvidia-xconfig

Thanks in advance.
[color=orange]1. Dell Dimension E521, AMD Athln 64, 2 GHz 1.93GB ram,
Puppy 533 on CD, accesses flash drive only,
FFox Nightly12.0
2. Compaq P3 733Hz 375RAM
Printer: Oki C3400 > LAN [/color]

User avatar
Monsie
Posts: 631
Joined: Thu 01 Dec 2011, 07:37
Location: Kamloops BC Canada

Dual Monitor setup for desktop .....Don't delay, step on up!

#41 Post by Monsie »

canbyte,

You're back... :)
Well, here i am again, trying to get a dual screen working on my old compaq p3 with a nvidia 8400gs installed.
Yikes! How did you manage to put that graphics card into your Pentium 111? Isn't this a pci-e type card? I'm guessing you have some kind of adapter in place in order to connect this hardware.

That aside, here are some initial thoughts:
  • --It appears you have the Twinview option enabled, but the Twinview Identifier is commented out --Why?
    --I think the "virtual" setting in xorg.conf works with Xinerama only, so try this mode instead of Twinview.
    --Remember to look at your xorg.0.log file for additional information as to what is going on with your configuration.
Beyond that, if you are feeling "adventuresome" have a go at installing the proprietary nvidia driver. To make this work in Puppy, I think you need to open the terminal, then type in the full path to your downloaded driver. Also, as I had explained in a previous post, if you want to have the driver install to /opt directory (which is probably the best location) then rename the .run extension to .bin Knock on wood for a bit of luck and hopefully the driver will install... :wink:

With the driver installed, you should be able to set up a dual monitor display with the following command at the terminal:

Code: Select all

nvidia-xconfig --twinview
Lastly, for gaming performance etc., you can tweak some settings for your graphics card if you have the proprietary nvidia driver installed along with the nvidia-settings utility. So, just for fun, I compiled this utility for you and it's based specifically on the driver version that you gave as being appropriate for your hardware. Think of it as a bonus if you do manage to install the official Nvidia driver. Hopefully, it will be of use to others as well. While I compiled it in Wary, this utility should work in all modern 32 bit Puppies. Note that there is no menu item for the utility as I did not create a .desktop file. However, once you run:

Code: Select all

nvidia-settings

at the terminal, you will get a nice gui to play with... Note that I have not tested nvidia-settings in Puppy, however I did not encounter any errors while putting this together, so it should be good to go...

Hope this helps,
Monsie
Attachments
nvidia-settings_DOC-310.19-i686.pet
configuration utility documentation re: nvidia driver version 310.19
(7.8 KiB) Downloaded 462 times
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

User avatar
canbyte
Posts: 264
Joined: Sat 10 Jan 2009, 20:20
Location: Hamilton, Canada

#42 Post by canbyte »

Thanks for those suggestions Monsie

After a lot of kerfuffel i ended up with a different machine that runs the nvidia card - in a P4 Dell optiplex Gx280 per this discussion.
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=84525

Am trying to follow your instructions to install the nvidia-Linux-x86-310.19.run (copied to root, changed extension to bin, ran in terminal)

I got an error message that read
ERROR: Unable to find the system utility `ldconfig`; please make sure you have the package 'glibc' installed. If you do have glibc installed, then please check that `ldconfig` is in your PATH.
pfind found a directory /var/cache/idconfig with a file in it called aux-cache but no file of that name, nor could it find glibc

When I try to run /tmp/selfgz15252/Nvidia-settings (in terminal), the following message appears.
You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run `nvidia-xconfig` as root), and restart the X server.
Running /tmp/selfgz15252/nvidia-xconfig in terminal delivers the following message:
Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".

VALIDATION ERROR: Data incomplete in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
At least one Device section is required.

sh: pkg-config: command not found
Backed up file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as
'/etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia-xconfig-original'
Backed up file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'
New X configuration file written to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'

Script completed hit RETURN to close window.
trying to run the suggested command nvidia-xconfig --twinview in terminal in same directory returns the following output
sh-4.1# nvidia-xconfig --twinview
sh: nvidia-xconfig: command not found

Amigo made some suggestions as in the link at top of this post as to why this card is particularly problematic but the main thing is why is the xorg.conf file empty (none of the auto generated code)? Hope there's some ideas out there!

thanks.
[color=orange]1. Dell Dimension E521, AMD Athln 64, 2 GHz 1.93GB ram,
Puppy 533 on CD, accesses flash drive only,
FFox Nightly12.0
2. Compaq P3 733Hz 375RAM
Printer: Oki C3400 > LAN [/color]

User avatar
Monsie
Posts: 631
Joined: Thu 01 Dec 2011, 07:37
Location: Kamloops BC Canada

Dual Monitor setup for desktop .....Don't delay, step on up!

#43 Post by Monsie »

canbyte,

I found ldconfig in the /sbin directory. See the manpage over here.

To confirm that you have this file:

Code: Select all

ldconfig -V
at the terminal. Maybe it's possible that ldconfig is in another directory, and if so, I recommend moving it to the default location.

You will need to install the nvidia driver before bothering with the nvidia-settings Pet.

Hope this helps,

Monsie
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

User avatar
canbyte
Posts: 264
Joined: Sat 10 Jan 2009, 20:20
Location: Hamilton, Canada

#44 Post by canbyte »

Hi Monsie
I can't find that ldconfig file anywhere (using pfind), either in puppy 528 or 511. There's an ldconfig directory but no file by that name.

In wary 511, there isn't any menu item to run the driver (nvidia-linux-x89-310.19.run) in a terminal! I tried 'opening a terminal here' and typing the name but it says
linux-x89-310.19.run
bash: nvidia-linux-x89-310.19.run: command not found
#

I tried typing the command you suggested but it says
# idconfig -v
bash: idconfig: command not found
#
Not sure what to do next. Can you send a copy of the file or tell me how to run the driver without the usual terminal option in the menu?

Thanks.
[color=orange]1. Dell Dimension E521, AMD Athln 64, 2 GHz 1.93GB ram,
Puppy 533 on CD, accesses flash drive only,
FFox Nightly12.0
2. Compaq P3 733Hz 375RAM
Printer: Oki C3400 > LAN [/color]

User avatar
Monsie
Posts: 631
Joined: Thu 01 Dec 2011, 07:37
Location: Kamloops BC Canada

Dual Monitor setup for desktop .....Don't delay, step on up!

#45 Post by Monsie »

canbyte,

I think I know what the problem is, but I haven't confirmed it yet. I believe you need to install the devx package for whichever breed and generation of Puppy that you are running...

When I replied to you yesterday, I was running Wary 5.3 which I have fully set up for compiling source code etc., and as I indicated, I was able to locate ldconfig file. However, today I am running Wary 5.5 and I'm just starting to get it fully set up.... As such, I do not have the devx package for it yet, and I note that a search for ldconfig yields: "...not found".

I recommend downloading the devx package for Lucid (Puppy 528?) rather than Wary because I believe you will have better support for your nvidia card given that Lucid will have a much newer version of Xorg.

Monsie
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

User avatar
canbyte
Posts: 264
Joined: Sat 10 Jan 2009, 20:20
Location: Hamilton, Canada

#46 Post by canbyte »

Hi Monsie
I was able to copy the ldconfig file to the sbin directory so then running the nvidia driver now results in the following message.
ERROR: Unable to find the system utility `ld`; please make sure you have the
package 'binutils' installed. If you do have binutils installed,
then please check that `ld` is in your PATH
.

Actually, i cheated - i had devx on the other machine and copied ldconfig from there. I checked that machine for the binutils file to no avail. What to they mean by utility 'ld'? Searching on ld leads to 500 items in the other machine, 137 in the target machine so i guess maybe i'll have to install devx which i was hoping to avoid.

Ok, that's done, now, trying to run the driver results in the following message.
ERROR: You appear to be running an X server; please exit X before
installing. For further details, please see the section INSTALLING
THE NVIDIA DRIVER in the README available on the Linux driver
download page at www.nvidia.com.
On the Nvidia page at http://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/52240# it said
Installation instructions: Once you have downloaded the driver, change to the directory containing the driver package and install the driver by running, as root, sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-310.19.run

One of the last installation steps will offer to update your X configuration file. Either accept that offer, edit your X configuration file manually so that the NVIDIA X driver will be used, or run nvidia-xconfig
So, i exited X. Instructions for noobs like me

cd ..
dir

repeat until you see 'root' and 'mnt' listed
cd /mnt/home
dir

enter the command given above -
sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-310.19.run

This resulted in the following message (also recorded in /var/log/nvidia-installer-log) ....
Unable to find source tree for currently running kernel
Make sure they are installed & properly configured.
ie for Red Hat, ensure 'kernel-source' or ' kernel-deve1' RPM is installed
You may specify the path with --kernel-source--path' command line option
Oooph, this is waaay beyond my ken, even with Nvidia's help details page http://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/L ... index.html
The FAQ and Problems section seem relevant but are written in geek!

I asked pfind to look up 'kernel' - 27 items returned, many in the /lib/modules/ directory but also many others. No file called kernel-source found or kernel-deve1 so maybe this whole quest is hopeless?????

Well, maybe I'll try the command
sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-310.19.run --kernel-source-/lib/modules/ or
sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86-310.19.run --/lib/modules/kernel-source

to see if that works but how can it when there's no kernel-source file?? Will the real kernel please stand up!!! Otherwise, can someone clue me in to the proper syntax for what they're asking? Or whatever you think i should do.

edit - if i have to give up on installing the nvidia driver, it looks like i'll have to go back to this page
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=72405
although i suspect those aren't designed for dual screen but there is some discussion of kernel-source.

Thanks again.

User avatar
Monsie
Posts: 631
Joined: Thu 01 Dec 2011, 07:37
Location: Kamloops BC Canada

Dual Monitor setup for desktop .....Don't delay, step on up!

#47 Post by Monsie »

Hi canbyte,

You are on the right track... Just to confirm, you do have the devx package installed?

Yes, you also need the kernel source headers, so that the nVidia driver can build a module for the specific kernel of your Operating System. See the initial post by playdayz for the Lucid Puppy 5.2.8 thread over here and you will find a link to download the kernel source package.

Also, I know it's quite a bit of heavy reading, but you should try to go through the material you referenced that nVidia wrote on installing the driver for your video card... For instance, I found this in Chapter 8 Common Problems:
You can specify the location of the kernel source tree (or headers) when you install the NVIDIA driver using the --kernel-source-path command line option (see sh NVIDIA-Linux-x86-310.19.run --advanced-options for details).
This may be very useful information for you. I think that once the nVidia installer can find everything it needs: linker, path to kernel source, etc. then the driver build and installation should go okay --knock on wood :wink:

Hope this helps,
Monsie
My [u]username[/u] is pronounced: "mun-see". Derived from my surname, it was my nickname throughout high school.

User avatar
canbyte
Posts: 264
Joined: Sat 10 Jan 2009, 20:20
Location: Hamilton, Canada

#48 Post by canbyte »

..... getting somewhere!

loaded kernel source sfs
loaded devx sfs (but didn't run)
ran in terminal the .run driver from nvidia
all seemed to go properly with no error messages.

but I only have one screen and never saw the nvidia control panel, so
looking above, I ran in terminal the /usr/bin/nvidia-xconfig file

got the following output:
Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".
Backed up file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'
New X configuration file written to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'

Script completed hit RETURN to close window.
but no nvidia control.

I wonder if this is the problem -
the left monitor is a small unit that can only display 1024 x 768
so it only shows an error message - 'cannot display this video mode'

the right unit is larger and probably using the next higher resolution

the xorg.conf file isn't listing the usual settings section so I can't change the settings manually.


I know the nvidia card works ok because it displays properly under Windows XP

So where are the settings? Or how to bring up the nvidia control panel? Shouldn't there be a menu item to click on?

edit - trying to add ' Option "Xinerama" "True"' to xorg.conf as outlined in chapt 13 of the nvidia manual. No luck, still the same result.

Thanks again.
Last edited by canbyte on Tue 12 Mar 2013, 05:42, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
Billtoo
Posts: 3720
Joined: Tue 07 Apr 2009, 13:47
Location: Ontario Canada

#49 Post by Billtoo »

canbyte wrote: So where are the settings? Or how to bring up the nvidia control panel? Shouldn't there be a menu item to click on?
enter nvidia-settings in the terminal.
Attachments
nvidia-settings.jpg
(87.6 KiB) Downloaded 1257 times

User avatar
canbyte
Posts: 264
Joined: Sat 10 Jan 2009, 20:20
Location: Hamilton, Canada

#50 Post by canbyte »

Thanks Billtoo. I should have thought of that. Unfortunately, it's getting stuck and giving the following message.

You do not appear to be using the NVIDIA X driver. Please edit your X configuration file (just run `nvidia-xconfig` as root), and restart the X server.
After running the nvidia-xconfig file in terminal, I get the following message.
Using X configuration file: "/etc/X11/xorg.conf".

VALIDATION ERROR: Data incomplete in file /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
At least one Device section is required.

Backed up file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as
'/etc/X11/xorg.conf.nvidia-xconfig-original'
Backed up file '/etc/X11/xorg.conf' as '/etc/X11/xorg.conf.backup'
New X configuration file written to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'

Script completed hit RETURN to close window.
Not sure what to do since the korg.conf file doesn't have the settings section auto written as usual. So yes, there's no Device section or anything else. Am I supposed to just paste in something like on the previous page (post 30)? I went back to Monsie's pets on the previous page but no luck there either.

So near and yet so far!!

Post Reply