[NTLUG:Discuss] Hmm, XF40 not supporting dual-headed G400? -- Re: Dual-headed G400

[MadHat]

Bryan -TheBS- Smith wrote:
> 
> On Sun, 16 Apr 2000, J. Reeves Hall wrote:
> > I have a G400 MAX video card, which has two monitor outputs. I'd like to
> > get the second output to do something in Linux. I've heard that XFree86
> > has issues with the way the G400 implements its dual headedness (namely,
> > it only has one drawing engine for both of them), but I've also heard
> > rumors that FBCon can output to both heads. I'd be happy if I could just
> > display X on one head and a text console on the other. The two monitors
> > are basically equivalent, and they are capable of the same resolutions.
> > Any suggestions on how to activate the second head are welcome.
> >
> > I'm running XF86 4.0 and kernel 2.3.99pre5, with the fbcon driver
> > installed.
> 
> You're running XFree86 4.0?!?!?!  I thought it was supposed to
> support dual-headed operation?  Maybe on different cards then, huh?
>  I was almost to the point of buying one of those dual-headed
> G400Max cards.  Hmmm.
> 
> Anyhoo, I'm going to dig into this a bit further as I am very
> interested in why you can't get XFree86 4.0 to support it (I
> haven't personally had the chance to use XFree86 4.0 yet).
> 
> TANGENT ...
> 
> BTW, did you have much trouble getting XFree86 4.0 and
> kernel 2.3.99pre5 running?  What distro did you start with before
> upgrading (if any)?  I have had a local guru have issues with
> getting XF40 running and I read that the structures and
> interfaces in 2.3.99preX/2.4.x require a number of support
> binary/library changes and recompiles.
> 
> Any pointers for those of us looking to upgrade???

I tryed to use it, but there is limited support for some cards.  All the
cards are being ported into a central server (IIRC), rather than the 3.x
scheme of a different server/driver for each major chipset.  My chipset
is not supported yet.  Make sure to read about the supported cards
before trying.

http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/Status.html

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'madhat at unspecific.com'
# aka Lee Heath, but don't tell anyone.