On Monday 04 June 2007 11:30:03 am Jim Capozzoli wrote: > On 6/4/07, John Nielsen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Saturday 02 June 2007 04:00:57 pm Kevin Kinsey wrote: > > > Jim Capozzoli wrote: > > > > Hello list, > > > > > > > > I have 3 monitors and 3 video cards. However, one videocard and > > > > monitor isn't very "X11 friendly." (X11 barely starts on it). I was > > > > wondering if it would be possible to have X11 running on two of the > > > > monitors, and then have a full screen console (like a ttyv0) on the > > > > third monitor (so I could constantly leave top or something sweet > > > > running on there :D). This is all with FreeBSD 6.2/i386 and Xorg 6.9 > > > > or 7.2. Any suggestions? Thanks. > > > > > > It should do "do-able", perhaps somewhat easily. > > > /usr/ports/x11-servers/x2x is what comes to mind --- IIRC, Greg > > > "groggy" Lehey of "The Complete FreeBSD" fame uses this for several > > > displays, and has notes on his setup in her personal pages at > > > www.lemis.com. > > > > That link is here: http://www.lemis.com/grog/hardware.html > > > > However, I'm not sure x2x is relevant to the OP--It can be used to allow > > one mouse and keyboard to be used on multiple X servers, but doesn't have > > anything to do with console mode. > > > > I don't know if the setup the OP wants is possible or not, but here are > > some notes: > > > > The FreeBSD console always runs on the "primary" display as determined by > > the BIOS. Most systems give you a choice between using AGP or PCI as the > > primary display. If you have multiple PCI cards it is usually the first > > one on the bus (physically this is often the one closest to the CPU). Not > > sure how ISA figures in. You will want to make your "bad" videocard and > > monitor the primary display. > > > > Once you have that, I'd just run an "Xorg -configure" to get started. If > > X comes up at all using the config generated from that then it will be a > > good starting point. Try commenting out the device and screen sections > > (and possibly also a line under ServerLayout) for your "bad" display and > > see if X comes up on the other two. By default it expects to be running > > on the console so I'm not sure what will happen here. You also want it to > > grab the keyboard and mouse unless you have a second keyboard. Some trial > > and error and further research are probably required. Play with startx vs > > xdm, see what happens when you press ctrl-alt-f1, etc. I'm assuming > > you'll want to use Xinerama to join the two X displays and allow > > window-dragging between them, etc. > > > > If you don't get acceptable results using your original plan, you can > > always hack together your own "console" to run on the weakest display > > under X (using the vesa driver if necessary). If possible (not sure it > > is), don't make it part of your Xinerama display. Then don't run a window > > manager on it. Use xsetroot as part of your X init script to control > > what's on the background. This will apply to your entire display but the > > WM will probably take over once it starts on the "good" screens. You > > could make one or more scripts to run things on your "bad" screen by > > doing something like this: > > > > #!/bin/sh > > DISPLAY=:0.1 #might also be :0.2 or :0.0 > > export DISPLAY > > xterm -r -geometry 120x60 /usr/bin/top > > > > Experiment with the geometry settings to see what fills your screen > > appropriately. You might also want to get a nice bitmap font to give the > > xterm more of a terminal "feel". I have one I stole from bochs or > > somewhere that's not bad (I use it for Nethack). E-mail me off-list if > > you want it. > > > > That should just about do it. Do write back to the list to tell us what > > you learn and what works the best. > > > > JN > > I like the not making it a part of the Xinerama display..that would be > interesting, because I'm sure a very basic X11 background with a xterm > would work on there. If X starts on there, then yeah great but the > problem is I don't ever recall getting it to work properly.
If the card functions at all then I'm sure you could get the vesa driver running at 800x600x8 at least.. > What I had in mind however, is say having the weak monitor/card as the > 'default' display that the BIOS picks up, and then leaving a console > on there BUT having X11 on the two other monitors. Then I'd run top > on it or something, so I"d have a command like... > > $ startxfce4 & top -s 1 > > And then on the 'default' BIOS chosen display, you would see top > running in console mode, and then pretty xfce with nice 1280x1024 ver > monitor resolution on the other two (using Xinerama). I wouldn't need > to have keyboard/mouse control on the 'default' console then, I'd just > look at it to see which process is eating the machine, load averages, > etc. My suggestion for running the weak display under X was conditional on not getting results you liked with your original idea. Re-read the first part of my first reply. JN _______________________________________________ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
