nvidia setup puzzler
Hello - I have a system running OpenSuSE 15.5 KDE X11 Plasma desktop, with 2 monitors connect to it. It also has 2 nVidia Quadro K420 video cards, each connected to one of my two monitors. (This computer was given to me, I did not configure the hardware) I have wracked my brains trying to get both System Settings and nvidia-settings to set up the two terminals as clones and I have finally found a solution that works, but I do NOT grok as to why it works. I want to understand so that in the future I can figure out how video configuration works. The following is the non-working version of xorg.conf that was generated by nvidia-settings (with most of the comments removed) -
# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings # nvidia-settings: version 470.256.02
# nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig # nvidia-xconfig: version 470.256.02 # Section "Extensions" # Option "Composite" "Disable" # Option "RANDR" "Disable" # EndSection # Section "Screen" # Identifier "Screen1" # Device "Device1" # Monitor "Monitor1" # DefaultDepth 24 # Option "Stereo" "0" # Option "metamodes" "1920x1080 +0+0 {AllowGSYNC=Off}" # Option "SLI" "On" # Option "MultiGPU" "Off" # Option "BaseMosaic" "Off" # SubSection "Display" # Depth 24 # EndSubSection # EndSection
Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Layout0" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 Screen 1 "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" Option "Xinerama" "0" EndSection
Section "Files" EndSection
Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2" Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "yes" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" EndSection
Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "kbd" EndSection
Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor0" VendorName "Unknown" ModelName "Westinghouse Digital Electronics LVM-42w2" DisplaySize 930 520 HorizSync 30.0 - 80.0 VertRefresh 60.0 - 75.0 Gamma 2.2 Option "DPMS" "true" EndSection
Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor1" VendorName "SAM" ModelName "SAMSUNG" DisplaySize 700 390 HorizSync 15.0 - 68.0 VertRefresh 24.0 - 75.0 Gamma 2.2 Option "DPMS" "true" EndSection
Section "Device" Identifier "Device0" Driver "nvidia" VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation" BoardName "Quadro K420" BusID "PCI:3:0:0" EndSection
Section "Device" Identifier "Device1" Driver "nvidia" VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation" BoardName "Quadro K420" BusID "PCI:4:0:0" EndSection
Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Device0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 24 Option "UseEdid" "True" Option "AllowEmptyInitialConfiguration" "True" Option "nvidiaXineramaInfo" "FALSE" Option "Stereo" "0" Option "nvidiaXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0" Option "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0" Option "SLI" "Off" Option "MultiGPU" "Off" Option "BaseMosaic" "off" SubSection "Display" Depth 24 EndSubSection EndSection
Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen1" Device "Device1" Monitor "Monitor1" DefaultDepth 24 Option "Stereo" "0" Option "metamodes" "1920x1080 +0+0 {AllowGSYNC=Off}" Option "SLI" "Off" Option "MultiGPU" "Off" Option "BaseMosaic" "off" SubSection "Display" Depth 24 EndSubSection EndSection
This produces a strange desktop display, Monitor 0 shows me just the open applications, Konsole windows and the mouse cursor. The mouse cursor is confined to just this one monitor and cannot be moved into what is shown on Monitor 1. That means this is not simply an extended desktop of some kind. Monitor 1 shows me the kicker bar, the background image, and the desktop icons. So it is as if half of the desktop items are being shown on one monitor and half on the other. And the mouse cursor cannot reach any of the components shown on one of the monitors, for example the start menu applications launcher. So after a lot of trials, I finally hit upon a solution. And that is to comment out one line in the ServerLayout section so it becomes this -
Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Layout0" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 # Screen 1 "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" Option "Xinerama" "0" EndSection
and that works! The two monitors are now clones, showing everything on the desktop as expected. But I am totally baffled as to why! Commenting out the Screen 1 definition seems to remove half of what was configured by nvidia-settings. And there is nothing in xorg.conf that says the two monitors should be in a clone mode, I did set the two monitors in clone mode in system-settings. I don't grok how that fits in with xorg configuration since system-settings doesn't seem to make any changes to xorg.conf. Is there 2 setup approaches to configuring monitors that are in conflict with each other? My brain hurts, thanks for any enlightenment offered, Marc.
Hello, In the Message; Subject : nvidia setup puzzler Message-ID : <c52d659b-870f-44a5-b005-910b1ef946d7@marcchamberlin.com> Date & Time: Fri, 20 Dec 2024 12:06:21 -0800 [MC] == Marc Chamberlin via openSUSE Users <users@lists.opensuse.org> has written: [...] MC> So after a lot of trials, I finally hit upon a solution. And that MC> is to comment out one line in the ServerLayout section so it MC> becomes this - MC> > Section "ServerLayout" MC> > Identifier "Layout0" MC> > Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 MC> > # Screen 1 "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 0 0 MC> > InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" MC> > InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" MC> > Option "Xinerama" "0" MC> > EndSection MC> and that works! The two monitors are now clones, showing everything on the MC> desktop as expected. But I am totally baffled as to why! Commenting out the MC> Screen 1 definition seems to remove half of what was configured by MC> nvidia-settings. And there is nothing in xorg.conf that says the two monitors MC> should be in a clone mode, I did set the two monitors in clone mode in MC> system-settings. I don't grok how that fits in with xorg configuration since MC> system-settings doesn't seem to make any changes to xorg.conf. Is MC> there 2 setup approaches to configuring monitors that are in MC> conflict with each other? MC> My brain hurts, thanks for any enlightenment offered, Marc. The NVIDIA driver you are using has its own settings, and this is interfering with the xorg.conf file, including Screen 1. Best Regards. --- ┏━━┓彡 Masaru Nomiya mail-to: nomiya @ lake.dti.ne.jp ┃＼／彡 ┗━━┛ "To hire for skills, firms will need to implement robust and intentional changes in their hiring practices — and change is hard." -- Employers don’t practice what they preach on skills-based hiring --
On 12/20/24 18:39, Masaru Nomiya wrote:
The NVIDIA driver you are using has its own settings, and this is interfering with the xorg.conf file, including Screen 1.
Thanks again Masaru Nomiya for taking the time to reply to my query. But I remain confused, how is one suppose to configure the settings for the NVidia driver that I am using? The tool I used is nvidia-settings and nvidia-settings communicates with Xorg and configures/modifies xorg.conf as described in my previous email. Further Duck Duck Go searches revealed that there is another tool called nvidia-xconfig and when I ran it, it too produced an xorg.conf file that is very similar to the version I modified in order to get it to work. Here is what nvidia-xconfig produced for the ServerLayout section -
Section "ServerLayout"
# Removed Option "Xinerama" "1" # Screen 1 "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 0 0 # Screen 1 "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 0 0 Identifier "Layout0" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" Option "Xinerama" "0" EndSection
I remain confused as to why xorg.conf causes two monitors to be clones (which IS what I want) but it does so when Screen 1 is removed (it is defined later on in xorg.conf) from the ServerLayout section. Why is the xorg.conf file that is created from nvidia-config different from the version created by nvidia-settings? This is baffling to me, what am I missing? Marc...
Hello, In the Message; Subject : Re: nvidia setup puzzler Message-ID : <9d210021-71ec-4e7d-92cc-62bbade1ef2b@marcchamberlin.com> Date & Time: Fri, 20 Dec 2024 23:06:43 -0800 [MC] == Marc Chamberlin via openSUSE Users <users@lists.opensuse.org> has written: MC> [1 <text/plain; UTF-8 (8bit)>] MC> On 12/20/24 18:39, Masaru Nomiya wrote: MC> > The NVIDIA driver you are using has its own settings, and this is MC> > interfering with the xorg.conf file, including Screen 1. MC> Thanks again Masaru Nomiya for taking the time to reply to my query. But I MC> remain confused, how is one suppose to configure the settings for the NVidia MC> driver that I am using? The tool I used is nvidia-settings and nvidia-settings MC> communicates with Xorg and configures/modifies xorg.conf as described in my MC> previous email. Further Duck Duck Go searches revealed that there is another MC> tool called nvidia-xconfig and when I ran it, it too produced an xorg.conf file MC> that is very similar to the version I modified in order to get it to work. Here MC> is what nvidia-xconfig produced for the ServerLayout section - MC> > Section "ServerLayout" MC> > MC> > # Removed Option "Xinerama" "1" MC> > # Screen 1 "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 0 0 MC> > # Screen 1 "Screen1" Relative "Screen0" 0 0 MC> > Identifier "Layout0" MC> > Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 MC> > InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" MC> > InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" MC> > Option "Xinerama" "0" MC> > EndSection MC> I remain confused as to why xorg.conf causes two monitors to be MC> clones (which IS what I want) but it does so when Screen 1 is MC> removed (it is defined later on in xorg.conf) from the MC> ServerLayout section. Why is the xorg.conf file that is MC> created from nvidia-config different from the version created by MC> nvidia-settings? This is baffling to me, what am I missing? I don't understand what you mean by “different versions”. In my environment, the versions are the same as follows; $ nvidia-settings -v nvidia-settings: version 565.77 The NVIDIA Settings tool. $ nvidia-xconfig -v nvidia-xconfig: version 565.77 The NVIDIA X Configuration Tool. Perhaps you may have previously installed the 510 series driver by mistake, and it may still be left over. The NVIDIA Driver installer may not replace it if there is a newer version, and I have also had trouble with this. Anyway, I recommend referring to the manual using the man command for nvidia-settings and nvidia-xconfig. BTW. I thought that setting up dual displays using xrandr was the norm. Best Regards. --- ┏━━┓彡 Masaru Nomiya mail-to: nomiya @ lake.dti.ne.jp ┃＼／彡 ┗━━┛ "During testing, Sakana found that its system began unexpectedly attempting to modify its own experiment code to extend the time it had to work on a problem." -- Research AI model unexpectedly attempts to modify its own code to extend runtime (ars TECHNICA) --
participants (2)
-
Marc Chamberlin -
Masaru Nomiya