xf86-drivers-video-intel: How to use MergedFB sweetness on 965GM

[JM Ibanez]

"Martin Langhoff" <martin.langhoff at gmail.com> writes:

> Just got my hands on a nice HP/Compaq 6710b that has a 965GM in it.
> After seeing KeithP's "look ma, no xorg.conf!" trick even
> autodetecting dual-head setups, I want to run the same.
>
> I have a MergedFB setup on my old nvidia-based laptop - but things
> seem to be different for the new Intel driver. Is there a good howto?
>
> The key thing for me is to be able to
>
>  - boot with or without ext monitors
>  - hook up one of 3 possible ext monitors (LCD at work, LCD at home,
> low-res projectors) without restarting X
>  - use them in mergeFB mode or mirror mode

The quick HOWTO:

    1. Make sure you're running the XRandR 1.2-capable Intel driver. To
       confirm, in a terminal type

       $ xrandr --version

       which should reply

       Server reports RandR version 1.2

    2. Try booting without xorg.conf -- should work. If not, add in the
       details necessary for local display only (as well as input
       devices, of course). No other config necessary
       (e.g. MergeFB/Xinerama/etc).

    3. Hook up external monitor. In a terminal, type:

       $ xrandr --output VGA --left-of LVDS --auto

       which should put the external monitor left of your laptop panel,
       and set it to the preferred monitor mode. You can also do:

       $ xrandr --output VGA --right-of LVDS --auto
       $ xrandr --output VGA --above LVDS --auto
       $ xrandr --output VGA --below LVDS --auto

       Or to set it to clone (i.e. both external and laptop panel
       displaying the same thing):

       $ xrandr --output VGA --same-as LVDS

       Actually, just running:

       $ xrandr --auto

       should get you a cloned setup from the get-go, I believe.

    4. Unplug monitor. Run:

       $ xrandr --output VGA --auto

       to turn off the output (at least from RandR's point of view).


> I am currently running feisty with:
>
>    xserver-xorg                               7.2-0ubuntu11
>    xserver-xorg-video-intel             1.9.94-1ubuntu3 (plus some patches)
>
> and could use the latest gutsy packages (2.0.x) but just got the full
> set of git checkouts for a modular build in case I need to hand-build
> ;-)

Make sure you get xrandr too -- the one packaged in Feisty isn't aware
of the RandR 1.2 protocol, and so can't take advantage of RandR 1.2
goodness.


-- 
JM Ibanez
Software Architect
Orange & Bronze Software Labs, Ltd. Co.

jm at orangeandbronze.com
http://software.orangeandbronze.com/