simultaneous xorg/tty config help required

[Carrot Cruncher]

hi. can anybody tell me if this is possible and, if so, how it needs to be configured.

i have an nvidia geforce gt 430 which has a vga, dvi, & hdmi output. i'd like to run x on the hdmi output, being controlled by a infrared remote control, and at the same time use the console (tty) via the dvi output being controlled by a keyboard/mouse. at the moment i can only have one or the other and the keyboard/mouse is controlling whichever output is active.

my xorg.conf is as follows :

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Option         "Xinerama" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    # generated from data in "/etc/sysconfig/keyboard"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "keyboard"
    Option         "XkbLayout" "gb"
    Option         "XkbModel" "pc105"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "CYP HDMI-DA"
    HorizSync       13.0 - 46.0
    VertRefresh     23.0 - 61.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GT 430"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP-1: 1920x1080 +0+0"
    SubSection     "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

these are the xinput lines from Xorg.0.log :

[  2946.901] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote Transceiver (0471:0815)" (type: KEYBOARD, id 9)
[  2946.903] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Logitech Unifying Device. Wireless PID:1024" (type: MOUSE, id 10)
[  2946.903] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "Logitech Unifying Device. Wireless PID:2011" (type: KEYBOARD, id 11)
[  2946.904] (II) XINPUT: Adding extended input device "MCE IR Keyboard/Mouse (mceusb)" (type: KEYBOARD, id 12)

hope the request makes sense. any advice is much appreciated.

[jpollard]

I don't believe you can do that.

It would call for duplexing the control and data through the video card, and to my knowledge, that can't be done. Using dual displays (as long as both are video) yes. But as soon as it is set to the base VT output, I think you only get one..

Could be wrong though.

[Carrot Cruncher]

thanks for the response. i've now stuck a matrox g450 graphics card in alongside the nvidia card :

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GF108 [GeForce GT 430] (rev a1)
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Matrox Graphics, Inc. MGA G400/G450 (rev 85)

so i'd like to run x on the hdmi output of the nvidia, being controlled by a infrared remote control, and at the same time use the console (tty) via the dvi output of the matrox being controlled by a keyboard/mouse.

how do i configure fedora to use the matrox graphics card at boot time and then to run agetty against as the console ? i can then concentrate on getting x working against the nvidia card.

[jpollard]

That might be possible - make the Matrox board the primary interface, then create a custom configuration file to define the nVidia card as the graphics device.

One way to get that is to configure the nVidia first and boot to multiuser (not the GUI), then run "Xorg -configure", which will create a default configuration (the file created should be like xorg.conf.new in home directory) determined from what it sees.

Now switch the boards to make the Matrox primary.

To test the configuration login and try "startx -- -config xorg.conf.new" and see what happens.

It may not work as normally the Xorg server attaches to the first unused virtual terminal (which is associated with the Matrox), but it might as the PCI device is directed to the nVidia.

You will have to look up things about the PCI/PCIE connections for the graphics board - the original configuration will have designated the slot used by the Matrox, and you want the new one.

This is about the limit of my knowledge on this. Some others will have more I'm sure.

[Carrot Cruncher]

i've configured the matrox pci card as the primary graphics device in the bios and booting the computer displays all the bios info successfully via the matrox, the grub info is also successfully displayed but as soon as plymouth kicks in the screen goes blank. there is still a signal being sent to the monitor but the screen is just black. the computer completes the boot but i see nothing more on the screen including no tty login prompts. i'm not sure if the matrox card is faulty so i'm sourcing a radeon 7000 to see if that works.