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Kalle Elmér
Asked: 2012-06-20 04:52:02 +0800 CST

Xinerama with hardware acceleration at the same time

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Is there some way that I can have Xinerama enabled and still use hardware acceleration? I have three monitors on 2 GPUs. I have enabled Xinerama, but now all hardware acceleration is gone. This results in bad framerates in games, and Compiz isn't working properly. In case this is impossible, is there some way to move applications between X screens without Xinerama? Here is my xorg.conf, generated by NVIDIA X Server Settings:

# nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings
# nvidia-settings:  version 295.33  (buildd@zirconium)  Fri Mar 30 13:43:34 UTC 2012

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor0"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 85.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor1"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "GML GM-QUADRANT-A"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier     "Monitor2"
    VendorName     "Unknown"
    ModelName      "Samsung SyncMaster"
    HorizSync       30.0 - 81.0
    VertRefresh     56.0 - 75.0
    Option         "DPMS"
    # HorizSync source: edid, VertRefresh source: edid
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen0"
    Device         "Device0"
    Monitor        "Monitor0"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "CRT: nvidia-auto-select +0+0; CRT: 1280x1024_75 +0+0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen1"
    Device         "Device1"
    Monitor        "Monitor1"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "DFP: nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier     "Screen2"
    Device         "Device2"
    Monitor        "Monitor2"
    DefaultDepth    24
    Option         "TwinView" "0"
    Option         "metamodes" "nvidia-auto-select +0+0"
    SubSection "Display"
        Depth       24
    EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Mouse0"
    Driver         "mouse"
    Option         "Protocol" "auto"
    Option         "Device" "/dev/psaux"
    Option         "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
    Option         "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
    Identifier     "Keyboard0"
    Driver         "kbd"
    # generated from default
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
    Option         "Composite" "Disable"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
    Identifier     "Layout0"
    Screen      0  "Screen0" 0 0
    Screen      1  "Screen1" RightOf "Screen0"
    Screen      2  "Screen2" RightOf "Screen1"
    InputDevice    "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
    InputDevice    "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
    Option         "Xinerama" "1"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device0"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 570"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          0
    Option  "NoLogo"    "True"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device1"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce GTX 570"
    BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
    Screen          1
    Option  "NoLogo"    "True"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier     "Device2"
    Driver         "nvidia"
    VendorName     "NVIDIA Corporation"
    BoardName      "GeForce 9500 GS"
    BusID          "PCI:7:0:0"
    Option  "NoLogo"    "True"
EndSection
xinerama

2 Answers

  1. Try including

    option "RenderAccel"  "true"

    in your "Device" sections.

    • 2
  2. Best Answer

    It seems this is not possible since Xinerama emulates a single virtual monitor. Since this virtual monitor is all software, there can be no hardware acceleration.

    I've solved this by using a graphics card with a built-in DVI splitter. The OS can only see a single big monitor.

    Maximizing windows work after tweaking compiz, see Split monitor in two.

    • 1