fglrx multiseat crash

[c1981]

Thanks for the chipset-info - I hadn't found that yet;
at the moment I've "cured" the USB quirk by using a Via based
USB controller instead.

My bet would be that 4850 support in the fglrx driver is not yet ready..
It might also be related to other power management options such as AMD cool'n'quiet - do you have it enabled? (i know the k9a2 has it disabled by default - causing odd behaviour in debian's power management).

[CMorrow]

The external card is a good idea. Looks like a Via PCI USB 2 card can be found for about $10, which would be a good stop-gap until I move to a new motherboard.

Cool'N'Quiet is enabled. I may have to replace the 4850 with my older 3870 or 3850 and see if I get the same result. I'll post back later with my findings.

[mtippett]

First and foremost, including tons of random configuration options is the surest way to put yourself off the tested path into some random confluence of issues.

For multiple cards, the recommendation is as follows

1. Drop your old config - hand tweaking a config file is evil, the X developers are trying to kill it anyway. Driver specific config is already in amdpcsdb, and so you shouldn't need much in your config file.

   X -configure

   is probably a great starting point.
2. Update your motherboard BIOS - A lot of problems come from funky BIOSes. Multicard systems are still a fringe domain and the mobo vendors do things in their own way. Some motherboards a quirked around windows and may never work reliably under Linux.
3. Use aticonfig to configure - Assuming you want each monitor on the card to run as a seperate X screen, all under one server then
   

   aticonfig --initial=dual-head --adapter=all

4. *ONLY* use aticonfig or amdcccle to configure the driver, hand modifying options are not supported and a prone to change or cause evil things to happen.

In general, the above should work. As bridgman has said elsewhere, the multi-ASIC support is relatively new and as a result bumps into other code under development (composite, randr, etc).

Matt

[CMorrow]

I appreciate the response, however there are some legitimate reasons that a custom xorg.conf was used.

This thread was originally about multi-seat X which *requires* custom configuration in xorg.conf to allow multiple independent seats on a single computer. Standard Xorg behavior is to take all input devices and all display devices and throw them in the same X session, which is not the intended behavior we are after.

If I were only trying to have a single simultaneous user on this computer, I'd be happy to let Xorg use its defaults and try to auto-configure everything for me. Unfortunately, with multiple people running multiple sessions using multiple independent display cards and multiple independent input devices, a custom xorg.conf is required to get things working properly.

[c1981]

Agreed; - most user responses seem to consider only Xgl, xephyr or other single server setups, while this thread is about using
multiple seperate X-servers - allowing for warp-speed openGL and far
greater stability (if it works that is, which at the moment is more easily acchieved with Nvidia than Ati).

If it's true that the X developers are trying to do away with custom xorg.conf - then maybe it's time to code a new dislay manager specialized in multiple X-servers, as opposed to the MDM project which only supports a single X-server.

P.S. CMorrow - did switching back to older adapters change anything?

[CMorrow]

P.S. CMorrow - did switching back to older adapters change anything?

Unfortunately not. I swapped out my 4850 for my 3850 (oldest recent ATI card I have) and booted up. DPMS still doesn't work. PowerPlay also reports that it isn't supported on that hardware, so I'm becoming more suspicious that it isn't due to "drivers not supporting the latest hardware."

I took some of MTippett's advice and updated my bios from 1.05 to 1.07, and also commented out most of my xorg.conf just so I could see if for some reason it was tripping over the config. I still can't get DPMS to work.

There is another thread on these forums started yesterday that I responded to where another user running Ubuntu 9.04 is having the same problems. I'm wondering if this is a distribution specific problem, or perhaps just an issue with the Catalyst 9.4 drivers on Xorg 1.6.

From a Motherboard standpoint, switching to nVidia adapters would be easier if the cards in the same performance range of the 4850s weren't all double-height double-power cards. When you're trying to hook up 2-4 cards in your case for 2-4 users, that's a lot of case real-estate.

On a related note, it's too bad you can't use the 48x0 X2 cards as 2 seperate display adapters.

For anyone running across this thread who may not know what a MultiSeat configuration is, check out WikiPedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiseat

[c1981]

That's too bad - I think you're right about the driver support - the switch should've made a difference if it was indeed a driver issue.
I didn't expect a bios update to make much of a difference, as I pretty much flash the bios to latest edition on all boards I come into contact with.

As far as it being a distribution specific issue - opensuse and centos have the same problem..
I could try building a Linux From Scratch install to see if that makes a difference?

It's a shame the x2 and alike cards can't be used as seperate adapters; But, Matrox adapters can. Although they do not offer any real performance besides office work, 4 quad-head matrox card can allow 'our' motherboards to drive the number of users up to 16. But Matrox cards are rather pricy in terms of performance per euro (or dollar).
That's why I use same generation yet different series Nvidia cards for the moment; the media center seats don't require all that much 3D power - just HD video power; so I use 1 -2 high power cards for gaming purposes and 2 low to medium power cards for the media centers.

[jamey0824]

I've been trying to get multiseat working too, so I am trying to do it in some sort of logical steps. To bad I can't get past step 1

I am just trying to get two video cards to work.
System
Asus Ma79T Delux
2 3450 vga cards , with 2 exactly same monitors
ubuntu x64

Tried with fgrlx(default on ubuntu and new 9.4, radeonhd, and ati drivers

The problem is I can never get a display from both cards working at the same time. Cmorrow or anyone can you confirm if you actually got two separate vga cards working under jaunty.

When i use fgrlx drivers at same time get stuck at bootup. Also note that when looking Catylst control center it never recognizance 2nd card, it sees it as unknown. When I use radeonhd drivers I am able to log in but nothing on second monitor

this is my xorg.conf

Section "ServerLayout"
	Identifier     "aticonfig Layout"
	Screen      0  "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
	Screen         "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
EndSection

Section "Files"
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
	Option	    "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
	Option	    "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
	Option	    "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:5:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier  "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
	Driver      "fglrx"
	BusID       "PCI:4:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
	Device     "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0"
	Device     "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
	Monitor    "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
	EndSubSection
EndSection

[CMorrow]

I did indeed get multiseat working under Jaunty x64. In fact, it works great! I replaced my ATI cards with nVidia cards (Qty 3. 9800 GTX+) and now DPMS works. I was able to get Multiseat working with at least 2 seats using ATI hardware but never could get DPMS working.

In fact, my wife, daughter, and myself ended up playing a 3 vs 3 multiplayer match of Demigod under Wine 1.1.20 on the same physical box (which ran rather well).

My first initial response about your xorg.conf is that you need one ServerLayout section for each seperate X server you are trying to run. With 3 people on my machine, that means 3 server layout sections (seat0, seat1, and seat2 as I have defined them).

Then, you need to remember to launch each of those X sessions using your login manager.

I'm using Kubuntu which uses KDM instead of GDM, so you'll have to do things slightly differently, but I made the following changes in my /etc/kde4/kdm/kdmrc:

# List of permanent displays. Displays with a hostname are foreign. A display
# class may be specified separated by an underscore.
# Default is ":0"
#StaticServers=:0
StaticServers=:0,:1,:2
# List of on-demand displays. See StaticServers for syntax.
# Default is ""
#ReserveServers=:1,:2,:3
ReserveServers=:3

.....<snip>.....
[X-:0-Core]
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp -layout seat0 -sharevts -novtswitch

[X-:1-Core]
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp -layout seat1 -sharevts -novtswitch

[X-:2-Core]
ClientLogFile=.xsession-errors
ServerArgsLocal=-nolisten tcp -layout seat2 -sharevts -novtswitch

Note that in each X server definition of my kdmrc, I specify a "-layout seat#" which corresponds with my ServerLayout section of xorg.conf. This is how xorg knows what hardware and settings to use in each session.

My xorg.conf

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)                   
#                                                                               

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier     "2343bwx"
        Option         "dpms"   
EndSection                      

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier     "216bw"
        Option         "dpms" 
EndSection                    

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier     "viewsonic"
        Option         "dpms"     
EndSection                        

Section "Screen"
        Identifier     "screen0"
        Device         "9800gtxplus-0"
        Monitor        "2343bwx"      
        DefaultDepth    24            
        SubSection "Display"          
                Depth       24        
        EndSubSection                 
EndSection                            

Section "Screen"
        Identifier     "screen1"
        Device         "9800gtxplus-1"
        Monitor        "216bw"        
        DefaultDepth    24            
        SubSection "Display"          
                Depth       24        
        EndSubSection                 
EndSection                            

Section "Screen"
        Identifier     "screen2"
        Device         "9800gtxplus-2"
        Monitor        "viewsonic"    
        DefaultDepth    24            
        SubSection "Display"          
                Depth       24        
        EndSubSection                 
EndSection                            

Section "Module"
        Load           "dbe"   # Double buffer extension
        Load           "glx"                            
        Load           "type1"                          
        Load           "speedo"                         
        Load           "freetype"                       
        SubSection "extmod"                             
                Option         "omit xfree86-dga"   # don't initialize the DGA extension                                                                        
        EndSubSection                                                           
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "keyboard0"
        Driver         "evdev"    
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:4.4:1.0-event-kbd"                                                                   
        Option         "XkbModel" "evdev"                                       
        Option         "XkbLayout" "us"                                         
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "keyboard1"
        Driver         "evdev"    
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:3.2:1.0-event-kbd"                                                                   
        Option         "XkbModel" "evdev"                                       
        Option         "XkbLayout" "us"                                         
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "keyboard2"
        Driver         "evdev"    
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:2.1.1:1.0-event-kbd"                                                                 
        Option         "XkbModel" "evdev"                                       
        Option         "XkbLayout" "us"                                         
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "mouse0"
        Driver         "evdev" 
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:4.3:1.0-event-joystick"                                                              
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "mouse1"
        Driver         "evdev" 
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:3.3:1.0-event-mouse"                                                                 
EndSection                                                                      

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier     "mouse2"
        Driver         "evdev" 
        Option         "Device" "/dev/input/by-path/pci-0000:05:02.2-usb-0:2.4:1.0-event-mouse"                                                                 
EndSection                                                                      

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "seat0"
        Screen         "screen0" 0 0
        InputDevice    "mouse0" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
        Option         "DisableModInDev" "true"
        Option         "AutoAddDevices" "off"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "seat1"
        Screen         "screen1" 0 0
        InputDevice    "mouse1" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
        Option         "DisableModInDev" "true"
        Option         "AutoAddDevices" "off"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier     "seat2"
        Screen         "screen2" 0 0
        InputDevice    "mouse2" "CorePointer"
        InputDevice    "keyboard2" "CoreKeyboard"
        Option         "DisableModInDev" "true"
        Option         "AutoAddDevices" "off"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier     "9800gtxplus-0"
        Driver         "nvidia"
        BusID          "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier     "9800gtxplus-1"
        Driver         "nvidia"
        BusID          "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier     "9800gtxplus-2"
        Driver         "nvidia"
        BusID          "PCI:4:0:0"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
        Option         "AllowMouseOpenFail" "true"
        Option         "Xinerama" "0"
        Option  "DontZap"       "True"
        # Disable ctrl alt backspace
        # Option        "DontZap"
        # Xorg will otherwise not start if it can't find a mouse to use.
        # Disable xinerama
EndSection

[jamey0824]

Man thanks so much for the info. I have a follow up question. I know you having issues with dpms on you ati cards. Other than that can you tell me which drivers you had success with (ati, RadeonHD, frglx). I know you said previously that frglx worked minus the dpms. Did you try the other drivers (ati, RadeonHD)? I'll let you guys know my results on the dpms, if i can get that far.