enabling two (or more,if possible) monitors on dual G5 Mac with ATI Radeon 9800 pro
  • Just looking around
    Robertc85
    Posts: 10 from 2023/2/14
    hello still loving MorphOS although i haven't used it in a long time, now that i'm back to my g5 and everything (shuriken tiger, ubuntu linux, morphos 3.18 and hopefully soon sorbet leopard) is freshly installed i was wondering if there's a way to have both screens operational outside of the OS X based systems, (it doesn't even work in linux yet) but i use morphos more than linux on this computer anyway. what's the best way to enable 2 monitors if not more as the dvi port on my gpu is dvi - i type and i have a dvi to dvi + vga adapter. i'd be happy enough just with dual screen display for now though.
  • »25.05.24 - 20:04
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2257 from 2003/2/24
    Dualhead support is restrained to specific GFX cards so without knowing what you have we can only guess.

    A quick check is to have two monitors connected and then go to Prefs->Screens, create a new one and see what modes are available.

    [ Edited by Kronos 25.05.2024 - 21:09 ]
  • »25.05.24 - 20:09
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  • Just looking around
    Robertc85
    Posts: 10 from 2023/2/14
    thanks i will try that next time i am booted into the OS but i am using a radeon 9800 pro i believe, it's got 1 dvi out and 1 adc out and 256mb of video memory
  • »25.05.24 - 20:18
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  • MorphOS Developer
    jacadcaps
    Posts: 3018 from 2003/3/5
    From: Canada
    Anything VGA is unlikely to work in dualhead.
  • »25.05.24 - 20:45
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    Kronos
    Posts: 2257 from 2003/2/24
    Quote:

    jacadcaps wrote:
    Anything VGA is unlikely to work in dualhead.


    Well ADC is really DVI+power+USB so that would not be an issue.
  • »25.05.24 - 20:58
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  • MorphOS Developer
    jacadcaps
    Posts: 3018 from 2003/3/5
    From: Canada
    Yes but if he uses a dvi to vga adapter to utilize the analog bits of the dvi, that will not work with MorphOS.
  • »26.05.24 - 02:50
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  • Just looking around
    Robertc85
    Posts: 10 from 2023/2/14
    Quote:

    jacadcaps wrote:
    Yes but if he uses a dvi to vga adapter to utilize the analog bits of the dvi, that will not work with MorphOS.



    the vga portion was going to be used under linux but that isn't working either, i have two digital screens one works in morphos, the other in linux, they both work together but only in mac os x i'd like to get them both working in all 3 systems if possible i may end up removing the y adapter anyway
  • »26.05.24 - 10:56
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2257 from 2003/2/24
    @jaca
    Yeah, missed the part about the DVI/VGA splitter....

    @Robertc85

    If you have 2 digital monitors connected and go to screen prefs and press either "edit" or "new" you should get a list with supported screenmodes.

    They all should start with "Radeon9800(pro)" and if some have a ".1" appended you can select one of these to use the 2nd screen.

    Note, Ambient itself works on only 1 screen at a time, but you can create a 2nd "public" and move application like Wayfarer over there.
  • »26.05.24 - 13:11
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  • Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    Priest of the Order of the Butterfly
    analogkid
    Posts: 663 from 2004/11/3
    From: near myself
    I'm stepping in here for a dual monitor problem I have, too. My G5 has got a Mac Radeon 9600 (RV360) with AGP and 1xADC and 1xDVI connector.. In case a Cinema Studio display is connected to the ADC connector, the display at the DVI port (BenQ FullHD) isn't recognised anymore. In the prefs I get only the screenmode for the ADC display, no ".1" screenmodes.

    I guess the gfxcard isn't supported for dualhead support?
  • »26.05.24 - 16:05
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2257 from 2003/2/24
    @analogkid

    When dualhead was introduced the list was this:

    - last (and 2nd to last?)gen PowerBooks with 128MB VRAM
    - iMac G5 (the only one using VGA for this)
    - the original 256MB 9650 found in the 2.7GHz G5

    AFAIK all additions were "upwards" hence not for 128/64MB 9600s.

    A complete list of supported cards would be nice though.....
  • »26.05.24 - 16:13
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2257 from 2003/2/24
    Quote:

    Robertc85 wrote:
    a radeon 9800 pro i believe, it's got 1 dvi out and 1 adc out and 256mb of video memory



    This must be the BTO version that shipped the Mac while the one I "found" in my tech pile is a retail version, still Mac specific but with DVI/S-Video/VGA.
    Quick test with DVI and VGA in my QuickSilver G4 gave me a distorted image on both monitors with no .1 modes.
  • »26.05.24 - 19:17
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  • Order of the Butterfly
    Order of the Butterfly
    igracki
    Posts: 391 from 2003/2/25
    From: Berlin
    I found out that the second monitor must be turned on before booting the computer!

    But sometimes it also works if the monitor is turned on after booting;)
  • »27.05.24 - 19:36
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  • Moderator
    Kronos
    Posts: 2257 from 2003/2/24
    @igracki

    I'd guess that is down to whether the monitor still answers to DDC when in standby.
  • »27.05.24 - 21:16
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