Dual monitors?

[Heiroglyph]

Can MorphOS run dual monitors?

I have a Powermac G5 with a Radeon 9600 Pro and two LCDs that do the same resolutions, but aren't the same models.

I hooked them up with an adapter for the BS Apple connector and they each work individually, but when both are attached I only see the one with the adapter. I assume that's the primary head on the card.

Edit: Tried adding a PCI Radeon 7000, but now that monitor works and the AGP 9600 just turns on and stays gray. Still no good.

Thanks,
John

[Heiroglyph]

AFAIK none of the Amiga OS's currently supported dual output from the same card.  OS4.x just displays the same image on both outputs but I don't know about the others.

I found information that said some old versions of MorphOS (2.x?) supported multiple monitors but used the screen depth gadget to switch input to them. Then they supposedly added moving the mouse freely between them at some point.

So with both cards plugged in it defaults to the 7000.  Do both cards appear in the monitor prefs?

No, I only see the monitor that is attached to the active card in monitor prefs with no obvious way to show more and in screens I only see the active screen.

I did find a reference that said MOS 2.x only suported multiple PCI cards, but that doesn't do me much good with one AGP and one PCI.

[Heiroglyph]

Did you create a new monitor driver in Devs/Monitors or whatever the MorphOS equivalent might be.

No, didn't think to try that, but I didn't have to do that for a single monitor.

I was hoping there were directions somewhere.

[Heiroglyph]

You can use dual monitor support with MorphOS, but it currently does not work using the same graphic card driver for both screens.

So you cannot use two radeons, as both use the same radeon driver. The resolution of the screen does not matter. Any combination will work, as long as it is supported by the used Graphics card.

I use a Voodoo3 PCI together with a Radeon9000 in a PowerMac G4, which works fine.

 Geit

Ah, that sucks. These are the only two Mac video cards I own. I have PCI Nvidia and Voodoo cards, but they're for PC.

Any idea if they're working on that odd limitation?

[Heiroglyph]

Voodoos don't have to be Mac-specific (AFAIR there never was a Mac Voodoo3) as that driver started on the GRex and does not reley on the card being prepped by OF/BIOS/whatever.

Problem is that there are still some PCI related issues with the G5 that make such combo only useable in G4 Macs.

That's interensting. Would an AGP Voodoo 5 work in a G5?

Then I could use the PCI Radeon 7000 for the other head.

[Heiroglyph]

It should work just as well as the other way round, but you may get lucky in avaoiding those PCI-issues.

Read, we will know after you tried.

One problem (besides the fact that I want my 9600 Pro) is that the Voodoo 5 needs a power connector that my G5 doesn't have. It only has SATA power connectors.

That's the reason I had to put my SCSI drives in an external box.

I guess I'll try one of the PCI Voodoo cards in a little while.

[Heiroglyph]

I've tried using an ATI AGP card with a voodoo 3 in a PCI slot (g5 pmac here) with no luck. It senses the voodoo 3, but when I launch a game (wipeout2097 for example) and select the voodoo 3 as the output, it "tries" to push an image to the other monitor via the voodoo but then freezes. This goes for any  number of things I tried pushing to the other screen.

I just had a similar expreience.

The butterfly logo shows up on the voodoo, but when I add a screen, it shows a little garbage on the top of the monitor and locks up.

Oh well, I guess single monitor only

[Heiroglyph]

Actually it does have 1 normal/old power connector as the CD-drive is still IDE not SATA.

Splitters for these are penny-items on ebay or elsewhere.

Duh, why didn't I think to look there? lol

I guess I had it in my head that the CD would be SATA too.

Oh well, it would remove my 9600 and I've tried enough combinations that I'm tired of dealing with it for now, but maybe I'll give the Voodoo5 a shot when I get bored.