On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:42:56 +0000, hdwhgwe wrote:

> First off, I'm a newbie, so don't be too harsh on me, lol. I basically
> just want to try out using a TV (I live in europe, so that would be a
> pal-tv, if it matters) as my screen. "cat /proc/pci" says I've got nVidia
> Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 MX420]. I'm running Mandrake 9.1. Here's the
> thing though, I've never dealt with this sort of thing before, so I'm
> pretty lost. What kind of wires do I need? Do I need some special
> software? I've got two outs, AV-Out and S-Out, so what's the difference
> and how do I use them? I tried searching, but couldn't find anything
> sufficiently "beginner".

I've done this with an nVidia GeForce Ti 4200. Basically what I did was
edit the XF86Config to create a new "screen", "monitor" and "device"
section, and then connect the television to the card with an S-Video
cable. Then, update the "serverlayout" section to add the new screen,
thereby creating a multi-headed display.

Also, simply physically disconnecting your monitor and using only the
television (through S-Video cable) and restarting the X server _may_ do the
trick, if you only want to watch the occasional video.

I imagine it would be similar with an AV cable.

Check out the README that comes with nVidia's Linux drivers, it describes
a lot of neat things you can do. It is not exactly geared towards a
beginner, but will definitely give you the best starting point. Just
remember to backup your XF86Config

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