I suspect I have a fairly simple problem but am getting in over my head
and need some help setting up a multihead X configuration.

I have a plain vanilla installation of Solaris 9 on an Ultra 60, 1.5GB,
2x450 MHz CPUs, originally configured with one Elite3D lite card in the
64 bit/66 MHz PCI slot as a single head installation. All ran fine.

I have now added a pair of Elite3D-m3 cards in the 2 UPA slots. At
boot, the Elite3D in the first UPA slot comes up as the character mode
console device and the OS boots normally up to the point of starting
X/CDE desktop then default to the console login with ...could not start
X server... error message .

I configured the Xservers file to include the two Elite as the default
display :0.0 on /dev/fbs/afb0 and /dev/fbs/afb1, but on closer
examination, found that the devices do not exist in /dev or /dev/fbs.

I do have a device /dev/fbs/ifb0 corresponding to the Expert3D lite card.

Here are the questions:

1. How do I obtain and install the necessary device files,
/dev/fbs/afb0 and /dev/fbs/afb1 to allow the two Elite3D's to drive 2
monitors under X/CDE?

2. Finally, assuming I get all the drivers and device files squared
away, is there a way to configure Xinerama to run on the two Elite3Ds
and run the Expert3D as a separate screen, same X session allowing the
mouse pointer to move to this screen, cut and paste to work, etc?

3. In the meantime, how can I start the Xserver in the expert3D card?
It is not the default Solaris character mode boot device, so I am not
sure how to set up the Xserver file to run this card **alone** to tide
me over pending Elite3D's configured and running and all the new
monitors are delivered. I would like to avoid ripping out the two just
installed cards to get back to the original configuration.

Thanks for the help in advance.

"Steven R. Jones" <srjones10@cox.net> writes in comp.sys.sun.hardware:
|1. How do I obtain and install the necessary device files,
|/dev/fbs/afb0 and /dev/fbs/afb1 to allow the two Elite3D's to drive 2
|monitors under X/CDE?

Install the afb drivers - look on your Solaris CD's for packages named
SUNWafb* and pkgadd all of them.n

|2. Finally, assuming I get all the drivers and device files squared
|away, is there a way to configure Xinerama to run on the two Elite3Ds
|and run the Expert3D as a separate screen, same X session allowing the
|mouse pointer to move to this screen, cut and paste to work, etc?

No. Xinerama is currently all or nothing - you can't have some cards
in and some cards out.

|3. In the meantime, how can I start the Xserver in the expert3D card?
|It is not the default Solaris character mode boot device, so I am not
|sure how to set up the Xserver file to run this card **alone** to tide
|me over pending Elite3D's configured and running and all the new
|monitors are delivered. I would like to avoid ripping out the two just
|installed cards to get back to the original configuration.

Can't you just set the Xservers file to -dev /dev/fbs/ifb0 ?

--
__________________________________________________ ______________________
Alan Coopersmith * alanc@alum.calberkeley.org * Alan.Coopersmith@Sun.COM
http://www.csua.berkeley.edu/~alanc/ * http://blogs.sun.com/alanc/
Working for, but definitely not speaking for, Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Alan Coopersmith wrote:
> "Steven R. Jones" <srjones10@cox.net> writes in comp.sys.sun.hardware:
> |1. How do I obtain and install the necessary device files,
> |/dev/fbs/afb0 and /dev/fbs/afb1 to allow the two Elite3D's to drive 2
> |monitors under X/CDE?
>
> Install the afb drivers - look on your Solaris CD's for packages named
> SUNWafb* and pkgadd all of them.n
Also don't forget to apply the Elite3d AFB patches:
Solaris 9 = 112620-10
Solaris 8 = 108604-35
There are probably patches for the Expert3d also...

>
> |2. Finally, assuming I get all the drivers and device files squared
> |away, is there a way to configure Xinerama to run on the two Elite3Ds
> |and run the Expert3D as a separate screen, same X session allowing the
> |mouse pointer to move to this screen, cut and paste to work, etc?
>
> No. Xinerama is currently all or nothing - you can't have some cards
> in and some cards out.
>
> |3. In the meantime, how can I start the Xserver in the expert3D card?
> |It is not the default Solaris character mode boot device, so I am not
> |sure how to set up the Xserver file to run this card **alone** to tide
> |me over pending Elite3D's configured and running and all the new
> |monitors are delivered. I would like to avoid ripping out the two just
> |installed cards to get back to the original configuration.
>
> Can't you just set the Xservers file to -dev /dev/fbs/ifb0 ?
>
You can also set the Expert3d as the console device by following the
instructions in:
http://sunsolve.sun.com/data/817/817...17-2195-11.pdf

Start with page 41. This is the XVR600 installation guide but the
instructions here apply to any framebuffer device.

--
----------------------------------
Randy Jones
E-Mail: randy@jones.tri.net
----------------------------------

In article <cu6o4l$13uq$2@agate.berkeley.edu>, Alan Coopersmith <alanc@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>"Steven R. Jones" <srjones10@cox.net> writes in comp.sys.sun.hardware:
>|1. How do I obtain and install the necessary device files,
>|/dev/fbs/afb0 and /dev/fbs/afb1 to allow the two Elite3D's to drive 2
>|monitors under X/CDE?
>
>Install the afb drivers - look on your Solaris CD's for packages named
>SUNWafb* and pkgadd all of them.n
>

Then, do a "boot -r" at this point, so it can rethink your devices, and
rebuild the /dev/fbs and /devices stuff.
You can do this from Unix with "reboot -- -r"

After reboot, "fbconfig -list" should show the new devices,
if all went well.

>|2. Finally, assuming I get all the drivers and device files squared
>|away, is there a way to configure Xinerama to run on the two Elite3Ds
>|and run the Expert3D as a separate screen, same X session allowing the
>|mouse pointer to move to this screen, cut and paste to work, etc?
>
>No. Xinerama is currently all or nothing - you can't have some cards
>in and some cards out.
>
>|3. In the meantime, how can I start the Xserver in the expert3D card?
>|It is not the default Solaris character mode boot device, so I am not
>|sure how to set up the Xserver file to run this card **alone** to tide
>|me over pending Elite3D's configured and running and all the new
>|monitors are delivered. I would like to avoid ripping out the two just
>|installed cards to get back to the original configuration.
>
>Can't you just set the Xservers file to -dev /dev/fbs/ifb0 ?
>

On Mon, 07 Feb 2005 20:49:03 -0600, wrote:

> In article <cu6o4l$13uq$2@agate.berkeley.edu>, Alan Coopersmith <alanc@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
>>"Steven R. Jones" <srjones10@cox.net> writes in comp.sys.sun.hardware:
>>|1. How do I obtain and install the necessary device files,
>>|/dev/fbs/afb0 and /dev/fbs/afb1 to allow the two Elite3D's to drive 2
>>|monitors under X/CDE?
>>
>>Install the afb drivers - look on your Solaris CD's for packages named
>>SUNWafb* and pkgadd all of them.n
>>
>
> Then, do a "boot -r" at this point, so it can rethink your devices, and
> rebuild the /dev/fbs and /devices stuff.
> You can do this from Unix with "reboot -- -r"
>
> After reboot, "fbconfig -list" should show the new devices,
> if all went well.
>
>>|2. Finally, assuming I get all the drivers and device files squared
>>|away, is there a way to configure Xinerama to run on the two Elite3Ds
>>|and run the Expert3D as a separate screen, same X session allowing the
>>|mouse pointer to move to this screen, cut and paste to work, etc?
>>
>>No. Xinerama is currently all or nothing - you can't have some cards
>>in and some cards out.
>>
>>|3. In the meantime, how can I start the Xserver in the expert3D card?
>>|It is not the default Solaris character mode boot device, so I am not
>>|sure how to set up the Xserver file to run this card **alone** to tide
>>|me over pending Elite3D's configured and running and all the new
>>|monitors are delivered. I would like to avoid ripping out the two just
>>|installed cards to get back to the original configuration.
>>
>>Can't you just set the Xservers file to -dev /dev/fbs/ifb0 ?
>>
Thanks for everyone's help. I've got the drivers installed, X configured
and all is up and running. Only one final problem. The original CDE
desktop configuration is running on the first monitor in the Xservers
lineup, with the default on the other two. The usual CDE desktop config
routines do not seem to reset the color scheme, background, etc. How do I
make this work? I have not been able to find any references to this
problem in the CDE docs or the multihead X docs.

Thanks in advance...