From: Dean S. Messing on
: Anton Ertl wrote:
: > Dean S. Messing <somewhere(a)OverTheRainbow.org> writes:
: >> The display will come with an ATI card and is supposed to work fine
: >> under a MS Windows system. I have no idea if linux can drive the ATI
: >> card that comes with it. (I have heard that Nvidia generally plays
: >> better with Linux and have, myself, always used Nvidia cards.
: > ATI cards up to the X850XT are a good choice if you want to use 3D
: > acceleration with free drivers. The X1600XT that comes with the
: > display does not even have drivers for 2D acceleration, so you
: > probably don't want to use that.
:
: Using the closed-source ATI drivers should be fine, though.

Can you write a few words about how one configures the closed
source driver to drive the display? I've never used
ATI before. With Nvidia, there's TwinView. Is there
something equivalent for ATI?

Dean
From: Dean S. Messing on
Vladimir Florinski wrote:
: Dean Messing wrote:
: > The display will come with an ATI card and is supposed to work fine
: > under a MS Windows system. I have no idea if linux can drive the ATI
: > card that comes with it. (I have heard that Nvidia generally plays
: > better with Linux and have, myself, always used Nvidia cards.
:
: You will need an NVidia card, preferably a Quadro. A Quadro 5500 will
: happily drive this screen (the card will cost you well over $2000).

Well, I did say money was "not a problem". $2000
might be a problem. I was thinking somewhere in the nbhd of
$600-800. (I must still purchase the computer too :-) Is there an
nVidia card that will (almost) certainly work around this price range?

: It has
: two dual DVI-I ports. The Toshiba display will appear as 2 monitors that
: you will join together with TwinView to create a single graphic desktop.

This is very interesting (and helpful). If I understand you, I will
have a single desktop on the computer which will be sprayed out of two
(dual-link?) DVI ports as though the desktop was going to a pair of
1920x2160 displays. The Toshiba presents itself as two such monitors
and will take in the 2 (dual-link) DVI signals and electronically
"paste" them together onto a 3840x2160 panel. Is this
approximately correct?

I'm still not sure why the Toshiba salesman would tell us that I will
use 2 DVIs when the web page

<http://www.toshibadisplays.com/P56QHD1.htm>

explicitly says four. Can one come out of a Dual-link DVI with
some sort of splitting cable that would feed two (single-link?) DVIs
on the monitor?

Another question. According to the above web page, it sounds
like the four panel DVIs will act like 4 1920x1080 panels. How
is the EDID info handled by two dual-link DVIs?

: It is possible that a lower-end card will suffice (perhaps a GeForce 7
: series card), but make sure both ports are dual link and that it is rated
: for the resolution.

Good info. Thanks.

: ATI will most likely not work

Why?

: and you should not be
: seriously considering the open drivers.

I wasn't.

Thanks, Vladimir, for your help.

Dean
From: John-Paul Stewart on
Dean S. Messing wrote:
> : Anton Ertl wrote:
> : > Dean S. Messing <somewhere(a)OverTheRainbow.org> writes:
> : >> The display will come with an ATI card and is supposed to work fine
> : >> under a MS Windows system. I have no idea if linux can drive the ATI
> : >> card that comes with it. (I have heard that Nvidia generally plays
> : >> better with Linux and have, myself, always used Nvidia cards.
> : > ATI cards up to the X850XT are a good choice if you want to use 3D
> : > acceleration with free drivers. The X1600XT that comes with the
> : > display does not even have drivers for 2D acceleration, so you
> : > probably don't want to use that.
> :
> : Using the closed-source ATI drivers should be fine, though.
>
> Can you write a few words about how one configures the closed
> source driver to drive the display? I've never used
> ATI before. With Nvidia, there's TwinView. Is there
> something equivalent for ATI?

When you first install the ATI driver (or anytime thereafter, by using
the 'aticonfig' utility) you can specify whether you're using one
monitor or two (with several options for the behaviour of the two
monitors). This should all be covered in ATI's documentation.

You can, of course, also directly xorg.conf to achieve the same result.
From: Vladimir Florinski on
On Sun, 11 Feb 2007 19:56:49 -0800, Dean S. Messing wrote:

> Vladimir Florinski wrote:
> : Dean Messing wrote:
> : > The display will come with an ATI card and is supposed to work fine
> : > under a MS Windows system. I have no idea if linux can drive the ATI
> : > card that comes with it. (I have heard that Nvidia generally plays
> : > better with Linux and have, myself, always used Nvidia cards.
> :
> : You will need an NVidia card, preferably a Quadro. A Quadro 5500 will
> : happily drive this screen (the card will cost you well over $2000).
>
> Well, I did say money was "not a problem". $2000
> might be a problem. I was thinking somewhere in the nbhd of
> $600-800. (I must still purchase the computer too :-) Is there an
> nVidia card that will (almost) certainly work around this price range?

Nvidia *officially* supports up to 2560x1600 per panel with their consumer
level cards, but I strongly suspect that most 8-series and even 7-series
cards will have more capability than that. Clearly, with 512 MB RAM memory
is not the limiting factor. Resolution may also be limited by the pixel
clock, but according to Nvidia docs, the pixel clock is 400 MHz on all
their newer cards, which is more than enough for 3840x1080 (or 1920x2160,
however the screens are arranged) at 60 Hz. The driver supports up to
4096x4096 (8192x8192 on GeForce 8), so software should not be an issue
either. Basically, I don't see any technical reason for it not to work with
an $300 GeForce 7900 GT. The official limit on resolution may just be a
way for NVidia to market their high-end professional cards, who knows.

> : It has
> : two dual DVI-I ports. The Toshiba display will appear as 2 monitors that
> : you will join together with TwinView to create a single graphic desktop.
>
> This is very interesting (and helpful). If I understand you, I will
> have a single desktop on the computer which will be sprayed out of two
> (dual-link?) DVI ports as though the desktop was going to a pair of
> 1920x2160 displays. The Toshiba presents itself as two such monitors
> and will take in the 2 (dual-link) DVI signals and electronically
> "paste" them together onto a 3840x2160 panel. Is this
> approximately correct?

Yes.

> I'm still not sure why the Toshiba salesman would tell us that I will
> use 2 DVIs when the web page
>
> <http://www.toshibadisplays.com/P56QHD1.htm>
>
> explicitly says four. Can one come out of a Dual-link DVI with
> some sort of splitting cable that would feed two (single-link?) DVIs
> on the monitor?

This link also says 2 DVI (check the PDF specs):

http://www.toshibadisplays.com/P56QHD.htm

>
> Another question. According to the above web page, it sounds
> like the four panel DVIs will act like 4 1920x1080 panels. How
> is the EDID info handled by two dual-link DVIs?
>

I think it's 2 screens, rather than 4 (see link above). A dual-link port is
not for 2 different displays, it's for one large display that needs more
bandwidth than a single link DVI can provide.

> : It is possible that a lower-end card will suffice (perhaps a GeForce 7
> : series card), but make sure both ports are dual link and that it is rated
> : for the resolution.
>
> Good info. Thanks.
>
> : ATI will most likely not work
>
> Why?

It wouldn't hurt to try, but my experience with ATI is not very positive
(although their recent drivers are reportedly getting better). This is
clearly an unusual setup and I would not be surprised if their driver is
baffled by the strange EDID or resolution. Most importantly, Nvidia has a
useful support forum run by experienced technical staff, so if you happen
to have a problem, they should be able to help. I don't know if ATI has
that kind of support.

--
Vladimir
From: Steve Wampler on
Dean S. Messing wrote:
> The display will come with an ATI card and is supposed to work fine
> under a MS Windows system. I have no idea if linux can drive the ATI
> card that comes with it. (I have heard that Nvidia generally plays
> better with Linux and have, myself, always used Nvidia cards.

Their product literature claims that an Nvidia EN7900GTX or 7800GTX
card will drive the display to full resolution.

--
Steve Wampler -- swampler(a)noao.edu
The gods that smiled on your birth are now laughing out loud.