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From: Dean S. Messing on 9 Feb 2007 16:04

Our laboratory has just purchased a Toshiba P56QHD (56" Quad HD
3840x2160) display for our research. It has not arrived yet so I
can't actually test anything at present.

I would like to know if it will be possible for Linux to drive this
beast. If one of the video card experts on this list would kindly
have a look at what follows, and at

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

and let me know what he thinks I would be very much obliged.

If linux _will_ drive it, I need to cut a Purchase Order for the
machine and video card to do it and I would value your suggestion on
the best sys. configuration. $$$ is not a problem.

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.

As background, here is a snippet of e-mail from B. Armstrong, Toshiba
Salesman (see the above URL), to my boss regarding this display when we
ordered it:

Your cost will be **** - this will include the video card needed
with the driver. The panel is a 2 DVI input and the video card
will work in any PC or workstation with PCI-Express. The panel
comes with a power cable and 2 DVI-D cables. You can download all
the specifications from http://www.toshibadisplays.com/P56QHD.htm.

I have attached the specifications for the ATI card we are using - this
card is being built specifically for the 56" panel.

Brett W. Armstrong
Toshiba Display Systems

One confusing thing is: the web page says "4 DVI inputs", but
Mr. Armstrong says two. Armstrong also sent us a .pdf
about the ATI card that will come with this.

Finally here is some info from the ATI card .pdf that Armstrong
sent us. I can't find this card on the web. Evidently it is
very new.

ATI Dual-DVI EXPRESS graphic card (QFHD EXPRESS 2.0)
P/N#101-QFHD-20

Features

RADEONTM X1600 XT core
256MB GDD3
PCI Express x 16
CrossFire Support
Microsoft DirectX 9.0c / OpenGL 2.0 acceleration
AvivoTM Technology
3D Graphics Resolution of 3840x2160 Max
TV-Out
Smoothviision HD + Adaptive AA
Vido acceleration of : MPEG-2,
MPEG-4, DivX, WMV9, VC-1, and H.264


Thanks very much for any help you can provide.

Sincerely,
Dean S. Messing
Sr. Scientist
Display Algorithms & Visual Optimization Laboratory
Sharp Laboratories of America
From: Anton Ertl on 9 Feb 2007 16:54
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.

Nvidia cards are only supported with 2D acceleration with free
drivers.

>One confusing thing is: the web page says "4 DVI inputs", but
>Mr. Armstrong says two.

My guess is that the display needs two dual-link DVI inputs (note that
a dual-link DVI port is just one DVI port with more pins active than
with a single-link DVI port). My impression until now is that there
is not dual-link DVI support in free drivers (but I am not very sure
about that; if anybody knows better, let me know). 4 single-link DVI
inputs would probably be easier to use.

In any case, if you buy a different card and need dual-link DVI, make
sure you get a card with two dual-link DVI ports. Some older cards
only support single-link DVI ports (e.g., my X550), so even with
driver support they cannot drive monitors that need dual-link DVI.

Let us know how it works out.

- anton
--
M. Anton Ertl Some things have to be seen to be believed
anton(a)mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at Most things have to be believed to be seen
http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/anton/home.html
From: John-Paul Stewart on 9 Feb 2007 18:21
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.
From: Vladimir Florinski on 10 Feb 2007 03:46
On Fri, 09 Feb 2007 13:04:07 -0800, Dean S. Messing wrote:

> Our laboratory has just purchased a Toshiba P56QHD (56" Quad HD
> 3840x2160) display for our research. It has not arrived yet so I
> can't actually test anything at present.
>
> I would like to know if it will be possible for Linux to drive this
> beast. If one of the video card experts on this list would kindly
> have a look at what follows, and at
>
> <http://www.toshibadisplays.com/P56QHD1.htm>
>
> and let me know what he thinks I would be very much obliged.
>
> If linux _will_ drive it, I need to cut a Purchase Order for the
> machine and video card to do it and I would value your suggestion on
> the best sys. configuration. $$$ is not a problem.
>
> 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). 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.
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. ATI will most likely not work and you should not be
seriously considering the open drivers.

--
Vladimir
From: Dean S. Messing on 11 Feb 2007 22:30
Anton Ertl writes:
: 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.
:
: Nvidia cards are only supported with 2D acceleration with free
: drivers.

Sorry, I did not make it clear in my first post. I have no
qualms about using either ATI or Nvidia closed source
drivers. Can you say anything certain about whether the ATI
closed source driver for linux would drive the device?
Thanks.

Dean
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