Member Avatar for Iseekknowledge1

Hey, i've got Ubuntu Hooray Hedghog edition installed on my computer and it runs great! any way, i'm using an ATI All-In-Wonder X600 Pro graphics card and i have the dual monitor set up and working. but my problem is that all of my 3D graphics run really slow. so i was wondering if there is a way to configure the Xscreensaver to use just one of my screens but clone it to the other monitor so that instead of it haveing to run at 2560 X 1024 it runs at 1280 X 1024 and cloned to the other monitor, so that there is less data so that it can run faster.

any help is greatly appriciated

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Dani AI

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raised the core issue: your screensaver is rendering across a single large X desktop (2560x1024) and you want it to render at one 1280x1024 framebuffer and have the second monitor show a clone, so the GL work is halved. correctly pointed at driver-side multi‑head options; here are practical next steps and a low‑risk automation idea you can try.

First, check whether your driver exposes RandR outputs and support for mirroring. Run:

xrandr --query

If RandR is available you can mirror with a command like:

xrandr --output <PRIMARY> --mode 1280x1024 --same-as <SECONDARY>

That makes the driver present one framebuffer and scan it out to both screens (fast when supported). If that succeeds, you can script switching in/out of mirrored mode.

If RandR is not available (or Xinerama is in use), consider a different approach: monitor xscreensaver events and toggle mirroring only while the saver runs. xscreensaver provides a watcher mode; this template watches for BLANK/UNBLANK and runs xrandr. Replace the placeholders with your actual output names:

xscreensaver-command -watch | while read ev; do
  case "$ev" in
    BLANK*|LOCK*) xrandr --output <PRIMARY> --mode 1280x1024 --same-as <SECONDARY> ;;
    UNBLANK*|DEACTIVATE*) xrandr --output <PRIMARY> --mode 1280x1024 --right-of <SECONDARY> ;;
  esac
done &

Be aware mode switches can flicker and some drivers won’t switch cleanly.

Finally, verify actual GL acceleration before chasing configuration tricks: run glxinfo | grep "direct rendering" and try glxgears to compare FPS. If fglrx is underperforming, testing the open‑source radeon/Mesa stack (or a different fglrx/Catalyst release) is a sensible comparison. Also inspect /var/log/Xorg.0.log for driver messages. These diagnostics will tell whether the bottleneck is driver/GL or just the screensaver’s shader complexity.

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Member Avatar for Member #2466

If you're using ATI...you can run the card in Dual Head mode. Install the ATI proprietary driver and control panel, go into the control panel, enable dual screen, extend desktop horizontally, logout and log back in. You're set.

There also a thread about setting it up at linux questions: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/showthread.php?t=40125

If you aren't using ATI, It's possible but difficult...

http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Xinerama-HOWTO/

There are a couple of caveats to it as well...such as different resolutions on different monitors, etc. If you're looking for a good window manager that is Xinerama capable..try enlightenment.

Member Avatar for Iseekknowledge1

ya, i have all of that stuff set up (i'm using FGLRX ATI properity device to set up my dual monitors), i'm just trying to make 3D graphics run faster and smoother. i have the hardware accelerator installed but it doesn't make a lot of difference, only two more FPS. so i was just wondering if there is some way to configure Xscreensaver to set the screens to "clone" mode so that there is less data so it will run faster, and then switch out of clone mode when i get out of it. or if someone just knows of a good hardware accelerator for an ATI graphics card (radeon X600) because the one i have installed doesn't work too well.

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