Script for Dynamic Display Management with fglrx - Revision history

Akw: Category

2009-01-18T22:49:32Z

Jcgregorio: /* Set permissions and restart acpi */

2008-11-21T19:07:49Z

‎Set permissions and restart acpi

Jcgregorio: /* Set permissions and restart acpi */

2008-11-21T19:06:26Z

‎Set permissions and restart acpi

Jcgregorio: /* Installation */

2008-11-21T19:05:43Z

‎Installation

Jcgregorio: /* OSD */ Switched script to actually get the user as opposed to being hard coded to some random user name.

2008-11-21T17:02:01Z

‎OSD: Switched script to actually get the user as opposed to being hard coded to some random user name.

Hypnotoad: /* References */

2008-01-06T18:08:51Z

‎References

Hypnotoad: Article creation

2008-01-06T18:08:15Z

Article creation

New page

The proprietary [[fglrx]] driver from ATI allows dynamic display switching, e.g. to switch to an external display for a presentation. [[Xorg RandR 1.2]] allows the same, but sometimes the newer version is not available, or not compatible e.g. when the proprietary ATI driver needs to be used for some reasons. The current version of it does not support the dynamic switching capabilities of XRandR 1.2.

In these cases, the following switching script provides the same functionality, which you can bind to a keypress such as Fn-F7. The script uses ATI's aticonfig tool for switching, XRandR for resolution adjustment, and Xosd for displaying OSD status messages. Thus, it should work on most Linux-running laptops whith ATI graphics cards (tested with [[:Category:Ubuntu 7.04|Ubuntu 7.04]] and [[:Category:Ubuntu 7.10|Ubuntu 7.10]] on a Thinkpad [[:Category:T43|T43]]). When an external display is connected, the script switches from internal to both internal and extarnal, then to external only, and finally back to internal display only.

==The Script==
<bash>
#!/bin/bash
#
# Script to switch displays, e.g. by pressing Fn-F7 on Thinkpad Laptops.
# Uses aticonfig from the ATI fglrx driver for dynamic switching, and
# xrandr for resolution changing. OSD done with xosd.sh, which uses
# osd_cat from Xosd.
#
# Author: Armin Hornung -- www.arminhornung.de
# Date: 2008-05-01
#
# Partly based on a display switching script from SuSE 10.1
#

# path to xosd.sh, change to "echo" if not installed
xosd="/usr/local/bin/xosd.sh"

# path to xrandr
xrandr="/usr/bin/xrandr"

INTERNAL="lvds" # internal LCD of Laptop
EXTERNAL="crt1" # external monitor, CRT or TFT

# Determine X user, script usually runs as root:

getXuser() {
user=`finger| grep -m1 ":$displaynum " | awk '{print $1}'`

if [ x"$user" = x"" ]; then
user=`finger| grep -m1 ":$displaynum" | awk '{print $1}'`
fi
if [ x"$user" != x"" ]; then
userhome=`getent passwd $user | cut -d: -f6`
export XAUTHORITY=$userhome/.Xauthority
else
export XAUTHORITY=""
fi
}

for x in /tmp/.X11-unix/*; do
displaynum=`echo $x | sed s#/tmp/.X11-unix/X##`
getXuser
if [ x"$XAUTHORITY" != x"" ]; then
# extract current state
export DISPLAY=":$displaynum"
_enabled_monitors=`su $user -c "aticonfig --query-monitor | grep Enabled"`
_connected_monitors=`su $user -c "aticonfig --query-monitor | grep Connected"`
fi
done

# determine if internal is active
echo "${_enabled_monitors}" | grep $INTERNAL > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
_internal_enabled=yes
else
_internal_enabled=no
fi

# determine if external is connected
# (LVDS always assumed to be connected)
echo "${_connected_monitors}" | grep $EXTERNAL > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
_external_connected=yes
else
_external_connected=no
fi

# determine if external is active
_external_enabled=no
echo "${_enabled_monitors}" | grep $EXTERNAL > /dev/null 2>&1
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
_external_enabled=yes
fi

#### display switching part ####

if [ "${_internal_enabled}" = "yes" ]; then
if [ "${_external_connected}" = "yes" ]; then
if [ "${_external_enabled}" = "yes" ]; then
# switch to external only, after both enabled:
$xosd "Enabling $EXTERNAL" &
su $user -c "aticonfig --enable-monitor $EXTERNAL"
# adjust resolution back to standard:
$xrandr -s 1280x1024 -r 60
else
# switch to both enabled, after external only
$xosd "Enabling $INTERNAL & $EXTERNAL" &
su $user -c "aticonfig --enable-monitor $INTERNAL,$EXTERNAL"
# adjust resolution:
$xrandr -s 1280x1024 -r 60
fi
else
$xosd "No external display connected" &
if [ "${_external_enabled}" = "yes" ]; then
# switch back just if external display got disconnected
su $user -c "aticonfig --enable-monitor $INTERNAL"
$xrandr -s 1400x1050 -r 60
fi
fi
else
# switch back to internal only, after external enabled:
$xosd "Enabling $INTERNAL" &
su $user -c "aticonfig --enable-monitor $INTERNAL"
# adjust resolution back to standard:
$xrandr -s 1400x1050 -r 60
fi

exit 0
</bash>

==OSD==
Using the helper script below, Xosd can be used for displaying status messages.

/usr/local/bin/xosd.sh:
<bash>
#!/bin/bash
# 2006-03-09 <pille@struction.de>
#
# displays text in arguments on X screen using osd_cat (in some nicely preconfigured style)

OSD_CAT=`which osd_cat`
XOSD="${OSD_CAT} --delay=2 --age=0 --lines=2 --pos=bottom --align=center --font=-adobe-helvetica-bold-r-normal-*-*-180-*-*-p-*-*-* --colour=green --shadow=1 --offset=25 --indent=25"

# get user running X display (needed when run by script)
# XUSER=`ps -C Xsession -o user h`
XUSER="armin"

if [ "${USER}" == "${XUSER}" ]; then
echo $@ | ${XOSD}
else
echo $@ |su ${XUSER} -c "DISPLAY=${DISPLAY:-:0.0} ${XOSD}"
fi
</bash>

==Installation==
Place the switching script at /etc/acpi/ati-toggle.sh and create /usr/local/bin/xosd.sh. Finally, the script needs to be bound to the key Fn-F7 by creating or editing /etc/acpi/events/ibm-videobtn to:
<bash>
# /etc/acpi/events/ibm-videobtn
# This is called when the user presses the video button.

event=ibm/hotkey HKEY 00000080 00001007
action=/etc/acpi/ati-toggle.sh
</bash>

==References==
[http://www.arminhornung.de/index.php?section=Linux&file=ATI%20dynamic%20display%20switching&l=en http://www.arminhornung.de] - Source, has scripts available for download
[[Sample Fn-F7 script]] - A similar script using XRandR 1.2 for switching

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:49, 18 January 2009
Line 166:		Line 166:

	[[Sample Fn-F7 script]] - A similar script using XRandR 1.2 for switching		[[Sample Fn-F7 script]] - A similar script using XRandR 1.2 for switching
		+	[[Category:Scripts]]

@@ Line 152: / Line 152: @@
 == Set permissions and restart acpi ==
 As root, or using sudo run the following commands,
- {{cmduser|sudo chmod 755 /etc/acpi/ati-toggle.sh}}
+# Restart the ACPI service
- {{cmduser|sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/xosd.sh}}
+sudo /etc/init.d/acpid restart
+</bash>
 You should be ready to go, just press Fn-F7 to try.

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:06, 21 November 2008
Line 154:		Line 154:

	{{cmduser\|sudo chmod 755 /etc/acpi/ati-toggle.sh}}		{{cmduser\|sudo chmod 755 /etc/acpi/ati-toggle.sh}}
		+	{{cmduser\|sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/xosd.sh}}
		+
	{{cmduser\|sudo /etc/init.d/acpid restart}}		{{cmduser\|sudo /etc/init.d/acpid restart}}

@@ Line 149: / Line 149: @@
 action=/etc/acpi/ati-toggle.sh
 </bash>
 ==References==

@@ Line 131: / Line 131: @@
 # get user running X display (needed when run by script)
-# XUSER=`ps -C Xsession -o user h`
+XUSER=`ps -C Xsession -o user h`
 if [ "${USER}" == "${XUSER}" ]; then

@@ Line 153: / Line 153: @@
 ==References==
 [http://www.arminhornung.de/index.php?section=Linux&file=ATI%20dynamic%20display%20switching&l=en http://www.arminhornung.de] - Source, has scripts available for download
 [[Sample Fn-F7 script]] - A similar script using XRandR 1.2 for switching