2

lshw shows two VGA compatible controllers.

  1. Where are they located?
  2. What are they used for respectively? Which one do you recommend to use?
  3. Which of the two controllers am I using currently?
  4. With only my T400, is it possible to switch between the two controllers?

Thanks!

output file is here and the relevant part is here:

*-pci:0
     description: PCI bridge
     product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Graphics Port
     vendor: Intel Corporation
     physical id: 1
     bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
     version: 07
     width: 32 bits
     clock: 33MHz
     capabilities: pci normal_decode bus_master cap_list
     configuration: driver=pcieport
     resources: irq:40 ioport:2000(size=4096) memory:bff00000-bfffffff ioport:c0000000(size=268435456)
   *-display
        description: VGA compatible controller
        product: RV620/M82 [Mobility Radeon HD 3450/3470]
        vendor: Hynix Semiconductor (Hyundai Electronics)
        physical id: 0
        bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
        version: 00
        width: 32 bits
        clock: 33MHz
        capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
        configuration: driver=radeon latency=0
        resources: irq:51 memory:c0000000-cfffffff ioport:2000(size=256) memory:bfff0000-bfffffff memory:bff00000-bff1ffff
*-display
     description: VGA compatible controller
     product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
     vendor: Intel Corporation
     physical id: 2
     bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
     version: 07
     width: 64 bits
     clock: 33MHz
     capabilities: vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
     configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
     resources: irq:49 memory:fc000000-fc3fffff memory:d0000000-dfffffff ioport:1800(size=8)

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1440 x 900, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1440x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 303mm x 190mm
   1440x900       60.0*+   59.9     50.0  
   1360x768       59.8     60.0  
   1152x864       60.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
Tim
  • 101,790
  • Your machine is supposed to be able to switch between them as a performance/power-usage trade off. That's "switchable graphics (integrated and discrete)" on the spec sheet at http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/PDFs/Thinkpad_t400_and_t500_datasheet.html. – derobert Apr 10 '14 at 23:31
  • Please always include your OS. Solutions very often depend on the Operating System being used. Are you using Unix, Linux, BSD, OSX, something else? Which version? In this particular case, if you're using a Debian-based Linux, inxi would be very helpful. – terdon Apr 11 '14 at 16:30

1 Answers1

3

You have 2 video cards installed from the output. 

 product: RV620/M82 [Mobility Radeon HD 3450/3470]
 vendor: Hynix Semiconductor (Hyundai Electronics)
 configuration: driver=radeon latency=0

 product: Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller
 vendor: Intel Corporation
 configuration: driver=i915 latency=0

The first is a ATI Radeon card, the second being a Intel card that's built into the chipset for your system.

The configuration lines show which drivers they're using on your system. From the output it looks like they're somewhat configured correctly, so I would investigate if they're showing up in X and just need to be enabled.

Follow-up Questions

You can determine which card is being used to drive which output.

$ xrandr --listproviders
Providers: number : 1
Provider 0: id: 0x49 cap: 0xb, Source Output, Sink Output, Sink Offload crtcs: 2 outputs: 8 associated providers: 0 name:Intel

But it's typically the case that the integrated chipset (Intel in your case) is what's driving the LCD panel on your Thinkpad. This is not configurable, as far as I know.

The external displays driven through your VGA port will typically be driven by the ATI Radeon card. Again this isn't a modifiable thing.

These things are not configurable so you'll not be able to change anything here, you'll only be able to use them.

slm
  • 369,824
  • Thanks! How do you investigate if "they're showing up in X and just need to be enabled"? What are the two used for respectively? How different are their purposes? – Tim Apr 10 '14 at 23:26
  • @Tim - start with xrandr and confirm that they both show up there. If they do then I would use GNOME or whatever desktop env. you're using. They typically include an applet in the system preferences dialog where you can enable/disable the displays. I typically just connect a 2nd monitor and it just works on Fedora 19. But I have had to configure them as well. Try it and report back, I can assist further. – slm Apr 10 '14 at 23:29
  • If you look at linked full lshw output, its a ThinkPad T400 notebook... so its switchable graphics... – derobert Apr 10 '14 at 23:32
  • @derobert Not necessarily, I have the same laptop. You can use either card or both. I have a T410. We use the dual carded Thinkpads at work too. Deroberts is saying that you use either one or the other if I understand his comment. – slm Apr 10 '14 at 23:34
  • @derobert How to switch? Phyically, or by software? – Tim Apr 10 '14 at 23:38
  • This video shows that laptop driving 3 displays: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EILchrLPmE – slm Apr 10 '14 at 23:39
  • @slm Ah, I have no experience with that particular model, sounds like you do... – derobert Apr 10 '14 at 23:39
  • sim, output of xrandr is posted. Don't know what that means. – Tim Apr 10 '14 at 23:40
  • @Tim - sorry try connecting another monitor and doing the xrandr. BTW what distro is this? – slm Apr 10 '14 at 23:43
  • ubuntu 12.04. (1) I don't have an individual monitor, but I have an old laptop Acer laptop, can it help? (2) Which of the two controllers am I using currently? (3) With only my T400, is it possible to switch between the two controllers? – Tim Apr 10 '14 at 23:45
  • @Tim - nope you can't drive another laptop's display. You'll need an external monitor w/ VGA to connect and test it out. It really should just work though. My co-worker is using a similar system and also has Ubuntu 12.04 I believe. – slm Apr 10 '14 at 23:46
  • @Tim - this URL shows an image of the dialog for enabling the displays/monitors. http://joe-riggs.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Screenshot-from-2012-04-27-152727.png – slm Apr 10 '14 at 23:50
  • @Tim - see updates. – slm Apr 10 '14 at 23:56
  • @Tim on my t4500, there's an option in the BIOS that allows you to choose one card or the other or to allow the OS to decide. – terdon Apr 11 '14 at 16:32