External monitor

[henriette_holm]

Hi.
I have a laptop with a ATI Radeon 9700 running Ubuntu 5.04. When I connect an external monitor to the computer and boot it, everything works fine until Gnome starts. Then the picture on the external monitor disappears and it
shows a "no signal" error.
Any suggestions?

-Henriette

My xorg.conf looks like this:

Section "Files"
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server
# if the local font server has problems, we can fall back on these
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/CID"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
# paths to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/CID"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "bitmap"
Load "dbe"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "record"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "dk"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ImPS/2"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility 9600/9700 M10/M11
(RV350 NP)"
Driver "fglrx"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "ATI Technologies, Inc. Radeon Mobility 9600/9700 M10/M11 (RV350 NP)"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 1
Modes "1400x1050"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 4
Modes "1400x1050"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1400x1050"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1400x1050"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1400x1050"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1400x1050"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

[bsm2001]

You will have to create an second xorg.conf file for use with the external monitor since the config file in use is for the attached monitor and the monitor propertiesare much different.

[henriette_holm]

Ok, could you be a bit more specific. How do I choose which xorg.conf file to use? Do I have to copy them back and forward each time I reboot?

-Henriette

[JamminJoeyB]

That would be one way to do it. Or you could write a script to help you do it.

I'm not good with scripts at all, but some of the other people around here are and could help you set this up.

Call me crazy, but I'd see if I could get both going at once. Dual monitors are so much fun.

You may or may not be able to do this with a laptop.

[henriette_holm]

Now I actually have the dual dispaly running - in a clone mode which is what I want. There is still one issue though. THe picture on the laptop is now bigger than the actual size of the screen - which results in the picture moving around all the time. I'm not sure which of the different parameters in the xorg.conf does what but I would like the have the picture on the laptop fit the screen size. It's locked to 1400x1050.
I have attached my xorg.conf,
Thanks
Henriette

[DimGR]

you need to set up the driver for your ATI if it is not set up already.

Then use fglrxconfig !

[henriette_holm]

The driver is set up for ATI. When I run fglrxconfig it just messed up everything.

[DimGR]

because you didn't do right

[Satanic Atheist]

OK - maybe this is something that MS got right...

Whenever I've used an external monitor on a laptop, all I had to do was operate FN+[Key-of-the-day] to activate it. Generally, it would cycle through the modes of TFTON/MONOFF, TFTON/MONON, TFTOFF/MONON.

I've never tried doing this with X and Linux so if anyone can fulfil me with the complicated side, I'd much appreciate it.

Thanks,

James

[infiniphunk]

Wow, and I was just going to start a thread in the same vein; here is what I want to do for a presentation scheduled for the 29th(at 9 am). I am to give a presentation at school to a class on setting up a windows/linux dual-boot system, and the technical report and presentation are not a problem, except for some of the means I want to use to deliver the presentation. I will be demonstrating to a class a Satellite A10 laptop that has both winXP and linux(Mepis with fluxbox). My first thought was, "wouldn't it be great if I can use the projector" ( the kind attached to the ceiling) to show what the laptop is doing." Originally I was just going to have the laptop facing the class (its a small class, 13-15 people) and they could just look at the LCD and see what it does. But I thought, ok, "I can plug the VGA from the projector into the laptop, then they don't all have to squint to see what is happening on the LCD, cause the projector will show it on the screen."
The only problem with this, I now realize, is that it may not work since XF86Config-4 is setup for the LCD display on the laptop and not a VGA output in the back of the laptop. Is their an easy way to do this??