Date: Wed, 26 Apr 2006 19:46:38 -0500 From: "Z.C.B." <vvelox@vvelox.net> To: Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> Cc: Arnt Gulbrandsen <arnt@gulbrandsen.priv.no>, freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: External monitors/projector Message-ID: <20060426194638.37f64141@vixen42.vulpes> In-Reply-To: <20060426230321.GG33167@wantadilla.lemis.com> References: <20060426064545.GH5914@absaroka.hunter-gatherer.org> <NVUtbyxB94BJCEsk8TlRug.md5@libertango.oryx.com> <20060426230321.GG33167@wantadilla.lemis.com>
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On Thu, 27 Apr 2006 08:33:21 +0930 Greg 'groggy' Lehey <grog@FreeBSD.org> wrote: > On Wednesday, 26 April 2006 at 10:40:25 +0200, Arnt Gulbrandsen > wrote: > > Par Leijonhufvud writes: > >> I have a IBM Thinkpad R50e with 5.3 and x-org. Sometimes I want > >> to use a projector as a secondary monitor (mostly with beamer > >> style presentations). I haven't been able to find any good > >> pointers on how to get it to use the external monitor/projector > >> properly. Any suggestions? > >> > >> Ideal would be having the option of either have the screen and > >> the external monitor/projector show the same things _or_ being > >> treated as separate entities... > > > > The former is easy. Press some button on your laptop 2-3 times. > > Specifically, the one marked "CRT/LCD" or some such. On my laptops > (Dell) it's Fn/F8. > > > The latter is sort of impossible, unless you cheat by using one of > > those 802.11 beamers. > > This depends entirely on the display chip set. Microsoft can now > handle dual displays, so more modern laptops are capable of > displaying different things on the LCD panel and the external > connector. It's not always clear whether X can handle it; for > example, I've had a Dell Inspiron 6000 for 6 months now, and I > still can't work out how to get it to drive the external display > correctly. Not tried it with my Toshiba yet, but I assume it works the same as on my desktop. Just treat it like a multihead video card. The hard part with X is getting it to only display stuff on the external screen when something is connected. > Note that there are many other issues with external monitors, and > even more with projectors: many projectors are much more finicky > about signal timing, and will just shut off if they don't like what > they're given. Again, the Microsoft world has normalized this sort > of thing. If you're planning to use projectors a lot (for > presentations, for example), it's a good idea to mimic Microsoft > timings. X should be able to fetch this using DDC.
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