Ubuntu :: External Monitor - Recognise The TV As The Main And Switch Off The LCD
Apr 23, 2010
My laptops screen has recently gained an annoying blue tint, which i do not have the expertise (or money to pay somebody) to fix, so i am using my TV as an external monitor. So what i am proposing to do is purely use the External and leave the laptop monitor off. I am dual-booting Windows XP and Ubuntu 10.04 Devel, In XP it was a simple case of right clicking the Intel Graphics Media Accelorator and choosing the External Monitor option, this then allowed me to set my resolution to 1280x960 and i was happy. (even bigger desktop than before actually)
I cannot seem to find this option in Ubuntu, going through System -> Prefrences -> Monitor gives me the option to mirror the screens, but that leaves me with an incredibly low resolution, choosing to not mirror the screens allows me to set the resolution to 1280x960, but the LCD screen still acts as my main. Is there any way I can set it to recognise the TV as the main, and switch off the LCD like I did in Windows?
I recently installed Debian, using the amd64 Network Install .iso. I'm using XFCE4 as my desktop environment, and everything is working well... on my laptop's screen.
My desired setup is to have my laptop sitting on a well-ventilated shelf, closed, and to have an external monitor be my main monitor. I want this because I'm using my laptop as my "home" computer, so it never moves, and I don't like the keyboard/trackpad. My laptop has a VGA output, and I can get my desired setup on my Windows partition (not stating a preference ; just that the hardware CAN do what I want it to).
I've been working my way around the Internet for a few days, now, and I've got the commercial NVIDIA driver installed. If I run sudo nvidia-config --twinview I can get my external monitor to be part of the display, which is great, but it's part of a dual-screen monitor setup, which is not what I want at all, because (a) XFCE's multiple virtual desktops are good enough for me and (b) my graphics card is integrated, and I'm trying to squeeze every drop of performance out of my laptop that I can (1 gig of RAM; the less that my graphics card eats into it, the better). Plus, it'd be annoying to accidentally drop something on my laptop's screen, and then have to dig it out of the shelf in order to undo it. I'm not saying that I'm consistently clumsy, but I'd eventually end up doing it.
I'm using dual-screen output with KDE 4.4 on my laptop. Is it possible to have the KDE panel on the external monitor if attached and back on the laptop's LCD panel as soon as the monitor is disconnected?
It seems that Plasma prefers the built-in LCD even if an external monitor is connected. I tried various settings with xrandr and also in the System Settings but none of them helped. The only way to move the KDE panel to the external screen is to disable the built-in LCD.
What I would basically like to do is to use the external monitor as primary in the office and the laptop LCD next to it as a second screen. When I'm traveling I'd like to use only the laptop LCD.
Is there also a nice way to switch between the screens? On the Internet I found a script for the "screen switch" key for IBM Thinkpad and modified it to work on my Dell. But it would be nice to have this also automatic: autodetect the monitor attachment/removal and perform a configured action. The KRandr doesn't seem to have such a feature. Is there anything I could use?
My system is: Kubuntu 9.10 with KDE 4.4 upgrade. Hardware: Dell Inspiron 1545 with Intel GM45 card.
I am looking for a way to switch quickly and easily between my Laptop Display and my External Monitor, in Windows I had it configured so that when I plugged my Monitor in it would switch to that and when I removed it it would switch back to Laptop Display. From what I have tried it looks like this isn't possible with Linux, but I would like to get to the stage when I can click an icon to switch (or 1 to go to External and 1 to go to Laptop) My Laptop has an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500 Series Graphics Card and I have so far noticed the following issues.
1. If I use the Gnome Monitors instead of ATI Catalist Control Centre it seams to cause some strange issues include confusing Linux on what the max screen res supported by my External Monitor is.
2. When I try and enable/Disable either Display or change Resolution, I am told that I have to reboot before the changes take affect.
I've got an eeePC with a really tiny monitor, so whenever I go (home, faculty, parent's home, friend's home, ...) I attach it to any external monitor I can find.
If it matters my system is like this:
Archlinux Linux 2.6.36 Xorg 7.6 X server 1.9.2
Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (fully accelerated by intel modules)
When I boot up the system, it uses the integrated monitor (LVDS1) only, and I have to manually manually switch to the external monitor (VGA1) using xrandr.
Is it possible to configure my Xorg (or whatever) so that it uses the VGA1 output if present?
I don't know if it sounds weird but I've been trying for weeks with no result. I want to plug my external monitor through my laptop's vga plug, close the lid and work on my monitor instead of the laptop's monitor. I looked through the gnome power management settings and when the laptop lid is closed it can only suspend, blank screen, hibernate or shutdown. I can plug my monitor and I have clone displays and it works fine but I can' find a way to shutdown the laptop screen without shutting down the vga outlet. Its a brand new Acer aspire 5734Z with a 15,6 inches screen (wich is why I want to plug in my 19 inches monitor and work on bigger screen)
I'd like to switch to dual booting on my main machine. However, I'm like, a really serious competitive gamer. I play in leagues, go to LANs and performance is my greatest concern here. If I dual boot Fedora & Windows, will I have any performance issues with Windows, while booting in Windows, if I have Fedora on the same hard drive?
I don't think there should be any issues but I would like some clarification or nformation on it. Searching for 'gaming' with Linux isn't very information when it comes to dual booting, so I was just wondering.
TL;DR: Will dual booting Windows & Fedora cause any CPU/GPU/LAG/performance issues while I boot into windows and play a game (Source, TF2, Unreal Engine Games...etc)?
I am having problems getting my external monitor to work. When I plug in the monitor, both the laptop screen and the external monitor go black. When I unplug the monitor, the laptop screen works again. When I startup with the external monitor plugged in, neither screen works or teh computer hangs or something.
I have had the external monitor going on a couple of occasions. I did manage to configure my monitors through System Settings > Display. I turned off the laptop monitor as I just want to use the external. But after rebooting, things didn't work.
I have an external monitor connected to my laptop (extended display). I always drag the Totem player from the laptop screen to external monitor to watch video files. I wonder, if the Totem player can be set to open in the external monitor automatically, everytime I open it?
My software and hardware information are as follows. I have Fedora 12 and KDE 4.4.5 installed on a Dell Vostro 1500 laptop. I believe it's a 64 bit processor; it's an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU. The external monitor is a Dell as well.
My problem is that my system does not seem to be detecting an external monitor that I have connected. Everything else is working just fine; however, I would like to have the option of attaching an external monitor. When I plug the external monitor into the laptop, the external monitor remains black and appears to be in power save mode. The results of xrandr -q (with or without the external monitor attached: it doesn't appear to change) are as follows.
Code:
How can I get my laptop to recognize that the external monitor is even connected? Let me know if I can be more specific or provide additional details.
I have an external monitor connected to my laptop and I'm trying to change the external monitor to be my main monitor (the one that the menus appear on).
There is no option to change the primary monitor in system>preferences>monitors.
I have an external hard drive I use for backups. This drive has entire operating system on it(don't know which one, but I think it's intrepid), from when I did a complete backup eons ago. I have added new stuff since then. I tried to erase the system files on it, since they take up space and aren't likely from my current system. I don't run the drive all the time, only when I'm backing up files. The rest of the time, it's off. When I did this, I couldn't run any programs on my main computer( the bin directory was gone), and it wasn't in my trash on the main drive or the external drive. I tried re-installing without erasing my home directory on the main drive; it went okay, until I tried to open a file.
My /home apparently had nothing in it, so i downloaded my backup files, only to run out of room. The files were there; I just couldn't see them. I tried to open several programs, but was told I didn't have root access. Finally, I just reformatted the whole drive and re-installed everything. What I'd like to know is:1. How do I clear the junk from the external drive without hurting the main drive?
2. Why did erasing the old bin file on the external drive whack the same file on the main drive?3.Several times before, I have upgraded or re-installed xubuntu, leaving my home directory intact. The upgrade either can't find my files, or forgets half my settings. How can I keep my files and settings? I hate having to re-install everything from scratch each time I upgrade. I thought having a separate /home directory was supposed to protect all that.
I have to hold a presentation using a projector in a few days and I have to bring my own laptop, so I tried hooking up a second monitor to test if it works. As it turns out, the second monitor works fine, but then my main screen is messed up. I'm using Ubuntu 9.04 and I'm doing this on a HP Pavilion DV4000 laptop. My main screen shows just the bottom (cca) 400 pixels of the wallpaper, no bottom panel, no desktop icons. And I'm kind of scared to remove the second monitor now cause I don't know what I'll do if I don't get the main screen back.. Well, other than installing 9.10 beta that is..
if I use xset dpms force off, then the monitor sleeps only few seconds (sometimes miliseconds and then goes up again without moving mouse, ... (by itself)But it is no system problem - if the monitor is switched off from GNOME - e.g. after 10 min, then it stays sleeping up to some action (mouse, keyboard, ...).Why do it not work if switched off manually
I've been having an issue with switching two of my monitors' status. I've got a 19' Sceptre monitor, and a 24' Samsung SyncMaster P2450.I'm using an ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card. I'm using 2 DVI ports to connect the monitors.Currently, all of the icons and menu bars are appearing on the Sceptre monitor. The Sceptre monitor is also to the left of the Samsung monitor. I've looked all through the Catalyst Control Center preferences and can not find anything useful.
I'm trying to setup my media streaming server, and everytying is going quite well, but there's one thing I don't understand. Can you have ubuntu automatically pick up and mount your external USB drive when you switch it on? I don't like leaving the hard drive running, and I only need to have it on when I want to stream something, but it seems to lose the mount when I switch it off and on again. Anyway to make it automatically detect that it's on and mount it back onto my mount point?
My computer is running mythbuntu 9.10 on a 24" LCD monitor using VGA. The monitor also has a DVI input where I run my Roku movie box with a HDMI to DVI cable. Is there software that I can run on my mythbuntu pc that will allow the user to pick which output would be active on the monitor? I can disconnect the Roku power to get back to my pc but I need the pc to switch over the monitor to the Roku.
how do i configure a designated monitor to be my main desktop when running dual monitors in separate x windows?i cant use twin view, as full screen issues and refresh rates are different.
I recently hooked my television up to my computer as a second monitor so that I can watch videos on it. However, I don't always want to be in dual monitor mode. I've found that running "gksudo nvidia-settings" allows me to switch between the two modes without restarting X if I change some settings around and click "apply".
Is there a way I could setup two scripts to handle this process? The main problem I'm encountering is the fact that I change all the settings through the nvidia-settings graphical interface; therefore, I have no idea what's actually happening behind the scenes, so I don't know how to go about putting the two scripts together (what commands to issue, etc.).
I have a laptop that I use in three environments with different monitor setups.
1) At work, I have a 1280x1024 second monitor. 2) At home, I have a 1920x1080 second monitor. 3) In meetings and other places I have no second monitor.
Whenever I switch between these setups, which is at least several times each day, I have to manually change the monitor configuration. I use the nvidia-settings tools.
Granted, it only takes a few seconds. Is there a way to make the system smart enough to automatically detect when a monitor is added or removed, know *which* monitor is attached, and reconfigure the resolution and monitor layouts the way I want them?
For some reason I cant get the syntax to switch to a directory in my external harddrive. I know I've done it before but now I can't get it to work. Here is what I've done.
cd /home/media/My Book/folder Where MyBook is the name of the hard drive.
The idea is that I got to grips with Linux a couple of times in the past; most recently in a Radio Astronomy class (where we had to use openSUSE and terminals 24/7). I loved it so much that I fired up Wubi on my laptop and I am having a play.
Then I loved it even more.
So here's the plan:
Find Windows (Vista) CD *sigh* Get 500 GB external Hard Drive Backup files to HD (60 GB max) Reformat Laptop & Reinstall Windows ====
To my understanding, this gives me a blank slate with a lot of room to play with because of the external HD. If this is not possible/too risky etc. then what are the best alternatives?
The plan is to make my primary OS Ubuntu. The way I figured, to keep things simple, is to keep the laptop's HD with Windows as 'normal'. I would thus install Ubuntu to the external HD, and put my files etc. on that.
Now, is that possible for a clean installation? Ideally, it would be fantastic if the boot can be configured so it would boot Ubuntu if the HD is connected, and Windows if not.
Setup:Ubuntu 10.04 recently upgraded from 9.10Dell Precision m63004G RAMCore 2 DuoDual Monitor with laptop=screen0 monitor=screen1external mouse and keyboardIssue:In both 9.10 and 10.04 (I am just now trying to solve the issue) the setup works great, but not flawless.External mouse and keyboard work with no issue.The touchpad mouse on the laptop, however, will not switch from screen1 to screen0. It works fine on either screen and will go from screen0 to screen1, just will not return. One has to hook up an external mouse to get the cursor back onto the laptop screen0.
I am using DELL Latitude E5510 laptop with docking station. The problem I am facing is I am not able to switch screen b/w monitor and laptop screen, I tried with fn+F8 key. Actually I have installed open SuSE11.3(Linux) operating system.
i have my pc connected to my 24 inch lcd monitor via DVI and my laptop via VGA. i noticed ubuntu is slightly more blurry than the pc. would the difference likely stem from the manner of connection or faulty drivers on ubuntu's behalf?
i know this sounds stupid but on my xubuntu i cant connect my laptop to a monitor it connects on bootup so i can see the startup but i cant change after. ive tried a lot of things and i googled it and searched but no answer i have xubuntu 8.04
My experience with external monitors in Linux is harrying at best. It's getting better, but it still ain't perfect. My current experience (I have an nVidia card, with nVidia drivers, on a Vostro laptop):
Turn on computer (booting Karmic). Connect external monitor Click on System->Preferences->Display Redirect to nVidia's tool Perform at least 8 more clicks to enable secondary monitor. Realize resolution isn't optimal and set it with another few clicks. Click Apply Accept changes Quit, then really quit, the app.
I always have to set the resolution, it doesn't detect it automatically. The main screen is *always* on the external monitor no matter my settings. I'm screwed if I unplug the monitor but forget to go through steps 1-8, this time disabling the external monitor. I have to replug it in, then turn it off, then I can unplug it. If I unplug the external monitor and plug in another one (going through steps 1-8 twice more) with different resolution capabilities (e.g. a projector), the settings get all messed up again.
Why can't adding an external monitor be automatic? It nearly is on OS X for instance. I plug it in, and it automatically detects the monitor and makes it a secondary monitor, or mirrors them, or turns it on and turns off the laptop screen. All the while being consistent about it. When I unplug the monitor, it knows instantly that I've done that, and reconfigures the laptop screen once again.
I imagine the answer is because no one has stepped up to do it yet, or it's in progress. So my question: what *is* the state of external monitor codes in Linux, and are there any plans to implement them in Lucid? Further, what would be a project, with *user friendly* context, to which I could tune in?
Or, am I not aware of the "right way" to do it?
I define user friendly as roughly the level of kernelnewbies.org . That is, kn.org is my gauge of what I can understand.
I am using a Asus UL30A laptop computer. I just performed an upgrade from 9.10 to 10.04. I remember running into this problem before, but I forgot how to fix it. The problem is, when I plug my laptop into the external monitor with my laptop screen turned off automatically when I first log in, I do not see the mouse cursor on the external monitor! The mouse cursor is still here, although invisible - if I do a right-click, the property menu will come up. My current workaround is simple- if I switch to the next workspace (by pressing Ctrl-Alt-right arrow), the cursor will appear from then on.
I run Ubuntu on a MacBook Pro with an external monitor connected. But currently the external monitor only works with one user account. The External gets no signal and the laptop display is used on the login page. Is there any way of having the login page and possibly startup displayed on the external at all times for all accounts.
System > preferences > Display Doesn't work for me, I use NVIDIA X Server Settings
