what to change in xorg.conf to use external monitor?

Greetings,

I have an AA1 with the standard Linpus distribution. I want to hook it up to a Samsung SyncMaster 226BW external monitor

what do I have exactly to add/modify in xorg.conf to make this work? I only am able to drive the monitor at the same resolution
as the integrated one, which is real ugly. I want to drive the Samsung at 1680x1050@60Hz, its native resolution. How do I do it?

More exactly: I do know Linux and have edited X.org modelines and other parameters several times in the past with other computers
but I can't get it working this time, I don't know what I am missing. I want the 1680x1050 mode to show up in the graphical monitor
setting window, but what needs to change exactly? May I ask you folks to post complete Xorg.conf files for AA1 / Linpus Lite which do work with
external monitors too?
If I get one of them I can modify it myself to make it work for my specific monitor, thanks

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!!!!
Thanks again,

Marr

 

The section titled "The right resolution with an external monitor" at http://jorge.ulver.no/2008/08/06/acer-aspire-one-tips-and-tricks/ might be helpful.

 

I don't think that the AA1 is capable of doing the 1680x1050 that that monitor can handle. It's designed to drive a 1024x600 8.9" inch display...

 

The AA1 default X.org.conf file is preconfigured to draw the integrated 1024x600 screen, but from what I've found online the netbook can indeed do higher resolution. People who installed other Linux distros are doing it.

From what I've found, there is no doubt that the netbook can do quite better than 1024x768. And I'm sure there are other people who are using external monitors with the AA1 and Linpus Lite. It's just that, since the X.org versions aren't the same and no complete Xorg.conf files have been posted anywhere, it would take a lot of trial and error to find the right syntax.

As I said, all I need is that anybody who has an AA1 with the default Linpus Lite distro, already configured to use any external monitor at any resolution higher than the one of the netbook own monitor please post here the complete /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. I can figure out all the rest from there myself.

Thanks,
Marr

 

Ok... Let's give er a try then. I bought a Samsung T220 (same resolution) on boxing day... I'm currently driving it with my aa1 in 1024x768. Kinda sucks that I got a wide screen monitor with black bars on each side...

I'll mess around with my xorg.conf a bit today and see if I can get this to work. Stay tuned.

Edit: Now that I think about it I'm running a stock Linpus LIte X.org install and I'm running my monitor at higher than 1024x600 resolution. I am using the default monitor settings utility to achieve this. I've noticed that when I have the display on both I can only choose the 1024x600, but when I display on external only I have more choices. Just thought I'd point that out.

 

Wow this is a lot of real estate to look at in 1680x1050

Code:

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard0"
        Monitor     "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1680x1050 1024x600" "800x600" "640x480"
         Virtual 1680 1050
        EndSubSection
EndSection

I modified the above section to include the new resolution and then used the fn-f5 hotkeys and now I have my Samsung T220 running in native resolution goodness.

However, the "Display Preferences" utility is not aware of the changes. It still thinks I'm running in 1024x600. At first I was running 1680x1050 on both displays, but I was able to turn off the aa1 screen using the display preferences utility. Now I only have my T220 on, and in native resolution.

So now we just need to make the Display Preferences utility aware of the changes....


Edit: SUCCESS!!!

Modify /usr/share/xfce-mcs-plugins/display_plugin_size.lst to read:

Code:

1680x1050
1024x768
1024x600

And you will now have native resolution goodness via the Display Preferences Utility.

 

badmuddahumpa,

thanks for the tip!I had managed just ten minutes ago to get native resolution of the external monitor, but pasting modelines and other stuff from another xorg.conf file, your solution is much faster and cleaner.

So, just to be 100% sure that I got you right (sorry, I'm very tired right now): the "screen" section above is the ONLY part you had to modify, (in order to get native resolution on the external screen) in the stock LinpusLite xorg.conf file you got with the AA1, is this correct? (since the display_plugin_size.lst thing is a separate issue...)

Thanks again,

Marr

 

Correct. I only edited the screen section.

 

It should be like this (some quotes misplaced):

Code:

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Videocard0"
        Monitor     "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth     24
        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes    "1680x1050" "1024x600" "800x600" "640x480"
         Virtual 1680 1050
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Thanks for the tip!

 

I'm trying to get an external LCD monitor working with my AAO using the above advice but am having no luck. The monitor is a 19" LCD with native resolution of 1280x1024. With that in mind I have edited the two files mentioned as below and rebooted. This has had no apparent effect, I only have a single screen resolution (of 1024x600@60) in the Display Preferences dialogue no matter which combination of displays is selected. Changing using Fn-F5 also makes no difference.

Can anyone suggest what the problem might be?

Many thanks

/etc/X11/xorg.conf

Code:

...
Section "Screen"
	Identifier "Screen0"
	Device     "Videocard0"
	Monitor	    "Monitor0"
	DefaultDepth     24
	SubSection "Display"
		Viewport   0 0
		Depth     24
		Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "1024x600" "800x600" "640x480"
	 Virtual 1280 1024
	EndSubSection
EndSection
...

/usr/share/xfce-mcs-plugins/display_plugin_size.lst

Code:

1280x1024
1024x768
1024x600