[ubuntu-uk] ubuntu-uk Digest, Vol 47, Issue 51 Laptop-- to projector

[Howard Berry]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Thank you to all those who have replied.
Unfortunately, the video projector is locked away somewhere so I no
longer have access. I have tried just plugging a monitor into the lap
top and I get images on both the lap top and the monitor- so that is all
I need.
As a matter of interest the help button on the Screen Resolutions
Dialogue box has no effect whatever, so you just have to guess your way
around it.
Incidentally I will tell the group of the help given by the group in
sorting out my problem.
Many thanks,
Howard

Message: 5
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:07:51 -0000
From: "Andrew Oakley" <Andrew.Oakley at hesa.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [ubuntu-uk] linking laptop to video projector
To: "British Ubuntu Talk" <ubuntu-uk at lists.ubuntu.com>
Message-ID:
	<F5B7F5364CC3424A9FB8F22357985A177D5DB4 at exchange0.hesa.ac.uk>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"

Howard Berry wrote:
> > Windows on my Vaio laptop. In windows you can toggle the display by
> > pressing Fn+F7.
> > I want to use Ubuntu Intrepid on the same laptop for my presentation.

If the F-keys fail, use the Screen Resolution tool under System -
Preferences:

http://beginlinux.wordpress.com/2008/05/06/ubuntu-804-hardy-heron-resolu
tion-setup/

If your graphics card recognises the second display, you'll see two
rectangles, one for your LCD laptop display, one for the
projector/external monitor.

The easiest option may be to select "clone" which will mean both
displays show the same thing (my preference).

You can also click on the rectangle representing the projector/monitor
and select the resolution from the drop-down menu. Initially the
resolution may be set to "OFF" and this default setting does exactly
what it says on the tin; you need to pick a resolution which is
something other than "OFF", such as 800x600, to turn the external
monitor on.

There's an interesting difference between Hardy 8.04 and Intrepid 8.10
here. Hardy won't let you clone monitors of different shapes (eg. you
can't clone both a 4:3 and a widescreeen monitor together), whereas
Intrepid will allow this. If you clone a 4:3 onto a widescreen display
in Intrepid, then Intrepid will stretch the desktop on the wider
monitor, but the Gnome toolbars will not stretch into those areas.
Although initially counter-intuitive, once you've got your head round
it, it's a very neat solution, IMHO.

If you do NOT clone the displays (or if you clone monitors of different
sizes in Intrepid), you can drag the rectangles around so that, for
example, the projector becomes an extension of your laptop display to
the top, left or wherever.

If all else fails, you can write a script to call xrandr. The xrandr
command controls graphical desktop outputs, and allows you to set VGA,
DVI, TV outputs, both in terms of turning them on/off and more complex
setups.

http://navetz.com/v/132/Simple-dual-monitor-setup-with-XrandR-in-Ubuntu-
Linux

Such an xrandr script is exactly what the F-keys call anyway IIRC. You
can actually go into the acpi (IIRC) directories and edit the scripts to
do something particularly fancy, if you're particularly adventurous,
bored or confident.

Andrew Oakley
Head of Software Development
Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
95 Promenade, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 1HZ
T 01242 211460  F 01242 211122  W www.hesa.ac.uk
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org

iEYEARECAAYFAknDdhQACgkQdbaWZO0PraqS8wCfdsDXq4ZP0nwKOgfPbl4sSZzY
pg4AnjSqUlEO3uy7OjlRoc9b0jkfxy46
=RqOq
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----