xorg and thinkpad x40

[Alan McKinnon]

On Wednesday 15 March 2006 23:25, Jaime Davila wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Just me, asking a question again, this time being able to offer a
> little more information.
>
> Has anyone managed to get ubuntu breezy on an IBM thinkpad x40,
> with an i810 chip set, to mirror the laptop's lcd into a CRT?
>
> If yes, could I see the xorg.conf file?
>
> This is critical for me, since I make a lot of presentation off of
> my laptop.
>
> To restate the problem I'm seeing:
> I can see the output on the lcd, and I can use fn-f7 to send it to
> the crt OK. But when I try to mirror the lcd on the crt, both on at
> the same time, the crt display flickers, as if there's something
> wrong with the refresh rate.
>
> In case it helps, here;s my current xorg.conf, and my xorg.log,
> which contains several trials of switching back and forth at the
> end.
>
> Thanks for any help,
>
> Jaime

Hi Jaime,

I did a presentation yesterday from one of those, I *think* it was an 
x40, but can't be sure as it's not my laptop.

Your xorg.conf looks pretty ordinary and nothing stands out as being 
incorrect. You didn't supply the xorg.log - the solution is often to 
be found there. If no-one else provides you with a definite solution, 
send me those logs with the EDID data for both monitors. Easiest way 
is usually to activate the console display on both and start the X 
server.

When you say "flicker", is that a visual distortion, or that the 
picture gets refreshed low enough for the eye to see the flashing?

A further possibility is that the output electronics of the video card 
simply can't drive two sinks - the output can drop below the specs of 
the crt. This is not uncommon - a while back when I was doing 
projector system installs we'd often have endless problems with this, 
but *only* on high-end machines. Cheap garbage always worked just 
fine... I eventually put it down to cheap hardware being free and 
easy with the vga specs. If your monitor has a function to select a 
higher than normal input voltage level, engaging this and seeing what 
happens can provide valuable clues.

-- 
Alan McKinnon
alan at linuxholdings dot co dot za
+27 82, double three seven, one nine three five