Fedora 10 Desktop Dell Latitude D830 - Screen Res utility

[Klaasjan Brand]

On Sun, Nov 30, 2008 at 3:13 PM, Damian L Brasher <
fedora-test at interlinux.co.uk> wrote:

> Hi
>
> I have an issue with the Screen Resolution utility after running the Live
> CD on a Dell Latitude D830 Centrino 19". I installed the updates.
>
> With the VGA extension plugged in to a Samsung SyncMaster 710v monitor I
> am trying to extend the desktop rather than clone/mirror it. I can check
> the 'mirror screens' option and the desktop is mirrored to Samsung however
> when I uncheck this option, choose apply, then close and reopen the utility
> the option is still checked. De-selecting mirror screens does not act as I
> assume it should and the initial screen resolution of the laptop is not
> restored. When I manually change the resolution back to 1680x1050 60Hz the
> task bars do not resize to fit the new screen res. properly, there is a gap
> top and bottom to the right where the bars end prematurely.


You get a mirrored screen combination by default. The Intel drivers lists
the external monitor first, on which Gnome tries to fit the panels. The end
result is panels on your (presumable higher resolution) laptop panel which
are fitted on your monitors resolution.
I've made a bugzilla entry which seems to have been closed since it was for
an older Fedora version. Maybe you can reopen it?


>
> When I unplug the Samsung monitor the Mirror Screens option is unchecked.
>


> In the top left hand corner of the screen there are still two colored
> boxes one overlapping the other, I can't see the second clearly. The first
> indicator box says, 'laptop 15"' and I can just see the edge of a, '7"'. I
> assume these should not overlap. When trying to return to Laptop only
> display a second time the Samsung monitor is not detected/displayed in the
> Screen resolution utility display window.
>
> The display controller is Intel GM965/GL960 rev 0c.
>

I've got the same configuration and got the screen expansion to work by
creating a minimal xorg.conf file and adding a "Virtual" line under the
"Display" category. Check this site for examples:
http://intellinuxgraphics.org/dualhead.html

Dual-head under Xorg seems to be a bit of a hassle right now. At least it's
working on Intel adapters, but a lot more difficult to configure than it
should be. Also, there are a lot of small things not implemented in a sane
way making dual-head operation a bit of a hassle.

To name a few:
New monitors seem to be detected when plugged in, running xrandr lists the
active monitors, but monitors will not be automatically enabled.
Gnome seems to think the first screen reported by xrandr is the primary
screen and will move all taskbars to it after it's enabled. Pity the Intel
driver will list the external monitor first so when enabling the extra
screen all toolbars will jump to it (resulting in shuffled contents when
they don't fit, also after dragging them back).
You really don't want to see the result of enabling desktop effects on a
virtual screen wider than 2048 pixels ;)

I will try to put some stuff in bugzilla, but it seems to me some developers
need an extra monitor since it's very easy to spot the glitches ;)

Klaasjan
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