One laptop, one monitor, two unrelated issues...

[Nathan England]

On Sunday 23 August 2009 05:13:03 am kitepilot at kitepilot.com wrote:
> Good morning Universe: 
> 
> I have a trusty Toshiba Satellite A35-S159 (P4) which has ran different 
> Linux incarnations over the eons since LFS 5.1. 
> 
>  
> 
> Mysterious issue #1 -> Booting/Shutting down the laptop: 
> 
> I decided to reinstall some Linux for the Nth time and I noticed that the 
> laptop sometimes would boot, sometimes would not, and when it did, it would 
> not shutdown consistently. 
> 
> In total frustration, I somehow accidentally stumbled upon this ODD 
> behavior: 
> 
> As soon as Grub releases the system to the processor, or as soon as the 
> shutdown sequence initiates, I *HAVE* to tap a key (any key except 
> Shift/Alt/Ctrl/Caps/Num lock) or the sequence hangs. 
> 
>  
> 
> You can see the different kernel messages sitting there on the screen, tap a 
> key, get another message, tap another key... 
> 
> I had never seen such a thing... 
> 
>  
> 
> Trying to isolate whether I had a hardware problem or a karma problem, I 
> began digging old LFS boot CDs until I found one old enough to consistently 
> boot and shutdown the laptop uneventfully. 
> 
> Karma problem... 
> 

This is 100% an ACPI issue with the kernel of the distro you are using. I have used several machines with the latest, Jaunty?, release of Ubuntu which did EXACTLY that. No big deal.

>  
> 
> I don't have a definite cutoff number, but at some kernel in time, the 
> laptop began demanding me to type a key while booting/shutting down or it 
> would just blatantly refuse to behave. 
> 
> I wrapped up the issue by booting Debian 5.0/lxde which was the only thing I 
> could find to boot/shutdown consistently. 
> 
> As a byproduct, I have found that Debian has reached an usability that 
> borderline matches *Ubuntu, and even thought it is still geeky, it has 
> become a mom-and-pap Linux if that's what you want it to be.
> Debian never ceases to amaze me...   :) 
> 
> And, then the question: What the Heck is going on here? 
> 
> 
> Now the purpose of this post:
> Annoying issue #2 -> Using "native" screen and external monitor with 
> different resolutions.
> This one has annoyed the bejesus out of me for years now.
> Simple issue: the resolution of the laptop sucks.  I want a second monitor 
> to expand it using the laptop screen AND an external monitor.
> Impossible...
> I believe I have tried every WEB page under the Sun to no avail.
> I just CAN'T get the 2 *&%$ monitors to coexist at different resolutions...  
> :( 
> 
> I pretty much gave this one up, but I am working off a little monitor 
> attached to the laptop now (and no options) and I get butterflies in my 
> stomach (and I hate Linux and the World for a second or 2) when I see the 
> cover down and I realize how wonderful life would be if I could pop the %&!# 
> thing open and USE IT! 
> 
> To summarize the REAL question of this post:
> How do I attach a second monitor to this laptop and have both screens 
> working at its own native resolution?
> I gave it up...    :(
> ET 
> 

I would suggest removing your /etc/X11/xorg.conf or where ever debian puts it these days, and attempt to start X without the xorg.conf file. If X loads okay and seems to have a decent, or normal, resolution in your case, try running 'xrandr' and see if it recognizes your second monitor.
Then assuming it does, and your internal LCD is LVDS and your external monitor is called VGA-0 then you could try this command.

xrandr --output LVDS --mode 1024x768 --prefered --output VGA-0 --mode 1280x1024 --right-of LVDS

It will likely fail telling you that the virtual screen you are trying to create is TOO big. In which case you can then run 'X -configure' and move the xorg.conf.new to /etc/X11/xorg.conf and then add a virtual line to the xorg.conf file

Section "Screen"
    Identifier  "Screen"
    Device      "Default Vesa Device"
    Monitor     "LCD-Screen"
    DefaultDepth 24
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth       24
        Modes       "1280x800" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        ViewPort    0 0
        Virtual     2646 1024
    EndSubsection
EndSection

So it will look something like that. And hopefully this will help you, or atleast send you on another avenue of perpetual searching...

nathan


> PS: lspci at http://kitepilot.com/lspci.txt
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-- 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nathan England
(928) 951-5116
nathan at paysonlinux.org
http://www.paysonlinux.org/

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