Arch Linux

chochem

Member

From: Denmark

Registered: 2008-03-02

Posts: 176

Website

Xrandr and VGA - external display always labelled 'disconnected'

I have an laptop and a widescreen tv that I wish to use as an external monitor. With recent Xorg updates it's been easier and easier and all I have to do now is plug in the monitor and restart X - no special xorg.conf fixing needed. Except that the tv appears to be 16:9 whereas my laptop's widescreen is 1280x800 (which comes down to some other ratio). The result is that the image projected is light off center.

According to http://www.x.org/wiki/Projects/XRandR, I should be able to setup the external monitor specifically in my xorg.conf, the major plot point being that you need to connect the laptop to the tv to get it's advertised modes and resolutions and then run xrandr -q (for query). However, I always get "VGA-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)" regardless of whether the TV is connected or disconnected, off or on. All the while the screen is being doubled onto the TV... Does anybody have any experience with this? I'm using the radeon driver on a measly Xpress Radeon 200M if it's any relevance.

nblock

Member

From: Austria

Registered: 2008-08-06

Posts: 115

Website

Re: Xrandr and VGA - external display always labelled 'disconnected'

same problem here.
couldn't solve it yet

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Archlinux x86_64 | awesome 3.4.x
my dotfiles | my AUR packages (github)

chochem

Member

From: Denmark

Registered: 2008-03-02

Posts: 176

Website

Re: Xrandr and VGA - external display always labelled 'disconnected'

I haven't tried any of this for some time and I don't really have the time right now. First up is that at some point my computers screen was no longer doubled onto the TV at boot and only Windows could reestablish the link. However I was kinda hoping that the X upgrades might somehow have fixed this. Not so it appears?

MoonSwan

Member

From: Great White North

Registered: 2008-01-23

Posts: 815

Re: Xrandr and VGA - external display always labelled 'disconnected'

I tried to get this to work on pclos with an older kernel & ati driver but I couldn't get it to work either.  If you ever do find a solution please post it.

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I'm torn apart between worlds. Basically, using vim in a highly visual environment with a lot of mouse features feels like soldering a lose wire to a motherboard with a Zippo and a needle, while working with ANY TEXT AT ALL with a "modern GUI" text editor feels like joining the London Philharmonic Orchestra with a Fisher-Price Laugh and Learn Magical Musical Mirror.  --Awebb