Mailing List Archive: Gentoo: User

VGA output?

Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded

emailgrant at gmail

Nov 4, 2009, 9:28 AM

Post #1 of 9 (33 views)
Permalink

VGA output?

How are you guys getting your laptops to do VGA output? My system
functions fine without an xorg.conf right now. Do I need to create
one if I want VGA output?

- Grant

emailgrant at gmail

Nov 4, 2009, 9:47 AM

Post #2 of 9 (31 views)
Permalink

Re: VGA output? [In reply to]

> How are you guys getting your laptops to do VGA output? My system
> functions fine without an xorg.conf right now. Do I need to create
> one if I want VGA output?
>
> - Grant

Actually it works great after a reboot. Is there a better method for
switching VGA output on and off than plug/unplug + reboot?

- Grant

realnc at arcor

Nov 4, 2009, 10:20 AM

Post #3 of 9 (31 views)
Permalink

Re: VGA output? [In reply to]

On 11/04/2009 07:47 PM, Grant wrote:
>> How are you guys getting your laptops to do VGA output? My system
>> functions fine without an xorg.conf right now. Do I need to create
>> one if I want VGA output?
>>
>> - Grant
>
> Actually it works great after a reboot. Is there a better method for
> switching VGA output on and off than plug/unplug + reboot?

Might be a shot in the dark, but try krandrtray (it's a KDE app though.)
You should get something like this:

http://i36.tinypic.com/a1rgqu.png

I don't have a second monitor to connect so I can't try, but perhaps it
will allow you to enable output to it once you connect it.

james.ausmus at gmail

Nov 4, 2009, 11:50 AM

Post #4 of 9 (31 views)
Permalink

Re: Re: VGA output? [In reply to]

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 9:47 AM, Grant <emailgrant[at]gmail.com> wrote:

> > How are you guys getting your laptops to do VGA output? My system
> > functions fine without an xorg.conf right now. Do I need to create
> > one if I want VGA output?
> >
> > - Grant
>
> Actually it works great after a reboot. Is there a better method for
> switching VGA output on and off than plug/unplug + reboot?
>
>
Depending on the driver you are dealing with, regular old xrandr from the
command-line should do the trick (or a wrapper app like krandrtray that
Nikos suggested)

HTH-

James (A) ;)

poisonbl at gmail

Nov 4, 2009, 11:53 AM

Post #5 of 9 (31 views)
Permalink

Re: Re: VGA output? [In reply to]

On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 12:52 PM, Nikos Chantziaras <realnc[at]arcor.de> wrote:
> On 11/04/2009 07:47 PM, Grant wrote:
>>>
>>> How are you guys getting your laptops to do VGA output? Ā My system
>>> functions fine without an xorg.conf right now. Ā Do I need to create
>>> one if I want VGA output?
>>>
>>> - Grant
>>
>> Actually it works great after a reboot. Ā Is there a better method for
>> switching VGA output on and off than plug/unplug + reboot?
>
> Might be a shot in the dark, but try krandrtray (it's a KDE app though.)
> Ā You should get something like this:
>
> Ā http://i36.tinypic.com/a1rgqu.png
>
> I don't have a second monitor to connect so I can't try, but perhaps it will
> allow you to enable output to it once you connect it.

lxrandr is a bit lighter, standalone capable, but part of the lxde
desktop "suite". Their wiki page for it:

http://wiki.lxde.org/en/LXRandr

Odd timing to run across the question, too, since I just realized I'd
missed that one on my laptop build here.

[ebuild N ] lxde-base/lxrandr-0.1.1 193 kB

And if you get an error:
"Unable to get monitor information!"

Rebuild xrandr. Found that answer in the forum thread below:
http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=639

Of course, if you're one for more power over simplicity of use, xrandr
itself is more than capable, the rest are just frontends, really.

--
Poison [BLX]
Joshua M. Murphy

val.gentoo at gmail

Nov 4, 2009, 1:42 PM

Post #6 of 9 (24 views)
Permalink

Re: Re: VGA output? [In reply to]

James Ausmus wrote:
>
>
> On Wed, Nov 4, 2009 at 9:47 AM, Grant <emailgrant[at]gmail.com
> <mailto:emailgrant[at]gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> > How are you guys getting your laptops to do VGA output? My system
> > functions fine without an xorg.conf right now. Do I need to create
> > one if I want VGA output?
> >
> > - Grant
>
> Actually it works great after a reboot. Is there a better method for
> switching VGA output on and off than plug/unplug + reboot?
>
>
> Depending on the driver you are dealing with, regular old xrandr from
> the command-line should do the trick (or a wrapper app like krandrtray
> that Nikos suggested)
>
> HTH-
>
> James (A) ;)

I use xrandr and do have an xorg.conf; some info I used in the past

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Xorg_RandR_1.2

Typically I use my laptop on a port replicator attached to a VGA.

I use windowmaker; after a switch from laptop monitor to vga or
vice-versa, I need to restart wm; all through the command-line.

--
Valmor

emailgrant at gmail

Nov 5, 2009, 6:35 AM

Post #7 of 9 (23 views)
Permalink

Re: Re: VGA output? [In reply to]

>> > How are you guys getting your laptops to do VGA output? My system
>> > functions fine without an xorg.conf right now. Do I need to create
>> > one if I want VGA output?
>> >
>> > - Grant
>>
>> Actually it works great after a reboot. Is there a better method for
>> switching VGA output on and off than plug/unplug + reboot?
>>
>>
>> Depending on the driver you are dealing with, regular old xrandr from
>> the command-line should do the trick (or a wrapper app like krandrtray
>> that Nikos suggested)
>>
>> HTH-
>>
>> James (A) ;)
>
> I use xrandr and do have an xorg.conf; some info I used in the past
>
>
> http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Xorg_RandR_1.2
>
> Typically I use my laptop on a port replicator attached to a VGA.
>
> I use windowmaker; after a switch from laptop monitor to vga or
> vice-versa, I need to restart wm; all through the command-line.
>
> --
> Valmor

Thanks everyone. Do these apps allow you to connect and disconnect a
monitor without restarting X? I'm not sure how that would work
because my laptop screen's aspect ratio is resized based on that of
the monitor.

- Grant

emailgrant at gmail

Nov 5, 2009, 7:39 AM

Post #8 of 9 (23 views)
Permalink

Re: Re: VGA output? [In reply to]

> ...[snip]...
>>
>> Thanks everyone. Do these apps allow you to connect and disconnect a
>> monitor without restarting X? I'm not sure how that would work
>> because my laptop screen's aspect ratio is resized based on that of
>> the monitor.
>>
>> - Grant
>>
>>
>
> Yes. Typically I have aliased commands for xrandr. If I am using the VGA
> and I want to undock the laptop and use its LCD, I run my turnoffvga alias:
>
> xrandr --output VGA --off
>
> undock the laptop and restart windowmaker (not the X server); just a
> simple ALT+R key stroke for wm; this does not mess up running X apps. I
> restart the window manager so my desktop background are resized to the
> size of the laptop LCD monitor. I use xrandr extensively to reset, turn
> on and off VGA/LCD whether I have the laptop docked or not. All without
> restarting the X server; it also works with digital projectors.
>
> For resetting the VGA:
>
> xrandr --output LVDS1 --auto --pos 0x0
>
> or for a resetting both monitors (bash function)
>
> EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="VGA"
> INTERNAL_OUTPUT="LVDS1"
> INTERNAL_LOCATION="--below $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT"
>
> xrandr |grep $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT | grep " connected "
> if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
> xrandr --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto
> xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto
> xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT $INTERNAL_LOCATION
> else
> xrandr --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --off
> xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto
> fi
>
>
> --
> Valmor

Thanks Valmor, good stuff.

- Grant

val.gentoo at gmail

Nov 5, 2009, 8:13 AM

Post #9 of 9 (23 views)
Permalink

Re: Re: VGA output? [In reply to]

Grant wrote:
...[snip]...
>
> Thanks everyone. Do these apps allow you to connect and disconnect a
> monitor without restarting X? I'm not sure how that would work
> because my laptop screen's aspect ratio is resized based on that of
> the monitor.
>
> - Grant
>
>

Yes. Typically I have aliased commands for xrandr. If I am using the VGA
and I want to undock the laptop and use its LCD, I run my turnoffvga alias:

xrandr --output VGA --off

undock the laptop and restart windowmaker (not the X server); just a
simple ALT+R key stroke for wm; this does not mess up running X apps. I
restart the window manager so my desktop background are resized to the
size of the laptop LCD monitor. I use xrandr extensively to reset, turn
on and off VGA/LCD whether I have the laptop docked or not. All without
restarting the X server; it also works with digital projectors.

For resetting the VGA:

xrandr --output LVDS1 --auto --pos 0x0

or for a resetting both monitors (bash function)

EXTERNAL_OUTPUT="VGA"
INTERNAL_OUTPUT="LVDS1"
INTERNAL_LOCATION="--below $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT"

xrandr |grep $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT | grep " connected "
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
xrandr --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto
xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto
xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT $INTERNAL_LOCATION
else
xrandr --output $EXTERNAL_OUTPUT --off
xrandr --output $INTERNAL_OUTPUT --auto
fi

--
Valmor

Index | Next | Previous | View Threaded

Interested in having your list archived? Contact lists@gossamer-threads.com