external monitor defaults in 8.10

[Ian Lynch]

On Tue, 2008-11-18 at 17:05 -0500, Charlie DeTar wrote:
> Howdy,
> 
> I was very excited by the new options for screen resolutions and
> external displays in Intrepid, very good for us mobile laptop users who
> frequently plug into a variety of monitors.  Yay extended desktops!
> 
> But one thing has been lost: the simple default of plugging an external
> monitor into my laptop, pressing "fn+F7", and seeing a mirrored display
> at the external display's native resolution.

On my IBM R40e Fn F7 does nothing - in fact none of the function keys
work at all! After a lot of messing around I have managed to get output
to a data projector to work but the local screen is very dim and Power
Manager Brightness Applet 2.24.0 has no effect and neither do the Fn
Home or end buttons.

> In 8.10, in order to get the external monitor in non-extended mode
> (mirrored) at its native resolution, I have to:
>  * Go to System -> Preferences -> Screen Resolution
>  * Enable the external monitor and guess at its native resolution
>  * Disable the internal laptop monitor (since mirroring at resolutions
> higher than the internal resolution is no longer possible)
> 
> Then when I unplug the external monitor, I have to be sure to re-enable
> the internal display first, or I'll be left with no screen.

If I put my machine into hibernate or suspend, the screen goes blank and
even the on/off switch doesn't wok. I had to remove the battery!

> The defaults ought to work the way they did in 8.04: pressing "fn-F7"
> (or whatever "detect displays" is on your laptop) should mirror the
> displays to the external monitor's resolution; this is a sensible
> default for projectors and desktop displays of all sizes.  Then, Ubuntu
> should remember whatever setup you subsequently configure, and default
> to that each time you plug into the same type of monitor in the future.
>  For laptops, Ubuntu should never leave you without a screen --

And even more so without any way of shutting down.

> unplugging an external monitor should always re-enable the internal one.
> 
> Thanks for the good work, y'all!
> 
> cheers,
> Charlie
> 
> p.s.  Should it matter, I'm using a Lenovo X61s with the latest Ubuntu 8.10.

I'm on an IBM R40e with Ubuntu 8.10 and all the latest updates.

-- 
Ian
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