[PLUG] New xorg and laptops with external displays

[Keith Lofstrom]

I've installed whizzy new Scientific Linux 5, a Red Hat Linux 5 clone
that is a lot like Fedora Core 6.  It incorporates xorg 1.1.1-48 .

Unlike previous versions of X, this one makes full use of the dual
display potentialities of my laptop's mobile radeon chipset.  The
external display out the VGA connector in the back shows a completely
different "dual head" display than the laptop screen itself.  When
the right presentation software appears, this will be really cool -
I will be able to keep thumbnails on the laptop screen with a separate
display out the computer projector, for example.

But with 2007 presentation software, it is a pain in the butt.  I
would like the option to clone the laptop display to the VGA connector.

Is there any easy way to clone the display, to emulate the behavior
of the past?

This will become especially important when we do presentations at
PLUG meetings, as more and more semi-upgraded systems show up, with
the display on the laptop and blackness on the VGA connector, because
the dual head options are not properly set up.  

Keith


-- 
Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
KLIC --- Keith Lofstrom Integrated Circuits --- "Your Ideas in Silicon"
Design Contracting in Bipolar and CMOS - Analog, Digital, and Scan ICs