Multiple Monitors... continued

Alright... my expedition continued... for way too long. I finally have a working external monitor, but due to the screen resolution differences between my video card and my monitor, I've had to settle for 1024x768 resolution and no side-by-side monitor configuration. No idea, why Xinerama doesn't play nice with this monitor, but I have a feeling it is the reasonably old laptop video card.

The laptop will start up correctly and will display the login screen correctly. I can use the Fn key to switch to ext monitor only. But when I switch to dual monitor mode, the external monitor clones the laptop screen and appears VERY fuzzy and in an incorrect resolution! When in laptop monitor mode, I can close the screen and the external monitor mode will activate after ~10-15s.

So really, all I've accomplished is getting a bigger screen with less real estate. Not my original intention, since what I really wanted was more screen real estate for developing in Eclipse. Really too bad. The problem, though, is that my monitor only supports high-end resolutions (1680x1050@60, 1280x720@60, and 1024x768@75 are the only valid resolutions!). The Intel graphics card does up to 1280x800@60... and 1024x768@60 is the one it has in common with the monitor.

I saw a bunch of posts saying that I could get multiple resolutions working, and that i could get an extended desktop working... but I've had very little success. I'll post to the Ubuntu forums... hopefully will get more detail there. Oh, and one more unfortunate detail... I have to switch modes around on every startup to get things configured correctly.

On a more successful note, I plugged in a Belkin USB Keyboard and Mouse and they worked like plug-n-play should! I was so impressed (after the monitor snafu for the past few days) that I decided to make a complete workstation... now I have a reasonably good workstation, audio setup... Next step is the DVD playing capability!

Anyway, here's the summary of my setup:

Dell Inspiron 630m

Ubuntu Edgy (upgraded via package manager from Dapper LTS)

Video: execute "lspci" from command line (lspci - List all PCI Devices)

jatal@hack-o-matic:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)

Monitor:

Sceptre X20 hooked via VGA out on laptop

Configuration:
/etc/X11/xconf.org file (X Win configuration file):

# /etc/X11/xorg.conf (xorg X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the /etc/X11/xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man /etc/X11/xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/cyrillic"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/X11/fonts/75dpi"
# path to defoma fonts
FontPath "/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "i2c"
Load "bitmap"
Load "ddc"
Load "dri"
Load "extmod"
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
Load "int10"
Load "type1"
Load "vbe"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "CoreKeyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc104"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "CorePointer"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "true"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Synaptics Touchpad"
Driver "synaptics"
Option "SendCoreEvents" "true"
Option "Device" "/dev/psaux"
Option "Protocol" "auto-dev"
Option "HorizScrollDelta" "0"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "stylus"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Option "Type" "stylus"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "eraser"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Option "Type" "eraser"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Driver "wacom"
Identifier "cursor"
Option "Device" "/dev/wacom" # Change to
# /dev/input/event
# for USB
Option "Type" "cursor"
Option "ForceDevice" "ISDV4" # Tablet PC ONLY
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller"
Driver "i810"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
Screen 0
Option "DDCMode" "True"
Option "MonitorLayout" "LFP,LFP"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Second Device"
Driver "i810"
BusID "PCI:0:2:1"
Screen 1
Option "DDCMode" "True"
Option "MonitorLayout" "LFP,LFP"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Generic Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 28-51
VertRefresh 43-60
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Second Monitor"
Option "DPMS"
HorizSync 28-51
VertRefresh 43-85
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Device "Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller"
Monitor "Generic Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Second Screen"
Device "Second Device"
Monitor "Second Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
Screen "Second Screen" RightOf "Default Screen"
InputDevice "Generic Keyboard"
InputDevice "Configured Mouse"
InputDevice "stylus" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "cursor" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "eraser" "SendCoreEvents"
InputDevice "Synaptics Touchpad"
Option "Xinerama" "true"
Option "Clone" "false"
EndSection

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "Xinerama" "true"
Option "Clone" "false"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection