[lug] multi-monitor question - hw part

[Chip Atkinson]

On Mon, 6 Dec 2010, Davide Del Vento wrote:

> Thanks a lot for your message!
> 
> > I don't know what kind of Dell laptop/docking station you are using but
> > I'm using the configuration you describe right now.
> 
> Yes, I didn't realize that there were different Dell docking station
> standards. I think mine is the "old" one, the one with a large
> connector (about 2 inches, the new one is about 1 inch).

I believe that I have the old style too.  I think it was 2-3" long when I
saw it last.

> 
> > I have a Dell Latitude D630 laptop plugged into the docking station that
> > came with it.
> 
> Mine is a D430, the docking station doesn't have a name.
> 
> I'm trying to find a coworker with the a compatible hw and running
> windows (hard, these days :-), so I can separate hw from sw issues.
> 
> > There was another guy here that had seemingly identical hardware but the
> > NVIDIA driver could not detect his monitors.  It always showed a generic
> > monitor and "TV".
> 
> Mmmm, I thought that at least in 640x480 the driver should be
> irrelevant, shouldn't it? Was him able to run "dual monitor" with
> "generic and TV" at least? Just trying to understand if I'm hitting a
> similar issue.

My *speculation* is that you should be able to get that resolution with
the VGA driver just fine. However, getting multi-head is likely going to
be different.  Xinerama would probably work using vga and multiple video
cards, but for using both output connectors on one video card like I have
is probably not going to be supported by the VGA driver.

We didn't have a TV to test it with and the resolution was really
terrible, something like 640x480 on the primary monitor.  We never even
got dual head to work at all.  

> 
> Thanks,
> Dav
> _______________________________________________
> Web Page:  http://lug.boulder.co.us
> Mailing List: http://lists.lug.boulder.co.us/mailman/listinfo/lug
> Join us on IRC: irc.hackingsociety.org port=6667 channel=#hackingsociety
>