To use an external monitor with Mandriva 2008.1 so that the external monitor displays at it's optimum resolution and your eee pc displays at it's standard 800×480 resolution you need to make the following changes.

• First back up your xorg.conf file by opening a terminal and logging in as root

• Then type this command in the terminal

cd /etc/X11
cp xorg.conf xorg.backup

• Next, edit xorg.conf by typing:

gedit xorg.conf

If you run KDE rather then Gnome substitute gedit for kwrite, nano, or whatever your favourite editor is.

Now make sure the “Monitor”, “Screen” and “Device” sections look like this:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "monitor1"
    VendorName "Generic"
    ModelName "Flat Panel 800x480"
    ModeLine "800x480"  29.58  800 816 896 992  480 481 484 497  -HSync +Vsync
    EndSection

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "TV"
    Option "Ignore" "True"
EndSection

Section "Device"
    Identifier "device1"
    VendorName "Intel Corporation"
    BoardName "Intel 810 and later"
    Driver "intel"
    Option "DPMS"
    Option "XaaNoOffscreenPixmaps" "1"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
    Identifier "screen1"
    Device "device1"
    Monitor "monitor1"
    DefaultColorDepth 24   
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth 24
        Virtual 2048 2048
    EndSubsection
EndSection

The additional monitor section for the TV may not be strictly necessary, but what is necessary is the addition of the “Virtual” line in the “Screen” section. I also found that I had to remove the Horizontal and Vertical refresh rates from the original monitor section before everything would work properly.

• Now save the file and restart X,or reboot

• Plug in the external monitor. The external monitor can be configured either from the command line, or using the KDE application KRandR.

• Configuring using command line :- Open a terminal and type this command:

xrandr -q

This will show you the resolutions you can display on the internal screen (LVDS) and the external monitor (VGA)

• To output to the external screen you can either use xrandr commands from the terminal. For example this would output to the monitor at a resolution of 1024×768:

xrandr --output VGA --mode 1024x768

• Or create scripts to do the work for you. For example, the script below turns on the external monitor but turns off the internal screen:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output VGA --mode 1024x768
xrandr --output LVDS --off

This one does the opposite:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output LVDS --mode 800x480
xrandr --output VGA --off

And this one outputs to both screens:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr --output LVDS --mode 800x480 
xrandr --output VGA --mode 1024x768

Just make each script executable and double click on them. Alternatively drop them in your ~/bin directory and call them from the terminal.

This setup is works well and allows you to switch between your internal and external monitors whenever you need to. Note, however, that if the monitor is plugged in before you boot both screens will initially display at 800×480, so it's probably better to plug an external screen in once your eee has booted.

• Configuring with KRandR

There is a KDE GUI called KRandR which easily allows you to control the resolution of both the internal LCD and an external monitor. Start KRandR from Menu>Tools>SystemTools>KRandRTray an icon will appear in your system tray of a monitor with a blue screen with a white diagonal arrow. The external monitor must be plugged in before booting, or else if it is plugged in later, X must be restarted by hitting Ctl+Alt+Backspace. Initially the external monitor will have the same resolution as the LCD.

On first clicking on the KRandR icon the 'Unified' Option will be ticked. Untick 'Unified' and you will see there are two available outputs, 'VGA' and 'LVDS'. You can then set the external monitor resolution from the offered list which is obtained by querying the monitor. After each change you have 15 seconds to confirm the change before it reverts back.

On logging out and back in KRandR will remember the last used resolution. If the monitor is disconnected, then on the next log in, the LCD display will work as normal.

• Note: xrandr is incompatible with the Metisse 3D desktop

• The Fn+F5 doesn't currently work.dro

rio b and you sfr