[Discuss] Dell docking and NVIDIA outputs

[greg at freephile.com (Greg Rundlett (freephile))]

On Wed, Jan 25, 2012 at 12:43 PM, Jay Burrill <jayburrill at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> I have been trying to switch to Linux (openSUSE 12.1 Gnome 3) on a fairly
> good Dell Precision M4500 with NVIDIA FX880.  But the driver does not seem
> to be very full featured.  My expectations are:a. that if I dock, the
> driver will switch to use the external monitors (2); b. that if I undock,
> the driver will switch to use the internal LCD;c. that if I suspend while
> docked and outputting to the two externals, when I resume undocked, the
> driver will switch to use the internal LCD; andd. that if I suspend while
> undocked and outputting to the internal LCD, when I resume docked, the
> driver will switch to use the external monitors.
> Unfortunately my experience is quite different.  I switched to the
> proprietary NVIDIA driver since I did not like what Nouveau provided.  But
> I really need the ability to change output modes automatically.  Currently,
> I cannot resume after I have docked or undocked and outputs are different.
>  The machine blindly continues to output to the same output(s).  I have
> seen a script on Geekwisdom.com which allows the author to toggle between
> outputs before suspending.  But I would would have to modify this to switch
> between internal and two externals.  And besides, this should all be
> dynamic, should it not?
> Any suggestions?
>
> Jay Burrill
> mailto:JayBurrill @ hotmail .com
> "Personally I'm always ready to learn, although I do not always like being
> taught." - Sir Winston Churchill
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With the proprietary nVidia driver, you get the nvidia-settings program
which can be used to quickly rearrange your display after docking to go
from single to twinview.  Or, if docked, can be used to go to single.  I am
in the habit of just typing disper -s in the console if I'm docked and want
to go to a single screen before undocking.

I don't even try to suspend or sleep my machine because it's always been
too fussy for me to bother. I don't like it, I just live with it.
Greg Rundlett
my public PGP key<http://pgp.mit.edu:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0x5E07A26B877CEBF6>