The right resolution with an external monitor

If you’ve plugged in an external monitor, you’ve probably noticed that 1024×600 doesn’t look too good on a 17″. There is a remedy for this though, but you need to modify your xorg.conf-file.

First, take a backup of your current xorg.conf, in case something goes wrong:

# cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /root/

Now open the file:

# mousepad /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Find the Screen-section - there should be a line there that says:

Virtual 1024 600

Change it to:

Virtual 2304 1024

Also add the resolutions “1280×1024″ and “1024×768″ to the Modes-line above. This will make sure that the virtual screen space is big enough to accomodate a 1280×1024 screen beside a 1024×600.

So that part of your xorg.conf should end up looking like this:

Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768" "1024x600" "800x600" "640x480"
Virtual 2304 1024

Save and close the file, and reboot to activate the virtual screen size.

Now, to be able to clone your desktop to the external monitor, press Fn-F5. If you however would like to use BOTH your Acer One Aspire, and your external monitor, open a file named dual_desktop.sh and put the following in it:

#!/bin/bash
xrandr -s 1280x1024
xrandr --output LVDS --left-of VGA --auto

Save, close, and do a chmod +x on it:

$ chmod +x dual_desktop.sh

Press Fn-F5 till both your Acer Aspire One and the external monitor are active. Then run the script:

$ ./dual_desktop.sh

Now when you run it, you should be able to drag applications between your Acer Aspire One, and your external monitor. :) Just change –left-of to –right-of if your Acer Aspire One is on that side. Change the resolution in the script to something else as well if you should need it. If you don’t feel like doing it though, here’s a script I’ve made that’s a little more advanced:

#!/bin/bash
#
## Script to extend your Acer Aspire One (AA1) desktop
## Jorge Barrera Grandon <jorge@atlantiscrew.net>
#
#
## Press Fn-F5 on your AA1 till both monitors are 
## active then run this script. Usage is like so:
## ./dual_desktop.sh <resolution> <position of the AA1>
##
## Example: ./dual_desktop.sh 800x600 left
 
XRANDR=`which xrandr`
 
if [ "$1" = "1280x1024" ] || [ "$1" = "1024x768" ] || [ "$1" = "800x600" ] && [ "$2" = "left" ] || [ "$2" = "right" ]; then
 
    echo "Setting resolution to $1 and alignment to $2."
    $XRANDR -s $1
    $XRANDR --output LVDS --$2-of VGA --auto
 
else
    $XRANDR -s 1280x1024 
    $XRANDR --output LVDS --left-of VGA --auto
    echo "No or invalid resolution given - setting resolution to 1280x1024 and alignment to left."
 
fi

If you want a resolution of 800×600 on your external monitor, and your Acer Aspire One is on your right-side, run the script like so:

$ ./dual_desktop.sh 800x600 right