I've got an HP issued 8510w Notebook as my primary work PC (BTW, it's phenomenal; I would highly recommend this notebook to anyone). Much to the chagrin of my IT department, I configured this system to be a dual-boot laptop, supporting Fedora 7 Linux and Vista Enterprise. Recently, I acquired yet another flat-panel monitor for my home office and setup a dual-display configuration using the laptop's built-in DFP and my new LCD flat-panel. The HP 8510w uses the NVIDIA Quadro FX 570M (G84GL) graphic chip set which is fully supported by the latest Nvidia drivers.In Windows Vista, configuring dual-displays was trivial; the Nvidia driver detected the extra monitor and let me configure it using the Nvidia Control Panel utility. In Fedora 7 Linux, it was slightly more challenging to get the desired TwinView dual-display configuration to work. First, I installed the correct Livna-Nvidia graphic drivers by following the instructions here. Using the Nvidia drivers packaged with Fedora is a mistake. Use the Livna packaged Nvidia drivers, you'll be much happier in the long run.
Once the correct Livna packaged Nvidia drivers were installed, I had to tweak my /etc/X11/xorg.conf file a bit to get things to work just the way I wanted (typical Linux stuff; and no, I'm not complaining). Here's the Device section of the xorg.conf configuration that works exactly the way I want (when I'm not using a docking station, and plugging a flat-panel (or projector) into the external monitor port on the back of the notebook):
FOLLOWUP 2/1/09:
Here's the dual-display Device section of my xorg.conf file that I use when the notebook is docked in a docking station. Attached to the docking station I have a single flat-panel connected to the DVI out port. This dual-display configuration uses the DVI digital flat-panel in addition to the notebook's built-in display:
Here's the dual-display configuration I use at work, where I have two flat-panels plugged into the docking station. One display is connected to the DVI out and the other is plugged into the VGA out on the back of the docking station:
FOLLOWUP 4/10/09:
Here are the three monitor configurations, and related xorg.conf files, I use with my HP 8510w:
Section "Device" Identifier "Videocard0" Driver "nvidia" Option "TwinView" "True" Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf" Option "MetaModes" "CRT-0:1280x1024,DFP-0:1920x1200" Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT,DFP" Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0, CRT-0" Option "RenderAccel" "True" BusID "PCI:1:0:0" EndSection
FOLLOWUP 2/1/09:
Here's the dual-display Device section of my xorg.conf file that I use when the notebook is docked in a docking station. Attached to the docking station I have a single flat-panel connected to the DVI out port. This dual-display configuration uses the DVI digital flat-panel in addition to the notebook's built-in display:
Section "Device" Identifier "Videocard0" Driver "nvidia" Option "TwinView" "True" Option "TwinViewOrientation" "LeftOf" Option "MetaModes" "DFP-1:1280x1024,DFP-0:1920x1200" Option "ConnectedMonitor" "DFP,DFP" Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0,DFP-1" Option "RenderAccel" "True" BusID "PCI:1:0:0" EndSection
Here's the dual-display configuration I use at work, where I have two flat-panels plugged into the docking station. One display is connected to the DVI out and the other is plugged into the VGA out on the back of the docking station:
Section "Device" Identifier "Videocard0" Driver "nvidia" Option "TwinView" "True" Option "TwinViewOrientation" "RightOf" Option "MetaModes" "CRT-0:1600x1200_60,DFP-1:1600x1200_60" Option "ConnectedMonitor" "CRT-0,DFP-1" Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "CRT-0,DFP-1" Option "RenderAccel" "True" BusID "PCI:1:0:0" EndSection
FOLLOWUP 4/10/09:
Here are the three monitor configurations, and related xorg.conf files, I use with my HP 8510w:
- Dual display, no docking station. 1st display is the laptops built in display. The 2nd display is plugged into the VGA external monitor out port on the back of the notebook.
xorg.conf.config_1.txt - Dual display, with a docking station. The 1st display is the laptops built in display. The 2nd external display is plugged into the DVI out (white) on the back of the docking station.
xorg.conf.config_2.txt - Dual display, with a docking station. 1st display is plugged into the VGA out (blue) port and the 2nd display is plugged into the DVI out (white) on the back of the docking station. The HP 8510w only supports two displays, so in this configuration, the built in display is disabled.
xorg.conf.config_3.txt
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