title: External 4:3 monitor for a T61 link: https://onemoretech.wordpress.com/2009/08/13/external-43-monitor-for-a-t61/ author: lembobro description: post_id: 268 created: 2009/08/13 13:38:08 created_gmt: 2009/08/13 13:38:08 comment_status: open post_name: external-43-monitor-for-a-t61 status: publish post_type: post

External 4:3 monitor for a T61

I made a few changes to this when my original configuration gave me weird results. This kind of configuration is unfortunately an art, not a science.

This will be a quick, barebones, description of what I did to get this working.

Here’s the background:

Widescreen (6:9 aspect, 1440×900 rez) Thinkpad T61 laptop with the nvidia Quadro NVS 140M graphics subsystem.

O/S is CentOS 5.3 updated to latest (2.6.18-128.4.1.el5) kernel.

External 17” LCD monitor (4:3 aspect, 1280×1024 rez).

Here’s the setup:

Install a proven driver for the nvidia 140M card, which at the moment is 177.70.33 (Feb 2009).

Reboot machine with external monitor attached for what follows.

Fire up nvidia-settings as root and go to “X Server Display Configuration”.

Click on “Layout” for external display screen and then “Configure”button.

Select “Separate X screen” and OK.

I originally tried using “Twinview” with the “Position” set to “Clone” for the second screen, As a result I was unable to see the logon box when coming out of inactivity. In addition full screen for VMware console had made the image on the external monitor offset to the right, with a 1 inch black bar to the left of the screen. The main drawback to the “Separate X screen” configuration is that you can lose your mouse pointer to the other (inactive) screen if you push it over to the right, beyond the first screen boundary.

On “X Screen” tab, “Position” should read “Absolute”, “+0+0”.

Then click on Layout for “LEN 1440×900”, the laptop’s own screen.

Make sure settings look good (1440×900 rez, Position “”Right of”).

Press “Save to X Configuration File”. Restart X (Cntrl-Alt-Bksp).

Voila!

Copyright 2004-2019 Phil Lembo