[ltp] 770Z and External Video Projectors

[Crispin Cowan]

Crispin Cowan wrote:

> I have a ThinkPad 770Z (9549-8AU, 13" 1280x1024 LCD) and an urgent need
> to get it to talk to an external video projector.

Answering my own question, I've discovered some operational tweeks that
help get things done:

   * You cannot switch from LCD to external video, or from external video
     to LCD, *while* X is on the screen.  However, if you do an ALT-CTRL-F#
     to a text-mode console, switch video, and then ALT-CTRL-F7 back to X,
     it works fine.
   * This hack also works for suspend, i.e. if you switch to a text console
     first, you can suspend and resume, and then switch back to the X
     console.
   * This mode line produces a workable external video at 1024x768, which
     is low-enough resolution for my InFocus LP400 to display

          Modeline  "1024x768"   75.00 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync

I hope this helps someone on this list.

Some respondants also suggested that I check the list archives.  I learned
of the list from this web page
http://www.Linux-ThinkPad.org/mail-list.html but I didn't see any sign of
an archive.  Can someone point me at archives?

Finally, I'd like to apologies for posting my query twice:  latency from
post->appearance appears to be about 90 minutes, which is much longer than
I am accustomed to.

Thanks,
    Crispin

>
>
> Currently I'm running Red Hat 6.2 + GNOME (really Immunix OS 6.2, but
> that's effectively Red Hat) and it works fine on the internal LCD.
> Video has two problems:
>
>    * When ever it suspends, the screen locks up upon resume.  The kernel
>      is still ok (e.g. network access still works, and even ALT-CTRL-F#
>      gets you a text mode screen) but the X session is shot to hell. The
>      screen fills with odd stripes that gradually fade, etc.
>    * When I try to switch between internal and external video, it locks
>      hard.  The kernel is NOT ok; the machine is really locked up.  This
>      goes both wasy:
>         o boot with no external monitor, X comes up on the LCD, plug in
>           external monitor and press FN-F7, and it locks.
>         o boot with an external monitor plugged in, X comes up on the
>           tube, press FN-F7, and it locks.
>
> I suspect that these problems are related, in that they both seem to act
> like some kind of bad (re)initialization of the video chips.
>
> The specific X version is XFree86-3.3.6-20_StackGuard (which should be
> identical in functionality to XFree86-3.3.6-20).
>
> Anyone encounter these kinds of problems?  Anyone know how to get a
> Thinkpad 770Z to talk nicely to external video?
>
> Thanks,
>     Crispin
>
> --
> Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
> Chief Research Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc. http://wirex.com
> Free Hardened Linux Distribution:                   http://immunix.org
>
> ----- The Linux ThinkPad mailing list -----
> The linux-thinkpad mailing list home page is at:
> http://www.bm-soft.com/~bm/tp_mailing.html

--
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Research Scientist, WireX Communications, Inc. http://wirex.com
Free Hardened Linux Distribution:                    http://immunix.org



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