[ltp] Newbie video questions

[funkydoctor]

Hello,

Since this is my first post at this email list, I would first like to say hi
to everyone, and I hope that this list will be a useful place for many
months to come!

Second, just a quick background before my specific questions. I would
consider myself a Windows "power user", but I have only recently begun to
switch to Linux for several reasons (mainly because I'm getting gradually
convinced that open source is the only future for software).

My first setup in this new world is Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper) on my old IBM
Thinkpad A20p. Most things have worked great right out of the box, but I do
have a couple of video issues that are more complicated for me to solve. If
you reply to my questions, I would appreciate if you keep in mind that I am
indeed a Linux n00b.


1. My first problem is, simply put, that I can't use Fn+F7 anymore. Of
course I would be ok with some other simple solution to switch displays,
especially for using an external projector while doing presentations. I have
looked in different online forums, and have read that it's possible to use
Xinerama and tinker with the xorg.conf file to get dual head display. While
this might be interesting in the future, right now I'm only interested in a
simple solution to switch (or mirror) displays. The funny thing is that
Fn+F7 still works in console mode, but not when X is running. Any
suggestions?

2. The IBM Thinkpad A20p comes with the ATI Rage Mobility 128 graphics chip,
and as I understand it this chip is not supported by the ATI proprietary
driver (?). So is there (a reasonably simple) way to achieve 2D/3D hardware
acceleration for my video card?


Best wishes,
Hans