[ltp] PCI video card in Dock II

[Chris Schumann]

Connor Behan wrote:
> 1. Use PCI or AGP to drive the boot display device.
It is misleading if that's what it says. Your choice determines which 
device generates the video signal, not which device that signal gets 
displayed onto.

> 2. Boot display device: LCD, CRT or Both. I assume this means, what 
> monitor is the laptop using before an OS with a possible xorg file 
> starts. So the screen where the "IBM" splash shows up.
Yes but... that's where the signal from the internal chip gets 
delivered. Remember docked ThinkPads can have three types of displays: 
Internal LCD, external display driven by internal chip, and those driven 
by cards. Any two of which can be used by most ThinkPads at once, IIRC.

> ...
> So is it possible to have the docked PCI card drive the screen built 
> into the laptop by adjusting the BIOS or software?
Not without SERIOUS hardware modification. No one has done it with any 
laptop that I know of, of any brand or model.

> I know I could get things working with some very clever 
> soldering of the wires inside my laptop onto a VGA cable ...
No you couldn't. A laptop LCD panel will not accept the signals from a 
VGA cable. An LCD panel is inherently a digital device, as far as there 
are discrete pixels to drive. Going from digital to analog back to 
digital, all inside a laptop, is pointless and expensive.

Chris