[clug] Connecting a monitor with xrandr

[Paul "TBBle" Hampson]

2009/12/28 David Tulloh <david at tulloh.id.au>:
> I often use my laptop with an external monitor, which I normally rotate on
> it's side.
>
> This is the recipe I follow every time I plug a monitor in.  Am I missing
> something?  This seems far too complicated.
>
> # Fire up the second monitor
> xrandr --output VGA --auto --right-of LVDS
> # Rotate the second monitor
> xrandr -o right
> # For some reason the first monitor is disabled now, switch it back on
> xrandr --output LVDS --auto
> # Now the monitors aren't using the full area.  This fixes it all up.
> xrandr --output VGA --auto --right-of LVDS
> # After the rotate the dpi is all wonky, which affects programs like
> Mozilla.
> xrandr --dpi 98x98
>
>
> Does someone here understand X properly and can simplify this?

You can stack up your xrandr commands in one line, if that helps? I
have an alias
for when I plug or unplug the HDMI cable in my laptop:

xrandr --output LVDS --auto --output HDMI-0 --right-of LVDS --auto

> While I'm asking questions, does anyone know how to trigger a script on
> connection of a video cable?  I've found HAL events for docking station
> connection but not just plugging in a VGA line.

I was wondering about this myself recently... I didn't look though.
Maybe there's an X
event (does Xrandr support events?), or an ACPI event, that could be caught?

It might be that VGA doesn't have a triggered event when you plug it
in, as I believe the
card has to check for load presence on one of the analog pins, which
isn't done until the
next xrandr call.

-- 
Paul "TBBle" Hampson, Paul.Hampson at Pobox.com