Using an HP-2133 with an external display under Ubuntu 14.04
This little note will be of interest to anyone (1) running an HP-2133 Mini-note PC (a little laptop), (2) with Ubuntu 14.04 and (3) Gnome Flashback, and (4) who wants to use it with an external Dell UltraSharp display. There must be maybe three such individuals (counting me) between earth and the Andromeda galaxy -- I include the end-points of the interval.
The 2133 has a nine-inch diagonal (viewable) screen. Although the display is crisp and readable, I am no longer pushing 70 (I'm pulling it, if you get my drift). So I'd like a larger screen. On my desktop machines, I use a 23-inch Dell UltraSharp monitor connected through a KVM switch. So all I should have to do to use the UltraSharp with the HP is plug it into the external display VGA connector using one of the KVM cables. Yeah, right -- maybe in Andromeda, but not here in the Milky Way.
Actually, the external display worked OK with 12.04. Both the external and the built-in displayed screen material simultaneously as expected. After the 14.04 upgrade, only the built-in displayed anything; the external was blank.
Today, I finally got something on the external display, but not simultaneously on both displays.
Here's what I had to do:
- disconnect the external display from the laptop
- boot the machine and log in through the GUI
- connect the external display -- it remains blank
- open Settings (click cog icon in the upper right)
- open Displays (this shows a sketch showing both displays)
- click on the built-in in the sketch
- turn it off (button to click)
- click on the external
- turn it on (button)
- click Apply button
- click to keep the new settings
The displayed material immediately appears on the external, but the built-in goes blank. That's OK for desktop use, but maybe not if you are using the machine to make a presentation through a projector while you are facing the audience.
The Displays panel has an item to click to mirror the screen image on both displays, but it is grayed-out and dead on my 14.04 installation.
On the second and later boots, I use the same procedure, but upon first opening Settings, the screen image immediately pops over to the external display with no further action on my part. It takes a few seconds for the machine to adapt to the external display and adjust the screen image to fill the screen. But it works and it's better than reading the built-in display -- for an old fart.
The 2133 has a nine-inch diagonal (viewable) screen. Although the display is crisp and readable, I am no longer pushing 70 (I'm pulling it, if you get my drift). So I'd like a larger screen. On my desktop machines, I use a 23-inch Dell UltraSharp monitor connected through a KVM switch. So all I should have to do to use the UltraSharp with the HP is plug it into the external display VGA connector using one of the KVM cables. Yeah, right -- maybe in Andromeda, but not here in the Milky Way.
Actually, the external display worked OK with 12.04. Both the external and the built-in displayed screen material simultaneously as expected. After the 14.04 upgrade, only the built-in displayed anything; the external was blank.
Today, I finally got something on the external display, but not simultaneously on both displays.
Here's what I had to do:
- disconnect the external display from the laptop
- boot the machine and log in through the GUI
- connect the external display -- it remains blank
- open Settings (click cog icon in the upper right)
- open Displays (this shows a sketch showing both displays)
- click on the built-in in the sketch
- turn it off (button to click)
- click on the external
- turn it on (button)
- click Apply button
- click to keep the new settings
The displayed material immediately appears on the external, but the built-in goes blank. That's OK for desktop use, but maybe not if you are using the machine to make a presentation through a projector while you are facing the audience.
The Displays panel has an item to click to mirror the screen image on both displays, but it is grayed-out and dead on my 14.04 installation.
On the second and later boots, I use the same procedure, but upon first opening Settings, the screen image immediately pops over to the external display with no further action on my part. It takes a few seconds for the machine to adapt to the external display and adjust the screen image to fill the screen. But it works and it's better than reading the built-in display -- for an old fart.
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Update:
On the second and later boots, after logging in with the external display disconnected, plug in the external display, and then on the HP-2133's keyboard press fn+F2 simultaneously. The external display should appear after around 30 seconds or so.Posted 12-03-2016 at 02:23 PM by flshope