Everything works awesome except for one thing. I can't get my external monitor to work. I have the monitor hooked into the USB Lenovo 2.0 port replicator with a VGA cable and I have the port replicator hooked into my Lenovo Thinkpad SL510 laptop.

Here's the frustrating thing: in the control center, it recognizes not just the dock but even the brand name. I've set the video card configuration to dual monitor and it 'accepts' that. I can even access my Big Bertha (1Tb usb sata external drive) through the dock. But the monitor is a no-go.

I went into the Control Center and the Hardware Configuration section; my video card config is set for dual monitors. The system recognizes my port replicator, even to the point of recognizing the brand name.

Tis my first time with rpm and pclos so maybe I'm missing something incredibly simple (I hope so). Any suggestions?

This isn't a deal-breaker and I won't be rage-quitting. I really really like the way synaptic is set up in pclos vs, say, another distro, and I absolutely adore the default 6-desktop array (and the icons are cute!).

I am just used to running dual screens simultaneously and I'd like to do that if possible.

My current xorg.conf:

# File generated by XFdrake (rev 262502)

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "DontZap" "False" # disable <Ctrl><Alt><BS> (server abort)
#DontZoom # disable <Ctrl><Alt><KP_+>/<KP_-> (resolution switching)
AllowMouseOpenFail # allows the server to start up even if the mouse does not work
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "v4l" # Video for Linux
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "monitor1"
VendorName "Generic"
ModelName "Flat Panel 1366x768"
HorizSync 31.5-53.0
VertRefresh 56.0-69.0

# TV fullscreen mode or DVD fullscreen output.
# 768x576 @ 79 Hz, 50 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 50.00 768 832 846 1000 576 590 595 630

# 768x576 @ 100 Hz, 61.6 kHz hsync
ModeLine "768x576" 63.07 768 800 960 1024 576 578 590 616
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "device1"
VendorName "Intel Corporation"
BoardName "Intel 810 and later"
Driver "intel"
Option "DPMS"
Option "MonitorLayout" "NONE,CRT+LFP"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "screen1"
Device "device1"
Monitor "monitor1"
DefaultColorDepth 24
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "layout1"
Screen "screen1"
EndSection

I don't know about pclinuxos, but modern distros do not use xorg.conf any more. These are created dynamically and can be reconfigured dynamically, using programs like randr.

Even more, what I see in your xorg.conf is just description for a single monitor and a single screen... Have you tried to remove it and use your distros monitor setup? (have not tried port replicator, though)