On the laptop I want to buy there is a VGA out port which I want because I want to work on a larger screen at home. I was hoping somone could tell me whether or not they have done this and how difficult it was.

thanks

I've not used these myself, but dualhead output on Linux is very well supported in general, some people have had issues with differing refresh rates between the LCD screen and the seperate CRT, but only a few people. should work no problem once configured

Some laptops use a hotkey in Windows to switch from the lcd to an external monitor. Some use a setting in the bios to autodetect an external monitor.
My Compaq 2170 has both active when the monitor is attached. I do have to use the same resolution for both, but I have seen some info that talks about using different resolutions depending on the active screen.
Zane

I have a Toshiba Satellite 2435 running Slackware 8.1
it will produce a signal out of the VGA port as long as I
boot with the monitor/projector attached. Otherwise it
will disable the port for power reasons.

I have not figured out how to turn the port back on without
rebooting the system.

rsmatin

My Hp pavilion comes up when you plug it in, I have not tried to change anything to see if that's the way it has to be or not.

The Dell Latitude I had switched using the key on the keyboard.

I have seen someone using a dual boot with Linux and it would not work on his laptop. Sorry, I don't remember make or model.

My Thinkpads it works on fine. Use projector and in one case, the LCD died and used an external LCD for several weeks before getting a replacement. I think some of the basic functions of the laptop are built into the BIOS while some makers have some run with special drivers / utilities that usually run under Windows only. Some are have been working on a utility for Thinkpads to increase the functions that don't work under Linux.

Good luck.