I've got an HP DV2310CA (dv2000) laptop. I've got it dual booting with Ubuntu 7.04 and Windows Vista.

I want to use Ubuntu with an external monitor plugged in. Basically like a desktop. I just want to plug in an external VGA monitor, a USB hub (w/mouse,keyboard) and the power cord. I cannot get it to work the external VGA LCD to work (it works with windows vista). I press Fn-F4 and nothing happens.

I tried looking at the xorg.conf but I just haven't figured it out. And I don't really have time.

The video card is an Nvidia which looks like it's using the "nv" driver in the xorg.conf.

Everything else on the laptop works great, except the sound, but that's not a priority for me right now.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=587386
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=585585
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=586717
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=577280

Here are links to several threads I have seen lately, dealing with the use of external TV/Monitor/projector devices. The principle is the same, regardless what the device is.
If you need further information, just ask for clarification, and/or search LQ for more information on 'dual screens, dual monitors, external monitors' and the like.

P.S- What is Fn-F4 supposed to do?

P.P.S - For better performance from your video device, you may want to look into upgrading your nVidia driver to the 'official' driver from nVidia, rather than the default 'nv' driver.

There are no updated Nvideo driver for my laptop: NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150. I've looked and looked. It would probably be the best scenario, and could probably solve the problem with nvidia-tools, but I couldn't find any new linux drivers.

I had already seen some of the solutions but none of them worked.

Here's how I resolved the problem. Indeed there was a better Nvidia driver which I downloaded from the Nvidia website. Navigate to the Linux section.

Here's the driver I used: NVIDIA-Linux-x86-100.14.19-pkg1.run. I booted into the recovery mode from the GRUB menu. I did an apt-get update. I then installed the NVidia driver.

Once this was done, the FN-F4 button combo worked allowing me to change which display I wanted to use.

Great having a laptop that doubles as a proper desktop!

Again the laptop is an HP Pavilion DV2000 (dv2310) dual booting with Ubuntu 7.04. Hope this helps someone else.

Hey that's great!
They don't necessarily update the nvidia drivers really often, but there's almost *always* one that works for pretty much every card out there, perhaps with the exception og some very old GF2/MX2 type units.

Your 6150 is an onboard device, is it not? If so, there are likely many others who will benefit from your solution. It can be a tricky device to get working.

Congrats, and happy lap-desktopping.