dual head display on a laptop

[Lisi Reisz <lisi.reisz@gmail.com>]

Well, single head would be fine, so long as it's the right single head!

The laptop is a Compaq Evo N800v running Lenny, and the monitor either
a Benq FP71G+ or a DGM L-1721.  The Benq is connected at the moment.
I first tried simply plugging them both in, one at a time.  This
wo5rks with Lenny on my netbook, but not on this set-up.

So I turned to XRandR:

Titan:/home/chihiro# aptitude search xrandr
p   libxrandr-dev                   - X11 RandR extension library (development h
i A libxrandr2                      - X11 RandR extension library
p   libxrandr2-dbg                  - X11 RandR extension library (debug package
p   lxrandr                         - simple monitor config tool for LXDE
Titan:/home/chihiro# xrandr --output VGA --mode 1280x1024 --output LVDS --off
xrandr: Output VGA-0 is not disconnected but has no modes

at this pint I checked xorg.conf

Titan:/home/chihiro# xrandr --output VGA --mode 1280x1024 --output LVDS --off
xrandr: Output VGA-0 is not disconnected but has no modes
Titan:/home/chihiro#

Here is my xorg.conf:

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
#   sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Generic Keyboard"
	Driver		"kbd"
	Option		"XkbRules"	"xorg"
	Option		"XkbModel"	"pc105"
	Option		"XkbLayout"	"gb"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
	Identifier	"Configured Mouse"
	Driver		"mouse"
EndSection

Section "Device"
	Identifier	"Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
       Identifier      "Configured Monitor"
       HorizSync 83
       VertRefresh 76
EndSection

Section "Screen"
       Identifier      "Default Screen"
       Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
       Device          "Configured Video Device"
       DefaultDepth    16
       SubSection "Display"
                  Depth 16
                  Modes "1280x1024" "800x600"
       EndSubSection
EndSection

The rather odd entry with the exact values was a desperate attempt to
convince the monitor that it was not out of range, because the
monitors themselves kept saying that they were out of range, although
they weren't.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Lisi