Re: Using a second monitor

[Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>]

> My very old, failing Dell Inspiron would connect to the second monitor
> by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F8, and would remember that setting across
> reboots.  It appeared to be a function of the hardware, mot the
> software..

Actually it was probably done in the BIOS rather than in the hardware,
but yes, it worked regardless of the OS.

> I have a new Dell Ispiron that dual boots Windows 7 and Debian 7.4.
> The new machine uses the F1 key to connect to the second monitor, but
> it only works in Windows - In Debian pressing F! is a noop.

Nowadays, these things are all handled by the OS itself, so the question
has nothing to do with Dell and the answer is pretty much the same for
all hardware.

Somewhere in your desktop you should find some program to change display
settings (in my XFCE environment it's under "Settings => Display") where
you should be able to activate the external display, and choose whether to
display the same content on both displays, or not, ...


        Stefan