# External Screen for Notebook and its resolution

## Vilietha

Hello everyone,

I have a Notebook (Thinkpad T61). 

And I would like to use an external screen. 

My questions is: Is it possible to have to different resolutions for the two screens (internal and external ones)?

I am referring to the Virtual Terminals, not the X window system.

The framebuffer is already nicely set up for the internal screen (at wxga+ 1440x900 ).

But my external screen should show the VT in 1280x1024. 

Would it be possible to have the two sceens this two different resolutions?

(Because the framebuffer resolution is given as an parameter to the kernel when booting by grub)

Kind regards,

Vilietha

----------

## chithanh

This is possible with kernel modesetting, using Nouveau or Intel drivers depending on your graphics chipset.

You can pass display parameters for a specific output as video=... option. See http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/KernelModeSetting (instructions are valid for Intel, too) for more details.

----------

## Vilietha

Hello chithanh, 

Thank you very much for your answer.

The graphics I have is an nVidia Quadro NVS 140.

If I understand the page of Nouveau right, it will not work with nvidia cards. 

Is that true?

If yes, do I have to use a resultion which is possible to both screens?

Or could I also disable the internal sceen of the notebook?

Best wishes,

Vilietha

----------

## Genone

 *Vilietha wrote:*   

> If I understand the page of Nouveau right, it will not work with nvidia cards. 
> 
> Is that true?

 

No, it says that it doesn't work with the proprietary nvidia driver. The noveau driver is supposed to be an open source replacement for it, but currently it's still somewhat experimental and incomplete. Can't say how well your chipset is supported (notebook graphic chips are often a bit special), you'll have to try it out yourself.

----------

## Vilietha

Hello Genone,

Thank you for your answer.

What would you do in my case?

(I always thought nvidia has a quite good or full support concerning the features of their cards in Linux...)

Kind regards,

Vilietha

----------

## Genone

As I said, you'll have to try it yourself (it won't break your hardware).

----------

