Chapter 18. Configuring a Notebook

Installation and configuration

Installation and configuration of the NVIDIA Accelerated Linux Driver Set on a notebook is the same as for any desktop environment, with a few additions, as described below.

TwinView

All mobile NVIDIA GPUs support TwinView. TwinView on a notebook can be configured in the same way as on a desktop computer (refer to Chapter 13, Configuring TwinView ); note that in a TwinView configuration using the notebook's internal flat panel and an external CRT, the CRT is the primary display device (specify its HorizSync and VertRefresh in the Monitor section of your X config file) and the flat panel is the secondary display device (specify its HorizSync and VertRefresh through the SecondMonitorHorizSync and SecondMonitorVertRefresh options).

The "UseEdidFreqs" X config option is enabled by default, so normally you should not need to specify the "SecondMonitorHorizSync" and "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" options. See the description of the UseEdidFreqs option in Appendix B, X Config Options for details).

Hotkey Switching of Display Devices

Mobile NVIDIA GPUs also have the capacity to react to a display change hotkey event, toggling between each of the connected display devices and each possible combination of the connected display devices (note that only 2 display devices may be active at a time).

Hotkey switching dynamically changes the TwinView configuration; a given hotkey event will indicate which display devices should be in use at that time, and all MetaModes currently configured on the X screen will be updated to use the new configuration of display devices.

Another important aspect of hotkey functionality is that you can dynamically connect and remove display devices to/from your notebook and use the hotkey to activate and deactivate them without restarting X.

When switching away from X to a virtual terminal, the VGA console will always be restored to the display device on which it was present when X was started. Similarly, when switching back into X, the same display device configuration will be used as when you switched away, regardless of what display change hotkey activity occurred while the virtual terminal was active.

Known Notebook Issues

There are a few known issues associated with notebooks: