How to Change Linux Displays on the Fly with Disper

By | December 22, 2010 |

Monitor display (oxygen icon set)Using Linux on a laptop has always been a hit and miss affair. With sometimes obscure proprietary hardware, many laptop manufacturers have showed no interest in supporting the free operating system. Nevertheless, through hard work by developers and support from some hardware manufacturers, Linux now supports a wide variety of laptops and netbooks.

Many laptop owners often connect their machines to external displays, whether monitors, televisions, or projectors. For display chips that support XrandR, the setup is usually rather simple. For users with Nvidia chips, it is still easy but not quick. To switch to an external display, you either have to configure it in the xorg.conf file to automatically recognize it or use nvidia-settings and click through a series of options each time you want to use it.

With Disper, a free on-the-fly display switching utility, you can quickly and easily switch to an external display, clone your screens, extend a display, and choose from any of the supported resolutions. Disper is a command line utility, but after a few initial command entries, you can easily bind it to a shortcut key or run it from a single command by using a basic script.
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How to Run Fullscreen Games In Linux With Dual Monitors

By | March 1, 2010 |

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As with all operating systems, the way a Linux game behaves on a computer is largely dependent on the design of the game, the graphics hardware and drivers the user has, and the settings one chooses. Native Linux games are typically better at supporting the computer’s default resolution without much tweaking, but the way it handles fullscreen display on a a dual-monitor system depends on the game engine employed.

After about an hour of trying to configure all of your games, you might very well find yourself drowning in sea of techno-babble and configuration files. But have no fear, MakeTechEasier has come to your rescue yet again.
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