Something I like about Dell Ubuntu 8.04.1 on my Mini-9, that I didn't
like about Ubuntu-UMPC/Mobile 8.10 (that I run/ran on my Samsung Q1
Ultra) is that Dell Ubuntu will let me clone my 9 1024x600 Dell
screen onto my 19 1280x1024 monitor (with the Dell just showing the
upper left portion of what's on the external monitor, as opposed to it
stretching the smaller display onto the larger display (what my iMac
G4 does)). What Dell Ubuntu does is pretty much what I want (and I'm
going to refer to it as asymmetric mirroring/cloning, because the
screen is cloned/mirrored, but the two displays aren't the same
size/resolution).
But when I tried 9.04-NBR on my Mini-9 (via booting to a USB
thumdrive), it didn't work. I could use separate screen spaces just
fine ... I could even make the external monitor be the primary display
(but I don't know if it'll remember that configuration from session to
session, using the Dell as the primary when I'm away from my desk,
using the external monitor as the primary when I start up with it
attached). But I couldn't duplicate the display arrangement that Dell
Ubuntu lets me have.
If I tried to do cloning with 9.04-NBR on my Mini-9, it would try to
step down to a common resolution (800x600) on both displays. That's
completely unacceptable/brain-damaged. It should have at least
offered to letter box the smaller display (1024x600) onto the larger
display (1024x768 or 1280x1024). But the ideal type of screen
cloning, for me, is what Dell Ubuntu offers.
I suspect that it's because Canonical Ubuntu doesn't support that type
of asymmetric mirroring/cloning. As I said, Ubuntu-UMPC 8.10 couldn't
do it either. It behaved exactly like NBR, in this respect. I
haven't tried the non-NBR version of 9.04, so I don't know what its
behavior is.
Is this a driver issue that I can download for Ubuntu-NBR 9.04? Is
this something that's only offered by the Dell version(s) of Ubuntu,
and if I want this I'm going to have to stay with Dell Ubuntu, and not
Canonical Ubuntu? Or is this an issue with NBR/Mobile/UMPC versions
of Ubuntu only, and regular Canonical Ubuntu does the right thing like
Dell Ubuntu does?
For the Ubuntu-Mobile mailing list: any plans to fix this? or is it
already fixed and I just don't know where the option is located?
For the UbuntuMini google group: anyone know of workarounds that make
9.04 (NBR or regular) do the right kind of external display on the
Mini-9?
In summary:
1) Forcing to step down to a resolution that looks awful on both
displays, when screen cloning: BAD BAD BAD
2) Stretching the smaller screen onto the larger one, when screen
cloning: bad
3) Letterboxing the smaller screen onto the larger one, when screen
cloning: acceptable
4) Showing the larger screen at full resolution, and showing small
portion of that on the small screen, when screen cloning: GOOD
5) Offering all four of those as explicit choices for the user: BEST
6) Dell Ubuntu 8.04.1 (for the Mini-9 at least) lets you do #4
7) Ubuntu-UMPC 8.10 and Ubuntu-NBR 9.04 only appear to do #1
8) Anyone know how I can make #4 work on all flavors of Ubuntu?
9) When will the Ubuntu-Mobile team fix things to allow #4 or #5?
Thanks,
John
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