I posted a question about getting my i915GM graphics working on my laptop with fedora 7.  Kevin Fenzi of tummy.com, who works on the fedora project, suggested trying a stock xorg.conf config then plugin the VGA output and do xrandr –auto.   The stock xorg.conf uses the intel driver, which he says is the one Intel is actually supporting.  The i810 driver was the old reverse engineered driver.

Well, I tried this and all I found was that the stock config doesn't even see the TV or VGA outputs.  If I boot with no xorg.conf, the intel driver correctly detects a 1280×800 LCD for the laptop and that works just fine – it even seems to work with mythtv's frontend (no frame drops).  However, xrandr doesn't see the VGA or TV outputs at all.  I have to install an xorg.conf file that specifically configures these two outputs for xrandr to see them.  Once I start down that path, things just don't work.  I can't find a config that lets me have 1280×800 on the LVDS (re: LCD) output and 1024×768 (or even 800×600) on the VGA with the LVDS showing my desktop (Screen 0) and the VGA showing just the desktop background (Screen 1 – no gnome panels, etc).  That's the config I had previously with FC5 and the i810 driver.

I found a workaround that is ugly but at least gets me a working VGA output.  I boot the laptop and let gdm start without an xorg.conf file.  Technically this uses the intel driver.  Then I login (by console, but I think it would work just as well if I logged in via gdm) and copy over an xorg.conf file I have for the i810 driver.  I plug in the VGA monitor.  Then I force gdm to restart (Ctrl-Alt-Backspace).  When gdm restarts the VGA output is working and my laptop is at the correct resolution (1280×800).  I login to my session and I have dual screens:  laptop @ 1280×800 and VGA output @ 1024×768.

I haven't verified if I can go back to LVDS only (no VGA) from this point without a reboot.  I know I can't first fiddle with the intel driver to get xrandr working and then try to switch to the i810 because then I lose all video – black screen.  Ugly.  So the only safe way is this "reboot and move" method.

I haven't tested how stable this i810-based config is.  It's possible the driver will blow up after extended use in this manner (the old i810 driver from FC5 would do that once in awhile, but infrequently).  But it worked last night long enough to show I could launch OOo's Impress and start the slideshow on the VGA display.  I'm good to go for my presentation this week at least.

Now to see if this works for TV out.  Probably won't get to try that till this weekend, though. �