External Display plug-n-play in LL & other Ubuntu-based distros, revisited ...

[m654321]

In September 2017, I posted a question asking if instant plug-n-play capability for external monitors could be developed in LL (see https://www.freecinema2022.gq/forums/sugge.../#msg35043).

My own experiments showed that Manjaro and PCLinuxOS could instantly plug-n-play with either our Samsung TV monitor or with two other displays (Dell & Hanns G).  However, LL and all the Ubuntu-based distros that I've tried, did not instantly plug-n-play; instead you need to fiddle around with settings, e.g. which one is required as the primary display and whether mirror displays are required or not, etc, which is time consuming and a bit complicated.

Jerry suggested that the issue might be kernel related as, at the time, Manjaro & PCLinuxOS were using kernel 4.6, while LL still had 4.4.  To test this idea, I did the following two things:

(1) Upgraded kernel from 4.4 to 4.6 then 4.9 for LL: still no plug-n-play with external monitor
(2) Downgraded kernel from 4.9 or 4.6 to 4.4 with Manjaro & PCLinuxOS: plug-n-play capability maintained

Therefore, I concluded that the lack of instant-plug-n-play capability of LL (or other Ubuntu-based distros) with external displays was not due to the kernel.

My question therefore, thinking about LL's future, is as follows ...
Would it be possible to develop external display plug-n-play capability in LL, even though this feature appears to be absent in its Ubuntu 'parent' ?  Such a feature would be really useful.   

Many thanks for any feedback.

[Valtam]

My previous message in that thread still stands:

They use MATE and KDE so either that's the difference, or they are using newer or patched packages, or newer kernel. You'd have to ask them how they achieve this.

[Peejay]

[member=458]m654321[/member]
I couldn't really reproduce your problem. I first tried using a friend's quite new laptop running Ubuntu 16.04. We plugged in the HDMI cable and the display came up - albeit as an extension to the laptop display rather than as a mirror of it. Clicking a checkbox on the info box that appeared solved that and I got the impression that that could become a default setting.

I've now tried it with Linux Lite on my 2006 Philips Freevents laptop and again the display came up right away, using a VGA cable. This time it would not accept mirroring at all because of a difference in the size of displays, so I suppose that would have required some fiddling about - possibly unsuccessfully too, but that looks more like a hardware issue to me given that the laptop is 11 years old. It would still display immediately on the external monitor though if you accepted it as an extension display or alternative display (ie laptop screen blanked).
This seems OK to me., really. Are you used to seeing something better than that with the other distros?

[bitsnpcs]

In September 2017, I posted a question asking if instant plug-n-play capability for external monitors could be developed in LL (see https://www.freecinema2022.gq/forums/sugge.../#msg35043).

My own experiments showed that Manjaro and PCLinuxOS could instantly plug-n-play with either our Samsung TV monitor or with two other displays (Dell & Hanns G).  However, LL and all the Ubuntu-based distros that I've tried, did not instantly plug-n-play; instead you need to fiddle around with settings, e.g. which one is required as the primary display and whether mirror displays are required or not, etc, which is time consuming and a bit complicated.

Jerry suggested that the issue might be kernel related as, at the time, Manjaro & PCLinuxOS were using kernel 4.6, while LL still had 4.4.  To test this idea, I did the following two things:

(1) Upgraded kernel from 4.4 to 4.6 then 4.9 for LL: still no plug-n-play with external monitor
(2) Downgraded kernel from 4.9 or 4.6 to 4.4 with Manjaro & PCLinuxOS: plug-n-play capability maintained

Therefore, I concluded that the lack of instant-plug-n-play capability of LL (or other Ubuntu-based distros) with external displays was not due to the kernel.

My question therefore, thinking about LL's future, is as follows ...
Would it be possible to develop external display plug-n-play capability in LL, even though this feature appears to be absent in its Ubuntu 'parent' ?  Such a feature would be really useful.   

Many thanks for any feedback.

What do you mean by plug n play ?
Plug laptop in to tv then use laptop to control desktop displayed on tv.
or
Plug laptop into tv and close laptop lid and keep the desktop showing on tv
or
plug laptop into tv, display on laptop and tv and plug into laptop and use air mouse controller on tv
or
other, explain simply for me ?

My friend has laptop if it helps ? I can try it with ubuntu live usb on her tv is about 32+ Samsung, or when she visits here I can try it on 52+ Samsung my sister gave me few days ago coz she got bigger one.

[m654321]

[member=411]bitsnpcs[/member]: What do you mean by plug n play ?

"Plug and Play", sometimes abbreviated as PnP, is a catchy phrase used to describe devices that work with a computer system as soon as they are connected, i.e. which instantly work without the need to (1) download additional drivers and/or (2) fiddle around with PC settings.

It's commonly used for devices that work out-of-the-box with Windows computers.

[bitsnpcs]

[member=411]bitsnpcs[/member]: What do you mean by plug n play ?

"Plug and Play", sometimes abbreviated as PnP, is a catchy phrase used to describe devices that work with a computer system as soon as they are connected, i.e. which instantly work without the need to (1) download additional drivers and/or (2) fiddle around with PC settings.

It's commonly used for devices that work out-of-the-box with Windows computers.

Thank You for explain [member=458]m654321[/member]
I will take the usb stick of Ubuntu 17.10, and Disk of Linux Lite 3.2 and try them tomorrow and reply with how it went.

[m654321]

[member=458]m654321[/member]
I couldn't really reproduce your problem. I first tried using a friend's quite new laptop running Ubuntu 16.04. We plugged in the HDMI cable and the display came up - albeit as an extension to the laptop display rather than as a mirror of it. Clicking a checkbox on the info box that appeared solved that and I got the impression that that could become a default setting.

I've now tried it with Linux Lite on my 2006 Philips Freevents laptop and again the display came up right away, using a VGA cable. This time it would not accept mirroring at all because of a difference in the size of displays, so I suppose that would have required some fiddling about - possibly unsuccessfully too, but that looks more like a hardware issue to me given that the laptop is 11 years old. It would still display immediately on the external monitor though if you accepted it as an extension display or alternative display (ie laptop screen blanked).
This seems OK to me., really. Are you used to seeing something better than that with the other distros?

Does the sound plug-n-play too?
When I mentioned plug-n-play, I meant sound together with video - not just video - I'm using our Samsung TV monitor to play TV programmes recorded on a laptop.

[m654321]

My previous message in that thread still stands:

[quote author=Jerry link=topic=3997.msg30202#msg30202 date=1489995832]
They use MATE and KDE so either that's the difference, or they are using newer or patched packages, or newer kernel. You'd have to ask them how they achieve this.

[/quote]

It seems to me that most of this comment doesn't stand, as:
(1) I tested plug-n-play with xfce versions of both PCLOS & Manjaro (I haven't tried Mate or KDE) and,
(2) I've used both older (4.4) as well as newer (4.6, 4.9) kernels in both LL, Manjaro & PCLOS and the difference still stands, irrespective of kernel version - I did mention this already.

It seems to me, however, that your idea that PCLOS & Manjaro might be using "newer or patched packages" still stands. The difficulty here is that I don't have sufficient background linux knowledge to discuss this with the development teams of these two distros. I did try once: all I got from the PCLOS community forum was a dismissive comment that they "use magic dust"...  not very helpful.


Perhaps, someone from the LL forum, with more in-depth knowledge than myself, might try discussing this with them?

Many thanks for your continued interest in this.

[bitsnpcs]

I tried today Lenovo T420s 16GB 240SSD, displayport>HDMI Samsung tv.
Confirmed this set up works using windows before begin.

No useful success using Linux to improve/help you solve issue.

results on tv -
Linux Lite 3.2 dvd live
Desktop part appeared on tv, sound worked.
Desktop it was wrong size and didnt show the panel or a portion of lower desktop , on tv.
Changing of resolution didn't help, only made worse in smaller sizes on tv.
Eventually I got entire wallpaper to appear on laptop and tv, but neither had a panel so had to switch off laptop to get to remove dvd.
End of trial.

Ubuntu 17.10 usb live
even less of desktop appeared in height, and also this was missing part of desktop in width on tv.
Looked at display settings, all of those tried had no visible effect at all.
Didn't try much else with it with tv.

[humdinger70]

There was a time in Windows when 'plug and play' was more like 'plug and pray'.