How to set screen resolution of external monitor.

[thinkpadhk]

Hey all.

I have the T42 with the Mobile Radeon 9600/64MB Ram and it's running my laptop LCD at 1400x1050 resolution.

How do I set up the external vga port to drive at 1280x1024?

How can I set it up so when I use my external monitor only I get 1280x1024, and when I use the Laptop LCD only I get 1400x1024, and when I use both at the same time they each use their own resolution settings?

(it seems right now that if I use both displays at once the LCD gets automatically pushed down to the lower resolution... which sucks because all my desktop icons get moved in).

Also, is Fn+F7 the best way to switch between modes?

Thanks.

[think]

Use Presentation Director or expand the Desktop. Both works with different resolution, no prob.

[daeojkim]

Just right click on your desktop and go to properties. Go to setting and select monitor 2 and check "extend desktop to this monitor". Set resolution to that monitor to 1280x1024 as you want. This will not change the resolution on your laptop.

I do this often with my external monitor. Works great...!!!

[thinkpadhk]

Yeah I tried the "extended desktop" option... which, by the way, is really cool. I love having the dual monitors working together.

However, what I want to achieve is different. When I'm at home I want to just shut of my laptop LCD and use only the external LCD. However, the external LCD is 1280x1024. Which is totally fine... except that when I'm pressing Fn+F7 to switch between "external only" and "laptop only" modes, I have to go throught the "both monitors" mode. While I'm in the "both monitors" mode, my laptop LCD gets resized to the lower resolution... screwing up my desktop icon placement.

How can I get it to not do this?