Plugging two external screens to laptop via VGA and HDMI

vga hdmi external-monitor

31,796

Solution 1

What's the graphic chip on your pc? You could try plugging both screens in. Then run Monitors from the menu by pressing Super and typing Monitors. If they are both detected, you can configure them for dual screen use.

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Solution 2

Open terminal and run

xrandr

You will get something like this

LVDS1 connected 1024x768+360+1050 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 246mm x 185mm
   1024x768       50.0 +   60.0*    40.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        60.0     59.9  
VGA1 connected 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 434mm x 270mm
   1680x1050      59.9*+   60.0  
   1280x1024      75.0     60.0  
   1440x900       75.0     59.9  
...

Xrandr lists your video outputs including your laptops built-in screen. If there are three video outputs you should be able to connect two external monitors to your computer. If there are just two you most likely won't be able to connect more than one external monitor at a time.

Solution 3

I was looking for a little something different so noticing this is a bit of an older post i thought i would add my two cent experience in for this question to answer your question with a little help... My hp probook has vga and hdmi outs... the vga and the onboard display run through the same channel. You can use Hdmi with either vga or onboard display. The only way i have seen to run all 3 is by adding a usb display adapter allowing extra monitors but it really draws on the system pushing your graphics card pretty hard. I was hoping to find a way to actually run all 3 since ubuntu is quite a bit more giving than windows... So if you want to get VGA and HDMI to work together... close your lid (but you may need to change your power settings to do nothing when closing the lid...) when you close it vga will come online when you open it vga will go off and your internal will come on unless you have it set to off in the monitor settings. GL

31,796

719016

Updated on September 18, 2022

Comments

719016 over 1 year

I have an Asus U30JC laptop with a VGA and HDMI ports. I can connect my external screen (1920x1200) to either of those ports but I wonder if I would be able to use two screens at the same time, one plugged to the VGA and the other to the HDMI socket.

Any ideas? Where should I find out?

Doing xrandr, I get:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1366 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 293mm x 164mm
   1366x768       60.0*+
   1360x768       59.8     60.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

When connected to the VGA external screen, I get:

xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 3286 x 1200, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1366x768+1920+432 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 293mm x 164mm
   1366x768       60.0*+
   1360x768       59.8     60.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        59.9  
VGA1 connected 1920x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 518mm x 324mm
   1920x1200      60.0*+
   1600x1200      60.0  
   1280x1024      60.0  
   1280x960       60.0  
   1024x768       60.0  
   800x600        60.3     56.2  
   640x480        60.0  
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

719016 almost 13 years

It's a hybrid graphics system, one is an intel integrated and the other is an nvidia discrete: 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller]) 01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT218 [GeForce 310M] (rev a2) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
con-f-use almost 13 years

And did you try my suggestion?
James Henstridge almost 13 years

I would suggest trying con-f-use's suggestion too. While the laptop has multiple outputs, it won't necessarily have enough clock generators to drive them all at the same time (for example, one video card I had could only drive one of its DVI and HDMI outputs at a time). If you've got two monitors, it will be quickest to just try it out.
719016 almost 13 years

Where can I find out about the clock generators then? What should I google for?
719016 almost 13 years

I get LVDS1 connected, VGA1 disconnected, HDMI1 disconnected and DP1 disconnected.
Seppo Erviälä almost 13 years

Then I suggest you try to plug in 2 external displays and see if you can enable them with nvidia-settings.
Seppo Erviälä almost 13 years

You could also test what xrandr says when you have just one external display plugged in. It is quite weird that it lists DisplayPort output even though your computer doesn't have one.
719016 over 12 years

I haven't found hard evidence, but I think it's probably true that only either HDMI or VGA can be connected and give output at a given time.
Kevin Bowen almost 11 years

It is difficult to tell what you are suggesting as an answer.
edwin almost 11 years

I don't think you are trying to answer the question...
Luís de Sousa over 9 years

This does not provide an answer to the question. To critique or request clarification from an author, leave a comment below their post - you can always comment on your own posts, and once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post.
Chema over 9 years

He asked "I wonder if I would be able to use two screens at the same time, one plugged to the VGA and the other to the HDMI socket." I answered "laptop designers make it so you can only use one of your VGA/DVI/HDMI outputs at a time (since it's a lot cheaper)." How is that not answering the question?