xrandr w/ laptop and ext monitor

[Joseph L. Casale]

>What you *can* do is to make them both have the same resolution, and X can do this for you, by choosing the highest resolution common to both VGA and LVDS.
>However, don't be surprised if that turns out to be 1024x768 or even 800x600.

Ughh, that's sad:)

>The other possibility is to have two *different* outputs (not cloned, but adjacent, as is being setup as default in F12), and setup the user interface of your DE to look the same. If you use KDE, it is >easy, just add appropriate widgets (panel and all) on the VGA display, set up a background, etc. I don't know about Gnome and other DE's, but I guess it's possible there, too.

Well that does help, but it's unfortunate, I have done this in windows for eons...

Is it possible to create the default whereby the builtin LVD is then turned off if the external LVD or VGA is connected?
This would accomplish what I need equally well.

Thanks for the informative reply,
jlc