On 01/28/2015 03:30 PM, Frank Cox wrote:
... Having never used DisplayPort before, I'm wondering if this means that if I purchase the BenQ monitor above, or something similar, I can then reasonably expect to plug it in and have it just-work with my Centos 7 setup.
I like the full-size DisplayPort connector the best of any video connector I've dealt with, with my second favorite being the BNC (a single BNC running SMPTE 292M HD-SDI is nice nice nice, and expensive expensive expensive). DP is also one of the first with a simple latch arrangement that actually works well and is beefy enough to not worry too much about bending or breaking the connector by accident. Far better than HDMI, which can partially pull out with no warning, and no screws like DVI or VGA to deal with. Having said that, I feel just about the opposite about the mini-displayport connector; I'd much rather have an HDMI . But the miniDP does save space....
My CentOS 7 Dell Precision M6500 laptop (ATI Firepro 7820 graphics with the stock CentOS ATI driver, not the Catalyst/fglrx one) is driving three 1920x1200 displays (two dell 24 inch 16:10 and the laptop's built-in 17.1 inch) very well indeed. When I take the laptop to the conference room, I can plug in the projector after I've already logged in through the laptop's built-in (not on the dock) DisplayPort, and the desktop is automatically extended. I also like the new behavior that gives a choice as to whether the workspaces apply to the second and third monitors; this way, I can switch workspaces in the conference room while displaying a presentation and what is displayed on the projector doesn't change, without me having to manually set 'Always on visible workspace' manually. I carry an inexpensive active DisplayPort to HDMI/DVI/VGA triple adapter with me, and it really does 'just work' when it's plugged in.
Now, part of that smooth and convenient operation is of course due to the ATI driver; I had previously had an nVidia Quadro FX3800M in this laptop, but those cards are problematic in the M6500 (google for 'M6500 black screen' and see). The noveau driver didn't allow use of the DisplayPort at all, and I had to use the proprietary nVidia driver from ELrepo and an underclocking tweak to get DisplayPort to work. The FirePro 7820M isn't very expensive on eBay these days, and I purchased a NoS unit and resolved my issues. So your mileage may vary, depending upon which graphics card you have and which driver you use.
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