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Linux Issues

External monitor support

Plugging in a projector, maybe pressing a hotkey, seeing coherent external (and inbuilt) display - this is something you assume works on a Mac or Windows PC. But it's one of the big sore spots of a Linux based computer. Incredibly, you can play the most esoteric digital video formats, but trying to hook up an external monitor or projector usually leads to sadness and pain.

I recall logging into the #2600 efnet IRC channel around 1992, and seeing some "hacker" celebrate getting a desktop monitor to display correctly, and it seems notebook external displays are much more complicated. Yes, you can buy a particular notebook, and expect it to work with a particular distro or kernel/X* setup... but if you want any particular computer, expect to spend hours of obscure research to discover it can't be done.