I am running an Acer Aspire 5251-1805, a 64-bit AMD processor, 3 GB DDR3 memory, ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250 Graphics card with up to 1405MG HyperMemory, etc. I used to have a 250 GB HDD on it with Windows 7 64-bit, but once I developed issues with it, I chucked the HDD and bought a brand new WD Scorpio Blue 500 GB SATA HDD that I just installed and installed Ubuntu 10.10 on the entire thing.

Basically, I have also bought an Emerson 22" LC220EM1 flatscreen that has multiple inputs, including 2 HDMI. My Acer 5251-1805 has a built-in 16:9 HD LED display, and it also includes an HDMI out port. Naturally I want to put the two together with a USB keyboard and form Voltron with them (har har), but it seems that no matter what settings I use on the TV and my laptop, on the screen of the Emerson 22", the screen does not fully show itself.

I am still learning Ubuntu speak, so I may get the terminology al wrong when describing my issues, but first, the top bar, where the time and date are, which I think is called the top PANEL, does not show up. It is definitely there, but the way the HDMI is working, I cannot see it due to it being out of range.

I've used HDMI flatscreen HD monitors and HDTVs with my previous laptop with no problem.. I do remember that at first there was something I had to do to get the whole thing to work out. Like, it eventually worked perfectly and everything was perfectly aligned, but with this Emerson or with Ubuntu, I can't seem to "steer" the screen orientation to shift over a few pixels left, right, up, or down, or zoom in any way, or whatever either. Is this something to do with Ubuntu? Or is this something to do with the hardware (the laptop or the Emerson?)

I would love for this to work. Then I could just close the laptop shell up, use the keyboard and the HDTV screen, and that would be my computer, in an essence. But it seemed to me that Windows 7 had way more support for multiple monitors and screens while using it.

And what I can't stand is how in Ubuntu with more than one monitor, it labels each one in the upper left corner, and that label just will NOT go away. Therefore, it is always ON TOP of everything else as the dominant image, and there seems to be no choice to make it go away (it is ugly, plus there are many times I need to actually click on something that somehow falls "behind" it on the screen, and I can't do that with the silly yellow labels there -- or can I?

So if anyone has any idea about what I am talking about, or hasn't gotten bored or lost in all this silly drive to utilize the HDMI port on my laptop while using Ubuntu, please help steer me in the correct direction. I'd so appreciate it. I used to use Red Hat back in the day, eons ago, but my mind has greatly lost most of all that information from back in those days, so a lot of this linux code is a MUST for me, because I really need to be "refreshed" on all of this, but in the end, I do "get it" - so please bear with me.

Thanks a lot. I also wondered if there were any drivers for my laptop, Ubuntu, or the Emerson that I could download that would solve all these problems. I think when I was using a HANNspree HD monitor before that had HDMI in/out, installing the correct and up-to-date drivers (which WERE NOT on the original CD/DVD that they sent with the thing) to get Windows 7 to format the screen correctly.

As far as the sound, I have managed to get the sound to come out of the Emerson's speakers by setting the ATI Radeon's HDMI out on the audio. SO the sound is fine and everything else seems to be, but the main issue is the display just doesn't display properly, no matter what settings for the TV I use, or the way I layout the monitors in the monitor GUI manager thing.