Comment 20 for bug 416236

Hello people,

there are definitely unresolved issues here. I also use an external monitor and would like to close the laptop lid while working solely with the external monitor. The external monitor has a higher resolution and a differing aspect ratio compared to the laptop screen. So I had to uncheck "mirror monitors" in System/Preferences/Display to have the full resolution for the external monitor available (see other bug reports <https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-control-center/+bug/299653> and <https://bugs.launchpad.net/gnome-control-center/+bug/351427>).

To "do nothing" when closing the laptop lid, I used Lars Bengtsson's suggestion:
gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/gnome-power-manager/buttons/lid_ac "nothing"
gconftool-2 --type string --set /apps/gnome-power-manager/buttons/lid_battery "nothing"

After restarting the system to be sure everything is started up as necessary I get the following behavior:
- (ok) System > Preferences > Power Management > On AC power > When laptop lid is closed: do nothing
- (ok) System > Preferences > Power Management > On battery power > When laptop lid is closed: do nothing
When I actually close the laptop lid, I got two behaviors so far:
1) I indeed still see something on the external monitor, but back in the coarse native resolution of my laptop screen.
OR
2) The external monitor remains in its higher resolution, but all panels, windows, and applications are gone as though "mirror monitors" is switched on.

There seems to be a problem at least in this combination of usage:
+ using external monitor
+ laptop screen switched off to get full resolution at external monitor
+ "do nothing" if laptop lid is closed

This is, however, the default usage for many users with external monitors. So I'd encourage to work on this.