I am currently changing between my laptop and my external monitor with the NVidia X Server Settings program and I'm sure I'm doing it in a really dumb way:
I currently select the external monitor, set it from "Disabled" to "TwinView", then then select the laptop screen and change it to "Disabled". Then I press "Apply" and it's done. I do this in reverse when I need to disconnect.
It's the only way I've managed to switch monitors (both VGA and DisplayPort connections on my ThinkPad), and it's a really fiddly process which I have to perform multiple times per day.
However I really want to be able to switch with Fn-F8 or some other keyboard shortcut but this doesn't appear to work with any connection method. Is there anything better than I can do?
Best Answer
The nvidia tool nvidia-settings can be used from command line, but is not capable to activate or deactivate screens. xrandr is not supported by the propietary NVIDIA-drvers.
To switch displays you can use the tool disper: disper on launchpad It's a command line tools, wich exactly fits your problem an is easy to use.
Some example scripts for automatic switching at startup can be found here: Ubuntuusers.de wiki
I use these scripts to switch my monitors. It works perfectly.