looking for help on multimonitor setup

[H]

On March 11, 2025 4:11:54 PM EDT, Guy Rouillier <guy.rouillier at gmail.com> wrote:
>On 3/9/2025 7:33:57 AM, "Marco Moock" <mm at dorfdsl.de> wrote:
>>Have you tried to change the output directly and removing the custom
>>xorg.conf?
>I've been silently observing this conversation.  I've been using Ubuntu
>
>MATE
>and Linux Mint MATE for years without an xorg.conf (and many years 
>before
>that with an xorg.conf.)  I don't remember when the conf file became 
>optional.
>I've been able to get the multi-monitor set up I want by using the GUI 
>desktop
>configuration tools.
>
>--
>Guy Rouillier
>
>>

I am taking the opportunity to jump in with my related problem. My laptop running Rocky Linux 9 and Mate desktop has a UHD display running at 3840 x 2160 resolution whereas my external monitor runs at 1920 x 1080. I cannot get the external monitor to use this latter resolution, at startup it seems to default to 640 x 480 or similar 

Does anyone have experience with an external display running at a lower resolution than the laptop display itself?