I have a MacBook Pro 2011 (8,2) which suffers from the infamous graphic card problems. I've successfully installed Xubuntu 18.10 by disabling the Radeon graphic card via Grub and EFI partion.
I am trying to connect an external display via Mini Display Port, but the monitor is not detected. I tried an Mini Display Port <--> to Display Port cable (directly to the monitor's display port) an a series of adapters (Mini Display Port <--> VGA <--> HDMI). In both cases the monitor detects the cable and says "no signal from computer".
Is there anything how I could further debug this?
$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1680 x 1050, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS-1 connected primary 1680x1050+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 331mm x 207mm
1680x1050 59.88*+
1600x1024 60.17
1400x1050 59.98
1600x900 59.99 59.94 59.95 59.82
1280x1024 60.02
1440x900 59.89
1400x900 59.96 59.88
1280x960 60.00
1440x810 60.00 59.97
1368x768 59.88 59.85
1360x768 59.80 59.96
1280x800 59.99 59.97 59.81 59.91
1152x864 60.00
1280x720 60.00 59.99 59.86 59.74
1024x768 60.04 60.00
960x720 60.00
928x696 60.05
896x672 60.01
1024x576 59.95 59.96 59.90 59.82
960x600 59.93 60.00
960x540 59.96 59.99 59.63 59.82
800x600 60.00 60.32 56.25
840x525 60.01 59.88
864x486 59.92 59.57
800x512 60.17
700x525 59.98
800x450 59.95 59.82
640x512 60.02
720x450 59.89
700x450 59.96 59.88
640x480 60.00 59.94
720x405 59.51 58.99
684x384 59.88 59.85
680x384 59.80 59.96
640x400 59.88 59.98
576x432 60.06
640x360 59.86 59.83 59.84 59.32
512x384 60.00
512x288 60.00 59.92
480x270 59.63 59.82
400x300 60.32 56.34
432x243 59.92 59.57
320x240 60.05
360x202 59.51 59.13
320x180 59.84 59.32
VGA-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
The integrated graphic card of these MacBooks seems not to be able to send images to an external display, i.e. there does not seem to be an software solution unfortunately (that means this question is actually not Ubuntu related). An USB to HDMI adapter (external graphic card) might be able to do the job and of course and a repair of the logic board too.
This is my conclusion after reading this long thread where several people confirm that external displays are not working:
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