If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, OpenSolaris 2008.05 comes with a sweet NVIDIA utility for working with their cards. The only problem is that is seems pretty worthless w/out an existing xorg.conf file and the proper permissions to write to it:

These are the steps I took to configure my external display.

Step 1: Generate an xorg.conf File

Open a terminal and run: pfexec nvidia-xconfig

bleonard@opensolaris:~$ pfexec nvidia-xconfig

WARNING: Unable to locate/open X configuration file.

sh: line 1: pkg-config: not found
sh: line 1: pkg-config: not found
New X configuration file written to '/etc/X11/xorg.conf'

bleonard@opensolaris:~$

Step 2: Configure NVIDIA Settings To Run with the Proper Privileges

NVIDIA Settings can be run from the command line using: pfexec nvidia-settings

But let's fix the menu so it's not so worthless:

• From the terminal run: pfexec vi /usr/share/applications/nvidia-settings.desktop
• Prefix the Exec command with pfexec. The complete line should look as follows:
  
  Exec=pfexec /usr/bin/nvidia-settings
  
  
• Save the changes (:wq)

Step 3: Configure You External Monitor

• Run Applications > System Tools > NVIDIA X Server Settings
• Select X Server Display Configuration:
  
  
  
  
• Select your external monitor (mine's a Sun) and click Configure:
  
  
  
  
• If necessary, you can change screen positions by dragging the screens, or by selecting the X Screen tab and setting the screen's Position:
  
  
  
  
• Click Save to X Configuration File:
  
  
• If you selected Separate X screen, log out and back in to restart the X server:
  

There are still some oddities. I use the Sun 24" monitor as my primary. Every now and then while working from the Sun display, a window opens on the laptop display. Also, for some reason, I cannot drag an open window from one display to the other, although my mouse moves easily between them and I can easily drag desktop icons across the displays.