Can virtual terminals (ctrl+alt+f*) use external monitors?

Solution 1:

Yes it is possible, depending on the laptop. Anything that uses the standard VGA text mod shouldn't have a problem with an external monitor, although you may need to switch on the external monitor using the keyboard switch. I had an HP laptop with a broken screen & was working with both the command line & X with an external monitor, without having the enable the screen when using a VT.

Solution 2:

I had a laptop with a similar problem, and what I did was to press the key sequence to switch to the external monitor while it was going through the bios screens, before Linux or grub was involved.