@darknesscrysis
The tutorial doesn't give any details on how to connect by SSH.
Sorry, but you need to read more carefully, the Tutorial only mentions SSH in the "Via the xrandr command" part, and there is a link in the word "SSH" that redirects to the Tutorial that teaches how to connect via SSH. Also, within the WIki, just use the search tool and you can easily find tutorials that talk about SSH.
You say you need a step-by-step tutorial, but it already exists and you haven't read it carefully, the Recalbox team is small, and we can't keep re-explaining the same thing to each user, so the tutorials were created. If you really don't understand any of them, we are willing to help, but you need to read the tutorial calmly and carefully first, otherwise it will be useless for us to support you here.
I need a step by step tutorial on how to connect the laptop to the TV.
You already have this tutorial:
The tutorial
You might just want the SSH tutorial...
how to connect by SSH
If I have to do this every time is there another emulator with a simpler way to handle external displays?
Recalbox is not an emulator, it is a complete operating system for retroemulation that adds a frontend called EmulationStation and several emulators, with Retroarch being the main and most used. If you want another operating system, it's probably not here on the Recalbox forum that you'll find it...
I would like to select using the laptop display if the lid is open and the external display if it's closed. Is there an option for that?
No, the best option in this case is to always display on both screens, or you will have to manually edit the configuration file to change it.
To display the image on both screens, you need to use the xrandr command with the --same-as command, like this:
xrandr --output HDMI-0 --mode 1280x720 --same-as LVDS-0
You will need to change the value of HDMI-0 and LVDS-0 to the values that match the ID of the two screens you are using and 1280x720 to the resolution you want to use.
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