Network interface and Sound output detection

[uncle_rufus]

Hey all,

Trying to broaden my knowledge of configuring a few things that have come up. This is for a little Dell Inspiron Laptop with an i3, onboard graphics (no proper GPU) and currently I have regular Debian installed on it. However I presume the concepts behind this will be fairly similar regardless of distro (save for the exact semantics of a few of the commands etc). So:

1. What is the most reliable way of having the OS detect what network interfaces are available and prioritise the best one? For example I'd like it to use the wired ethernet port if it's plugged into something, and fall back to the in-built wireless if not.

2. In a similar sense, is there a way to detect when the laptop is plugged into a TV via the HDMI port and have the audio switch to output over the HDMI?

I have been Googling around for some solutions but thought I'd ask in here in case anyone has a known working method already. Who knows, perhaps these are things that are already standard on certain distros.

 

[uncle_rufus]

Cheers for the response...

For #1 I forgot about the task-bar/notification area because when using "GNOME classic" mode instead of the awful new stripped down version on Debian it seems to mess up the size of the icons that appear in there, so I ended up getting rid of it and using panel apps instead for things like volume etc... Will take a look

For #2 It's not a problem with it detecting the HDMI/TV, that works fine when I plug the HDMI in and I can even cycle through various different configurations (clone, extended desktop, laptop only, tv only) by pressing one of the laptops secondary function keys. The problem is that although the image appears on the TV no matter what I try to do the audio still comes out of the laptop speakers (or not at all depending on the setting).