[RLUG] Screen Resolutions

[Ed Jaeger]

I have found that if the GUI tool does not let you set all the resolutions you 
think you should have it's not correctly ID'd your card and/or monitor.  As I 
recall (I don't have it on anything here I can get to right now) you can also 
use the GUI tool to select your card and monitor manually from lists.

Unfortunately, most of my computers have been updated so many times they retain 
the original hand-calculated X modelines, so I may not be able to help much.

When I set up my home box I was using the built-in VGA, which was an S3 
Unichrome.  AVOID THIS CRAP.  Xorg has a driver for it, but it does not work 
under 64 bit, so I was stuck with the VGA resolutions under 64 bit.  Despite the 
fact that I had an AMD64 I installed 32 bit linux to get the proper driver, only 
to find out that the S3 Unichrome HARDWARE will not allow you to set a 1440x900 
display size.

The reason I used the onboard VGA was because I used a low-profile case - so I 
just bought a $39 Nvidia card & used the tools in the metal shop here at the 
office to make the bracket work.  Problem solved - 1440x900 accelerated and 64 
bit all the way.  But it's not what I wanted.  Moral:  Even if it SAYS it's 
supported, check the details of that support pretty carefully.

Grant Kelly wrote:

> Make sure X gets restarted. A good way to ensure this is
> 'Ctrl+Alt+Backspace' from within gnome or the login screen. Then the
> login screen should restart itself.
> 
> Grant
> 
> On 11/9/05, Dennis Bagley <dbagley at 775.net> wrote:
> 
>>Thanks Ed,
>>
>>I went into the xorg.conf file and changed the mode lines for
>>resolution like so:
>> SubSection "Display"
>>                Depth           24
>>                Modes           "1440x900" "1400x1050" "1280x1024"
>>"1200x800" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
>>        EndSubSection
>>
>>But I do not seem to be able to go above 1024x768 with the gnome GUI
>>tool.
>>
>>Dennis
>>
>>
>>
>>On Wed, 2005-11-09 at 14:32 -0800, Ed Jaeger wrote:
>>
>>>/etc/X11/xorg.conf
>>>
>>>I just got a nice 1440x900 LCD for home & had to add a mode line for it (after I
>>>got a new card that would support it), so I can help you out if it's confusing.
>>>
>>>Dennis Bagley wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>What do I need to modify to add more screen resolutions to my choices in
>>>>Ubuntu/Debian.  I am guessing it is one of the conf or cf files, but
>>>>which?
>>>>
>>>>At present my only choices are: 1024x768, 800x600 and 640x480.  I would
>>>>like to add at least 1240X1024.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Dennis
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>
>>
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> 
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-- 
Ed Jaeger