My eternal struggle with Screen Resolution.

Seph64 · 02-08-2009, 01:02 PM

I have a Samsung SyncMaster 920nw LCD Widescreen (16:10 Aspect Ratio) with 1440x900 native resolution.

I've been struggling to find a descent way for the X-Server to utilize the screen correctly.

I've tried using ModeLine calculators (with using the correct information for the monitor) to create a modeline sequence in my xorg.conf file. For one reason or another, the X-Server starts up with a 1440x1024 resolution, which leaves me having to move my mouse to the bottom or to the top of the screen to display what was missing.

Now I had a small workaround with Gnome, I set the resolution to the correct size via a options menu, and it'd take effect each time I log in. I installed KDE 4.2 to test it, and what works for Gnome does not work for KDE, I can get it to change the resolution to the correct one via a menu, but it won't take effect for each login. And I have to re-enable the Desktop effects after changing the resolution.

But what I would like to do is be able to get Linux to use the monitor correctly from the get go. I haven't found a way to do that yet. I could use some help in this regard.

H_TeXMeX_H · 02-08-2009, 01:20 PM

Will, it depends a lot on what video card you have ... it may also be useful now or later on if you post the relevant parts of xorg.conf

Seph64 · 02-08-2009, 02:02 PM

My video Card is a EVGA brand GeForce 8600GT, 512MB VRam.

Relevent portion of my xorg.conf:

Quote:

Section "Monitor"

Identifier "Monitor"

# HorizSync is in kHz unless units are specified.
# HorizSync may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

HorizSync 30 - 81

# HorizSync 30-64 # multisync
# HorizSync 31.5, 35.2 # multiple fixed sync frequencies
# HorizSync 15-25, 30-50 # multiple ranges of sync frequencies

# VertRefresh is in Hz unless units are specified.
# VertRefresh may be a comma separated list of discrete values, or a
# comma separated list of ranges of values.
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY. REFER TO YOUR MONITOR'S
# USER MANUAL FOR THE CORRECT NUMBERS.

VertRefresh 56-75
Modeline "1440x900@60" 108.84 1440 1472 1880 1912 900 918 927 946

EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Graphics device section
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of graphics device sections may be present

# Standard VGA Device:

Section "Device"
Identifier "Standard VGA"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"

# The chipset line is optional in most cases. It can be used to override
# the driver's chipset detection, and should not normally be specified.

# Chipset "generic"

# The Driver line must be present. When using run-time loadable driver
# modules, this line instructs the server to load the specified driver
# module. Even when not using loadable driver modules, this line
# indicates which driver should interpret the information in this section.

Driver "vga"
# The BusID line is used to specify which of possibly multiple devices
# this section is intended for. When this line isn't present, a device
# section can only match up with the primary video device. For PCI
# devices a line like the following could be used. This line should not
# normally be included unless there is more than one video device
# intalled.

# BusID "PCI:0:10:0"

# VideoRam 256

# Clocks 25.2 28.3

EndSection

# Device configured by xorgconfig:

Section "Device"
Identifier "GeForce 8600"
Driver "nvidia"
#VideoRam 524288
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
Option "AddARGBGLXVisuals" "true"
Option "UseEvents" "false"
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
Option "Composite" "enable"
EndSection

# **********************************************************************
# Screen sections
# **********************************************************************

# Any number of screen sections may be present. Each describes
# the configuration of a single screen. A single specific screen section
# may be specified from the X server command line with the "-screen"
# option.
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "GeForce 8600"
Monitor "Monitor"
DefaultDepth 24

Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1440x900" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1440x900" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1440x900" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
EndSection

H_TeXMeX_H · 02-08-2009, 03:28 PM

I see you are running the nvidia drivers, then I suggest running 'nvidia-settings' as root, then make all the changes you need to in the GUI, then there's an option on there to export xorg.conf, so do that and it will generate it.

Seph64 · 02-09-2009, 09:39 AM

As I suspected, nvidia-settings doesn't work. It only solves the problem per session, and now I got to recreate my xorg.conf file because now I get 1280x1024 as default resolution, gee thanks nvidia-settings.

Any other suggestions?

H_TeXMeX_H · 02-09-2009, 10:17 AM

You may also want to delete '~/.nvidia-settings-rc', which stores the user configs generated by nivida-settings, these might be interfering, possibly...

Seph64 · 02-09-2009, 11:05 AM

I am not using it again.

Suggest something else.

Scratch that, I seemed to have fixed the problem.

Thanks anyway.

Seph64 · 07-03-2009, 10:21 AM

Bumping my own topic, since a reinstall brings back the screen size issue, and like an idiot, I forgot my solution. :\ Sorry for my attitude in my last post.

At any rate, I don't think the nvidia-settings app will be much help.

contusion · 07-03-2009, 10:37 AM

Just put only one mode of 1440x900 in the modeline line.

Seph64 · 07-03-2009, 04:51 PM

I think I solved it, just have to remember the command, "X -configure" then make sure to put the option "AllowEmptyInput" to 0 under ServerFlags in the config file.

Yeah, is Hald supposed to take care of Keyboard/Mouse stuff with Xorg 1.5?

EDIT: Still need to edit the xorg.conf, with my previous config, I was able to control the volume with my keyboard media buttons/controls.