Hey every one. I wanted to know how on earth can I switch my resolution from 1024x768 to ***ing 1280x800. So I have tried many ways which all ended in editing xorg.conf which lead to nowhere.
My laptop is a SONY VAIO VGN-FS-540P. The LCD is a Sony xbrite technology (15.4" wxga) and unfortunately my Vedio Card is Intel 915. Have anybody had such a problem or does anyone know how to fix it?
By the way, I had this problem both in Kubuntu dapper and Mandriva 2006 free and currently I have the second one installed and I like it.

You need to get and install the 915resolution tool:

http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/

this is absolutely necessary to get the 1280x800 resolution since the video bios of the intel graphics chipsets misreports the resolution capabilities of the system and defaults to 1024x768. Actually, there's some dispute about whether it's intel's faulty video bios or xorg's faulty X system. I know this tool works perfectly on the 945 chipset.

I think there may be an rpm available for 915resolution in the contrib repo.

Thanks alot. I have already installed the newest package. I think I must go through the install process again and definitely will check the forum you specified.

If you are having widescreen problems in linux and your PC is a laptop first go and check for the newest Video Card drivers.
In my case the Video Card was Intel915 series and there is a bug either in Xorg or in Intel. The problem is when Xorg asks the bios of the VC to introduce available resolutions it doesn't specify the 1280x800x24 mode. TO DO: download '915resolution' by searching for it in google. Then easily install it like:
915resolutionPackage> make
915resolutionPackage> make install
If you type '915resolution' you will get a list of reported resolutions. You may hack the bios and enter your desired resolution instead of one of reported ones. This is done like:
> 915resolution 38 1280 800 24
Means that reported resolution number '38' must be replaced by '1280x800x24' mode.
But it must be done before the X window system loads. I am using a Mandriva 2006 linux. To do this, I edited my 'dm.sh*' file which is supposed to load the X-window system. In the first line of the file I wrote:

915resolution 38 1280 800 24
...
After restarting the computer the resolution got correct!
I hope it will be useful...

Thanks ehsan_expert, it worked for me, after two days of intensive searching and reading long stories, you gave the simple answer i was looking for. in my case dm.sh file was kdm.sh and it would be handy to say where it is located: /etc/init.d/kdm

installing 915resolution was a piece of cake and adding that line 915resolution 38 1280 800 24 (after doing the right pick (58 in my case) from the list generated by '915resolution -l') to the top of the kdm.sh file is easy enough too.

just ctrl+alt+bckspc wasn't enough but a reboot did the trick

thanks
ron

May be I have been cheering to early because now when I switch to a VT i can't read a thing! everything looks garbled, not even random characters, just unreadable jibberish. now x looks perfect but the VT have become useless in the process. do you have this experience too?

thanks
ron

Hey, good to hear that my elementary experiencecame handy. Yes you may add the line in any of shell-script files which are to run before X window system. Actually I do not know what a VT is? Nor am I realy an expert in Linux. But the thing is if it is a hardware thing go to its website or search in google for list of its drivers. Maybe you'd be able to find something for the linux. By the way, try to use drivers that some one else before you has used and approves their being appropriate. They may damage you system or at least OS if not applied properly. (My Mandriva Linux crashed twice).

a VT is a Virtual Terminal, not that i am a master of the VT's, but a linux system has (at least) 7 VT's, the last one (tty7) is X. you can switch to a VT by pressing ctrl+alt+F1 will get you into tty1, the same with F2 will get you to tty2, do this with F7 and you will be back in X. now, since that 915 resolution hack is in place I can not work with any of the VT's, do you have the same problem too? I can still switch to them but it is unreadable.

Which resolution did you overwrite with the 915 tool? You may have overwritten the one used by the VT so it is no longer available. You could try overwriting another one instead. The idea is to pick one that will never be ordinarily used.

the 1024 x 768 one, as i read your answer i could immediately see the logic in it, haven't tried it yet (i am not on that systems right now) but it is clear as a bell, will let you know the outcome anyway. thanks kilgoretrout.

using the 800 x 600 one now and all works good, i can switch to VT's without a problem. thanks again!

Anyone know offhand what the maximum resolution the linux driver supports in Xorg?

I remember finding a posting somewhere months back but I don't remember the answer and a google search now didn't turn up anything.

I've had the 1280 widescreen resolution for a while and would love to get 1600x1400.

Peter

Hi! Thank you very much for the info!

I had kind of the same problem with the resolution on my Fujitsu-Siemens AMILO M 6450G Laptop, using Mandriva Linux.

Following your instructions, but changing things a bit, I managed to fix the problem.

So, here are the things that were useful for me:

1. Download "915resolution" program
2. from a shell, type "make"
3. then, "make install"

Up to this point, nothing differs from the instructions presented in this topic, for other computers.

I tried changing the resolution as you described, but nothing seemed to happen. I don't know why, but regarding the resolution, the settings from "xorg.conf" are ignored. My X was mandatory started in 1024x768, ignoring my custom resolutions in xorg.conf.

so, i changed with 915resolution exactly the id of 1024x768.

4. Edit the file /etc/rc.d/init.d/md and add the following command:

915resolution 34 1280 768 8

Note that for Amilo M6450G screen, the optimal resolution is 1280x768.

It doesn't matter what bpp you are using, the above command fixes the resolution for all depths.

5. Reboot

Maybe your resolution settings in xorg.conf aren't ignored, but if they are, and the solution above doesn't work, try to determine what resolution your X starts with and change it with 915resolution. It should work.

Cheers!

Mandriva 2007, Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Pro laptop, Intel 915GM chipset, and 1024x768 res, No matter what i do! I've tried all the comments on this thread to now avail, tried other suggestions all using 915/855 resolution programs, is there anything else i can try? Many thanks and Merry Christmas

Baci x


EDIT ::: Correction, i was adding the command to the wrong file! can you beleive it!? lol i added it to /etc/rc.d/init.d/dm and it worked straight off, 1280x800! My god its so much nicer, check out http://baci1721.dynalias.com/laptop.png i usually use Gentoo but mandriva went on this for usability!

Thanks