I was wondering how you get KDE to accept the resolution 1280x960? On previous installs of my linux distro, I was presented with the option for 1280x960, but its no longer there. How do I get KDE to let me choose that option again?

I am using xfree86. Whatever kernel and whatever video drivers I run, the option never appears. I have loaded the nvidia drivers into my kernel successfully, and nothing changes. (Though different issues occur, but those are for other threads).

My system spec's and info:

Video Card: Geforce 6800GT 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card
Motherboard: EPOX EP-9NPA+Ultra NF4 ULTRA RT
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 2000MHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core
RAM: CORSAIR XMS 1GB 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) Unbuffered System

KDE: version 3.3.2-1. I cannot upgrade to 3.4.
Linux Distro: Mepis Linux, based on Debian

I can't remember where i read this but most new monitors support the vesa ddc spec. Your card will query your monitor for info and you can see which one your driver has picked in the file /var/log/XFree86.0.log or /var/log/Xorg.0.log.

Higher resolutions may have to manually added to the Modes option in the Screen/Display section. E.g.
DefaultDepth 16 <---- pick your default depth
...
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1280x1024" "1024x768""800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection

The ctl-atl-keypad+ or ctl-alt-keypad- key sequence cycle through the modes listed here. Modes that cant be supported with your card/monitor combo will be dropped.

Thank you for the information. I did go and look through the log file, however any changes I made seemed to make no difference. The file seemed to overwrite anything I did with each xserver restart.

So, is there another way to tell my xfree86 to allow that resolution and those color depths? I have tried 'dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86', gone through the options and selected appropriately. I enabled the resolution '1280x960' and set the default bit depth to 24, but no visible change seemed to happen.

I found some interesting information in my file:

/etc/X11/XF86Config-4

Would this be a place to start configuring?

Yes this is the config file.

http://www.xfree86.org/current/XF86Config.5.html

Look for this section

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Your Screen Identifier"
Device "Your Graphic Device Identifier"
Monitor "Your Monitor Identifier"
DefaultDepth 24 # or whatever you default is, usually 16 or 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" # etc...
EndSubSection
EndSection

The default resolution is the one highest one it comes to. Try adding your res here. Be sure to make a permanent backup of your file before editing. You can swithc between screen resolutions by pressing ctrl alt and + or - on the num keypad.

Add the modes for the screen, and if you have a bunch of modes on your monitor section, delete them, but keep the refresh rates. This allowed me to raise my resolutions beyond 1024x768.

Thanks, I was able to finally solve a problem I have had for a long time. I moved my monitor out of 16-bit. My god that was terrible. But I still have the problem that I cannot get it to use the resolution 1280x960. Here are the settings from my XF86Config-4:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "IBM"
ModelName "unknown"
#Option "DPMS" "true"
HorizSync 30.0 - 82.0 # Warning: This may fry old Monitors
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0 # Very conservative. May flicker.
EndSection

This section had a ton of ModeLines, all of which I removed.

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultColorDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1600x1200" "1280x960" "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSubSection

Though now the highest resolution I can go is 1280x1024, which is not even on that list. So while I am doing better, I still cannot get my system to use the correct resolution. I have even set the maximum resolution to just:

Modes "1280x960" "1024x768" "800x600"

But KDE still uses 1280x1024. No where in the XF86Config is there the text "1280x1024", so I do not know how it can use this.