changing screen resolutions

tlarkin · 11-03-2005, 08:58 AM

I have a compaq/HP nx6110 laptop. The current resolution is set to 1024x768. I can go into the YAST and thats as high as I can go. Now, I can launch the sax2 from the terminal and it will allow me to change the resoultion to a higher one and says it will save that resolution once I restart. So, I reboot and I am back to 1024x768. I am logging into the sax2 utility with root permissions. Is there an obvious reason its not taking my changes?

Sorry for all the questions, I haven't used linux in over a few years. I am trying to relearn what I forgot

username17 · 11-03-2005, 10:18 AM

I'm not too familiar with SuSE but you could try editing /etc/X11/xorg.conf, then it would stick.

If you want to go this route, you'll be editing the last section, the screens section.

You'll see a lot of resolutions listed, seperated by depth (8,16,24, etc).
The color depth that you are using is what you want to edit.

Say "Default depth 24" is what you see.

Then you'd want to look for

.....
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
....

You would edit that line with the resolutions, but the formatting needs to stay the same.
Say you wanted 1280x1024 with 1024x768 as a backup just in case, you would do this:

...
Modes "1280x1024" "1280x1024" "1024x768"
...

I've always had all 3 resolutions specified, had trouble if I only leave one. Some people insist you only leave one.

The reason for free is because when your in X you can (or should be able to) cycle through the resolutions. I belive it's Ctrl+Shift + or -, if memory serves.
Speaking of memory, all of the above is from memory so the syntax, formatting, etc may not be accurate, but it should help.

Goodluck.

tlarkin · 11-03-2005, 10:39 AM

I have tried editing the xorg.conf file when I was running suse 9.3. It worked, but it didn't change the screen resolution, it changed the font resolution.

Just incase I screw this up I will copy the xorg.conf file into my home directory so I can restore that file if need be.

Thanks for your help I will give that a shot.

Also, do I have to log in as root to modify the file?

EclipseAgent · 11-03-2005, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tlarkin
I have tried editing the xorg.conf file when I was running suse 9.3. It worked, but it didn't change the screen resolution, it changed the font resolution.

Just incase I screw this up I will copy the xorg.conf file into my home directory so I can restore that file if need be.

Thanks for your help I will give that a shot.

Also, do I have to log in as root to modify the file?

Yes you have to be logged in as root, or modify it as SU in a terminal

tlarkin · 11-03-2005, 10:47 AM

Okay, so i launched terminal, did a su root, went to /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Then I cp that file to my home directory, so I have a back up

next i ran the edit command and it displayed the file's contents, which are here:

Code:

Section "Screen"
  DefaultDepth 24
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      15
    Modes      "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      16
    Modes      "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      24
    Modes      "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      32
    Modes      "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  SubSection "Display"
    Depth      8
    Modes      "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
  EndSubSection
  Device       "Device[0]"
  Identifier   "Screen[0]"
  Monitor      "Monitor[0]"
EndSection

1280x768 is already in that file? I have not even edited it yet. Does this look correct???? However I cannot display anything above 1024x768?

Does this look right?

usaf_sp · 11-04-2005, 12:02 PM

DO NOT EDIT THE XORG.CONF FILE. DO NOT advise people to do so if you do not use SuSE. Editing this file should be a last resort for most people. Especially Newbies.

KDE will set the resolution on start up. It does not matter what SaX2 is set, KDE (if that is what you are using) will set it as a user pref. Go to the KDE control center to change the Resolution for KDE. What you are accomplishing in SaX2 is setting the highest resolution possible. If you are using a higher res than SaX2 is set to then it will kick the KDE resolution down to the SaX2 max. If you have a higher resolution in SaX2 than KDE is set to, then no change will occur until you do it in KDE.

FYI: SuSE's display and graphics system is more fragile and buggy than other distros I have used. Editing the XORG.CONF file often causes X not to start up. SuSE uses YaST and SaX2 to automatically edit the conf files. That is why the file says "DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE". Granted you can edit it and should in some cases, but editing the conf files should not be your first step.

For a summary of SuSE Display issues:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=379305

tlarkin · 11-04-2005, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by usaf_sp
DO NOT EDIT THE XORG.CONF FILE. DO NOT advise people to do so if you do not use SuSE. Editing this file should be a last resort for most people. Especially Newbies.

KDE will set the resolution on start up. It does not matter what SaX2 is set, KDE (if that is what you are using) will set it as a user pref. Go to the KDE control center to change the Resolution for KDE. What you are accomplishing in SaX2 is setting the highest resolution possible. If you are using a higher res than SaX2 is set to then it will kick the KDE resolution down to the SaX2 max. If you have a higher resolution in SaX2 than KDE is set to, then no change will occur until you do it in KDE.

FYI: SuSE's display and graphics system is more fragile and buggy than other distros I have used. Editing the XORG.CONF file often causes X not to start up. SuSE uses YaST and SaX2 to automatically edit the conf files. That is why the file says "DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE". Granted you can edit it and should in some cases, but editing the conf files should not be your first step.

For a summary of SuSE Display issues:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=379305

I understand about editing files, which is why I always make a back up of a file I have to edit. I did actually edit the xorg.conf file when I tried installing suse 9.3 on my laptop first.

I am running KDE, and the sax2 is set to a higher resolution but the YAST will not let me change it to anything higher than 1024x768, and I know the screen should handle 1280x768.

I am not a newbie but not a linux professional, I am inbetween. I work with Mac OS X on a daily basis with my job so I am faimiliar with the unix based enviroment. I appreciate your help though, I will see what I can do with your link when I get more of a chance.

Thanks for the replies.

usaf_sp · 11-04-2005, 12:47 PM

You may not be a newbie, but many people are newbies and many non SuSE people are telling them to edit their Xorg.Conf files. Unless you have exhausted all other means provided by SuSE prior to editing their conf files, you are doing them a dis-service. Sorry I did not mean you as a newbie, but newbies in general. Perhaps you should put up a little info about yourself in your profile if you are worried that people will mistake you for a newbie. On this forum I have run across people of varying computer literacy. It would be wrong to start at the highest level of complexity when you start to help people, therefore I usually start at the lowest common denominator (newbie).

Again did you try to change the resolution in KDE itself and not YaST? Right click the desktop. Go to configure desktop and then go to display.

BTW: the link will not help with your specific problem. It is there to help others who may be reading this thread.

tlarkin · 11-04-2005, 01:04 PM

yes configure desktop does not allow me to go higher than 1024x768. However in the xorg.conf file 1280x768 is listed. I have read on other forums that people have edited that file to get around this limitation.

Its an intel 915 video chipset. I first tried to load suse 9.3 but i could not get my resolution above 640x480, which is no good. So, I have read that with suse and this video chip set you can run up to 1600x1200 (or whatever the max res is on this particular LCD).

Also, I do not get mad or discouraged when people call me a newbie. Everybody was a newbie at one point or another, and I don't really care. I cam to this forum to get advice because honestly I have not really ran suse linux since version 6.5 to 7.0. I used to run a webserver in my old apartment running linux, it also served as a gaming server for quake and counter-strike. I have also gone to certain forums and read threads of people giving other people bad hardware repair advice, and of course I always tried to step in so people did not damage their hardware, or in some cases injur themselves. So I appreciate your posts, and please don't take the wrong impression that I am one of those uptight power users. Like the "move" guy from that SNL sketch.

usaf_sp · 11-04-2005, 01:44 PM

It appears that the issue that you are having is graphics card related and is a known bug with XORG that is currently being researched and will be included in future XORG drivers.

This page directly addresses the issue that you are having:
http://linux-noob.com/review/suse/10/#video

It will send you to this page:
http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/

Where it claims that you will have to download a bios hack to get it working the way it should.

This is a link to XORG bug tracker:
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=643

As I do not have this card and I do not know what this program will do specifically. Please post back any developments that you have had fixing this problem so that others may learn from your experience.

Hope I have been able to help you out.

Thank You.

tlarkin · 11-07-2005, 09:57 AM

Okay I have downloaded the firmware update, and it does work I am able to manually change any resolution to a different one that I desire. However, I have not completed this hack yet due to the fact that the installation of xserver is required. Reading through the documentation it says to make sure you use whatever specific bootstrap flags when installing it. However, it says that most OSes don't need that if they already support xserver. So, I downloaded it and tried to install it.

I su to root to install via terminal and it starts to install but then gives an error message saying it cannot install. So, I read more of the documentation and it says that by default it will install under /usr/X11R6. If I wanted to install it in another directory I should tell it so.

So, basically I am a bit confused. I assume SUSE already has flags for this in the bootstrap? There was no documentation specific to SUSE in the readme file.

So, basically once I get this xserver up to the newest version I will be able to try and get the screen resolution to higher than 1024x768.

Is there anything obvious I am not doing right to update xserver?

usaf_sp · 11-07-2005, 05:49 PM

Be sure that you are not trying to do operations in RunLevel 5. To be on the safeside try runlevel 3 or runlevel 1.

To get to these you need to type:

init 3

from the console.

When you login login as root.

tlarkin · 11-08-2005, 08:37 AM

I got the same results.

Here is the terminal message.

Code:

tlarkin@OlatheUSD233:~/downloads/x11server/xc> make
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/tlarkin/downloads/x11server/xc'
make[1]: xmakefile: No such file or directory
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `xmakefile'.  Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/tlarkin/downloads/x11server/xc'
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/tlarkin/downloads/x11server/xc'
Please use make World, or on NT use nmake World.Win32.
Check the configuration parameters in the ./config/cf directory,
and pass BOOTSTRAPCFLAGS if necessary.
Read the release notes carefully before proceeding.
Do not name your log file make.log or it will be deleted.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/tlarkin/downloads/x11server/xc'
make[1]: Entering directory `/home/tlarkin/downloads/x11server/xc'
make[1]: xmakefile: No such file or directory
make[1]: *** No rule to make target `xmakefile'.  Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/tlarkin/downloads/x11server/xc'
make: *** [all] Error 2

On the readme it says to do this with the proper parameters and that its OS specific, so I am basically at a loss of what specific flags I should use. Or does suse use the same as everyone else?

Should I move the folder of the x11server to where it will actually be installed? Right now its in my my home directory with all of my other downloads. I also tried init 5 and init 3 after switching to root and got the same thing. I keep reading about proper installing path and bootstrap flags, but see nothing specific on suse and see no kind of generic commands for it.

I think its something simple I am not grasping I am just really cautious about making sure I do not hose my system like I did already in suse 9.3 trying to fix this problem. So far in suse 10 I have been able to do whatever I need to, but cannot get the resolution higher than 1024x768.

Thanks for your posts though.

usaf_sp · 11-08-2005, 10:09 AM

You stated earlier that you tried to change the resolution in KDE, but KDE uses X as its graphical environment. Why are you trying to reinstall x? It should have been included in the OS install.

If you did not install a graphical environment, you might try to install it in YaST.

If you did not know: X-Server is what makes a graphical environment (Gnome, KDE) possible. If you run either of these, chances are it is already installed.

tlarkin · 11-08-2005, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by usaf_sp
You stated earlier that you tried to change the resolution in KDE, but KDE uses X as its graphical environment. Why are you trying to reinstall x? It should have been included in the OS install.

If you did not install a graphical environment, you might try to install it in YaST.

If you did not know: X-Server is what makes a graphical environment (Gnome, KDE) possible. If you run either of these, chances are it is already installed.

You are right, it is already installed and I did not check the version number. I misread and thought it came with an earlier version and not 6.8.2, and I was trying to update it to the newest revision

so after I slapped myself in the face....

Back to editing that file so it works everytime will post results once I get a chance to make sure its stable and running.

thanks