[SOLVED] How do I change the Resolution with a Bash Command?

Nbiser · 03-11-2013, 04:05 PM

I am running Debian 6 and I would like to find two good commands relating to the screen resolution. One is how to find out what the current resolution of the monitor is, and the other is a command to change the resolution. I know this has to be so simple, but I can't find it in any of the resources that I have. Thanks in advance!

evo2 · 03-11-2013, 04:12 PM

Hi,

xrandr is probably what you are looking for. You'll have to read some documentation to find the correct options.

Evo2.

Nbiser · 03-11-2013, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by evo2

Hi,

xrandr is probably what you are looking for. You'll have to read some documentation to find the correct options.

Evo2.

Thanks, Evo2, but this program isn' isntalled on my Debian Squeeze system, when I typed it, nothing happened, and there were no entries in either man or info for it. Perhaps a different command? This is a very basic install, if it matters. I like this basic install because it is helping me get down into the nitty gritty of the OS.

evo2 · 03-11-2013, 05:50 PM

Hi,

are you running x11? xrandr is provided by the x11-xserver-utils package.

Evo2.

Nbiser · 03-11-2013, 06:06 PM

I'm sorry, evo2, I should've read your post more carefully. I am not running X at all on this machine........text mode OS only, (hones my CLI skills). So I'm not running any one of the X servers.

evo2 · 03-11-2013, 06:16 PM

Hi,

without X11, you're in frame buffer territory. grub can pass options to the kernel at boot time and loading the different frame buffer kernel modules may change the resolution.

In addition to this there have been recent developments in regard to the kernel setting up the video. See for example:
http://wiki.debian.org/KernelModesetting

I've never really bothered to play around in the framebuffer too much: I find X11 much more convenient. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Evo2.

Nbiser · 03-11-2013, 07:02 PM

Thanks Evo2, very helpful!