Screen Size

proeliator · 03-18-2006, 11:47 PM

Hi,

I'm brand new to Debian. I have only one problem with it, and it is small, but a little annoying. I can't get my screen size to go to any large than 800x600. This might have something to do with the poor support Debian receives from ATI, my video card is the Radeon 9550. I downloaded the (latest?) driver from the ATI site, but this did not solve this problem. Can this be fixed? Also, I'm usding KDE 3.3.2.

best

kimothy · 03-19-2006, 01:02 AM

First off, test youre drivers. glxgears, which is installed, and ppracer/tuxracer. If both works youre drivers does to :-).

Then use aticonfig to set the resolution. For example "aticonfig --resolution=1600x1200,1280x1024,1024x768".

proeliator · 03-19-2006, 02:30 AM

When I said I was new to Debian, I also mean I fairly new to Linux also. What command do I use to check the dirvers?

best

kimothy · 03-19-2006, 03:16 AM

just type glxgears in a terminal and report the fps here. It should run smooth.

divukman · 03-19-2006, 04:31 AM

Hi,
You could edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf (or Xfree86.conf or what's it's name

) and add the resolution:

Code:

 SubSection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Modes           "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
        EndSubSection

or use dpkg-reconfigure xserver

proeliator · 03-19-2006, 11:38 PM

Ok, from what I gather, the fglrx drivers simply don't work in Debian stable, and so I'm just falling back on the original crappy internal card that came with my comp which is being lumped into 'generic video card." Oh well, fortunately I don't do a lot of graphics stuff on my linux partition. If anyone knows of a way to get the ATI drivers in the stable version, please let me know.

best

kimothy · 03-21-2006, 06:19 AM

download and install the drivers from the ati site.
remeber to reboot after install and type "aticonfig --initial --input /etc/xorg.conf"

rickh · 03-21-2006, 06:43 AM

Quote:

from what I gather, the fglrx drivers simply don't work in Debian stable

I'm not convinced of that, but since I don't use Sarge, I can't guarantee it. One thing you'll have to accept in Linux is that hardware generally requires tweaking, but don't give up. My experience is that when you finally get it working, It works as well or better than Windows. Study this site, http://xoomer.virgilio.it/flavio.sta...installer.html

Also most 'hobbyist' Debian users will receive nothing but benefit from upgrading to Testing. Change your /etc/apt/sources.list file from Sarge/stable to Etch/testing, and as root run apt-get update, then apt-get dist-upgrade That process will also change your Xserver from XFree86 to Xorg. In xorg 6.9, the default Vesa drivers are quite good with the ATI cards. That will at least improve your X environment while you work at getting the fglrx drivers working.

proeliator · 03-22-2006, 07:32 PM

Hi,

Actually, the drivers do work from the ATI website, you just have to be careful which ones you install during the setup process, which I did not the first time.

As to updating Sarge to testing, with this problem out of the way, I'm not sure I need to do that. Is there much difference in terms of stability between Sarge and Etch?

best

rickh · 03-22-2006, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Is there much difference in terms of stability between Sarge and Etch?

I find Etch to be very stable, indeed, but as you say, you fixed the issue that was troubling you. If it ain't broke ...