Thanks zelgadis. Is this pretty standard, or just for RedHat?

-Mike

So now for the problem of the desktop area when there are many resolution in XF86Config-4 no one can help me? :-(((

I try it in three computer, and it do the same thing; i'm starting to think it's a XFree86 problem.

I'm starting to agree with gokussj. My X server still starts with a sleeping/out of sync monitor even though the resolutions are fine. I think we're missing something (like a different config file/program) or there's a problem with our X servers. I'll try the Lindows help forum and if I find anything useful there I'll let you know.

-Mike

are you all using xf86config to setup ? if yes i guess somewhere around last part where it will ask you whether you to enable something like large desktop suppport something like that. Well i think should choose "n" this is what i did.

Guys, I can see that this thread is making progress!

OK...I've reinstalled Lindows again (after about 5 unsuccessful trys) and it got to the licensing screen and beyond. Everything was working great (I could even change screens with ctrl-alt-(kp+ or -), which tells me X was working), but when it said 'click here to reboot', I clicked and when it rebooted, I now have the same sleepy/out-of-sync monitor.

Again, I can switch to a console with ctrl-alt (f1-f6), I can restart the X server with ctrl-alt-backspace, but when it restarts it just does strange things to my monitor. The green LED goes orange (indicating sleep mode), and the mode indicator lights flash sequentially like Night Rider (indicating, I think, out-of-sync.)

Here's the specs:

Monitor=17" (16" viewable) Envision EN-710e
Freq= H 30-70Hz, V 50-160Hz, max resolution=1280X1024 @ 75 Hz

Video (I have on-board which I don't use)
AGP ATI all in wonder 128 pro 32mb Ram

section of XF86Config file posted in earlier post

Any help appreciated,

-Mike

Ok Mike, no problem: if the specifications of your monitor are correct in XF86Config, to solve your problem you can simply add a 'modeline' string.
In my monitor i use a 1024x768x85 Hz, but XFree86 cannot activate it, because i have a Radeon8500 with partial support, so i must set it with a modeline; here is an example:

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "ADI"
ModelName "Microscan E66"
HorizSync 30.0-86.0
VertRefresh 50.0-120.0
Option "dpms"
Modeline "1024x768" 98.9 1024 1056 1216 1408
768 782 788 822 -HSync -VSync
End Section

As you can see you must set it in the MONITOR section; this string set 1024x768 to use 85Hz, if your monitor supports it.
Oh, Mike, as an advice: i do not know in the other parts of the world, but here in Italy ALL journals tells us: DO NOT INSTALL LINDOWS IT HAS MANY MANY PROBLEM, FOR NOW.

As a last thing: if after writing this modeline you do not see any change, please verify in the log file of XFree86 (in /var/log) if your XFree86 is using XF86Config file, or XF86Config-4.

Hmmm... now i have a LAST (only if all others fails) idea: go into console and write:

XFree86 -configure

I do not remember if is 'xfree86 - configure' or 'XFree86 -configure', try both please.
In this way XFree86 will create AUTOMATICALLY another XF86Config file, based on your hardware; obviously you MUST copy, or rename, your old XF86Config, to not overwrite.

Thanks Sifvion but after searching in my XF86Config i'm here to write that i do not have the portion you told; nothing that refers to desktop area... except of VIEWPORT, but this is not the solution.

In a Linux FAQ site i found this, please read:

--------------------------------
Why is my desktop bigger than my screen? When the mouse reaches the edge of the screen my desktop scrolls.

X makes your desktop the same size as your largest requested mode. So if you are at resolution 800x600 but can switch to 1280x1024, your desktop will actually be 1280x1024. You can also make your desktop even bigger with the ViewPort config option, but as far as I know you cannot disable the virtual desktop when working in your smaller defined modes.
-----------------------------------------

FINALLY!!!!!! I have found the solution to my problem and to everybody has it!!! Thanks to LinuxQuestions and thanks to Linux Magazine; here is the link.

http://www.linux-mag.com/2000-07/hottips_06.html

It works in Mandrake aswell.

Oh my God! This is a battle versus destiny! It seems that RedHat MUST have virtual screen dimensions equals to physical!!! In fact if i set VIRTUAL 800 600 i cannot switch in 1024, 1280, and superior, oh my God! :-((( Linux Magazine tells something about distributions that have its own settings, but this is, in my opinion, a fool thing. Oh my God...

er sorry gokussj I didnt notice that you are using RH 7.3

I have finished my investigation. I have exhausted my time, now i know that XFree86 is a good engine, but still it needs many improvements that i'm not be able to make.
In Linux documentation project in the XFree86 Timings HOW-TO we can read that the HOW-TO now is not useful because XFree86 computes modeline automatically; the autor of this HOW-TO probably doesn't know that when we install the drivers of a graphical board (such as nVidia or Ati) the refresh rates computed (exactly as in Windows) for some reason changes and the XFree86 cannot reset it correctly, so a modeline is required.
I hope that in the new version of XFree we can find an utility that with some buttons can change resolution and refresh rates... i hope. I have also read on the Suse site that the discussion about virtual desktop is an argument internal at the XFree86, because it is XFree86 that sets automatically the virtual desktop if we select more than one resolution. Suse solution to the problem is simple: in XF86Config we must write the resolutions in descendant order, so: "1024x768" "800x600" "640x400"

In this way XFree86 will not create a virtual desktop. In my RH7.3 it don't work: now i can switch resolution withouth scrolling problems, but in others resolution than 1024 i obtain a corrupted image; i do not know if the problem is due to Ati drivers, or to XFree, but the discussion for me is ended: now i have setted only one resolution, with a modeline standard VESA and that's all.

Many thanks!

maybe we could petition Entech to port PowerStrip to Linux... it wouldn't be free, or even freeware, but it would give absolute video card functionality including GPU overclock

i can see how to begin hacking XFree86 to support all the options

but it would require little changes in every window manager and desktop environment, so the panels would resize, the icons would relocate, and windows would move back onto a smaller screen instead of being lost offscreen with no more scrolling virtual screen...

you guys know what I mean? it's not like explorer.exe that's joined at the hip to the graphics subsystem, having little trouble resizing... every window manager... lots of bugs to kill... no wonder it hasn't been done yet

but it's that utility or improvement that will end this thread and all of its parallel threads -- forever

------------------

nautilus, I'm thinking of naming my LFS "Winix"... LOL- NOT!!!
actually i don't have a name yet, but if it was Winix it would be nothing but dosemu, vmware, win4lin, wine, and wineX... everything one might need for Win32 apps except win32

no, maybe named after the portable x86 i want to build... doesn't have a name yet. bigger than that 'cappucino' at thinkgeek.com but able to hold over a GB of RAM and a GeForce 4 if necessary... it'll be a FSF development machine someday... so I can use all the C/ASM/etc they teach me to fix XF86, and also develop drivers for things that were designed for windows (Like this HP scanner, the CPU fan controller, the memory stick controller, the buttons on the keyboard, and the broken I2C bus that won't let me overclock this P4!! good thing it's not MY computer after all, mine will be designed for Linux and nothing else matters since it all has Win32 drivers already)

i go to radio hack and see the USB-driven smartmedia cardreader, it has the same "windows XP" sticker as this computer... makes me sad, all those people getting scammed not by M$ but by those companies who accept it as the only thing worth supporting

--end of reply to LFS question--