screen size configuration workaround

xlinuks · 10-09-2006, 05:44 AM

Hi all!
I have a philips 190X6 tft monitor, I currently installed slackware 11, and the KDE doesn't allow me to set the screen size to 1280x1024, in windows it's easy to set it, but in the KDE menu there's no such option, the biggest screen size offered by it is 1024x768, I changed the xorg.conf file adding the "1280x1024" option, but after restarting the X-Server it failed to start, saying that no monitor with such configuration is present, so I would appreciate a lot what I'm supposed to do, maybe it needs some 'driver'?? I had to reinstall Linux so I wouldn't like to mess again with the xorg.conf file, maybe there's another way to force KDE to allow me to set the monitor size to 1280x1024. I'd appreciate any link or info.
Regards.
xlinuks

Lenard · 10-10-2006, 02:07 PM

You forgot to adjust the sync rates in the monitor section to meet the higher needs of the display at 1280x1024, KDE has nothing to do with this it is all an X configuration issue.

Try editing the file again this time make a backup before you do, example;

cp /etc/xorg.conf /etc/xorg.conf.mybackup

Sample monitors section;

Code:

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Monitor0"
	VendorName   "Phillps"
	ModelName    "190X6"
	HorizSync    30.0 - 110.0
	VertRefresh  55.0 - 80.0
	Option	    "DPMS"
EndSection

FYI: Linux (unlike Windows) 99% of the time almost all problems can be fixed without have to re-install the OS.

Welcome to Linux

.

ciotog · 10-11-2006, 01:18 AM

According to the specs for your monitor, the Monitor section should read as follows:

Code:

Section "Monitor"
	Identifier   "Philips 190X6"
	VendorName   "Philips"
	ModelName    "190X6"
	HorizSync    30-83
	VertRefresh  56-76
	Option	     "DPMS"
EndSection

And in the Screen section you need the Monitor line as follows:

Code:

	Monitor        "Philips 190X6"

In the Monitor section you also might want to put

Code:

    DisplaySize     376    301

to set the physical dimensions of the viewable area.

If you're nervous about messing with xorg.conf, you can always create a backup of the original file so you can restore it if you're unable to start X with the new changes - if you're going to use Slackware you better get used to that sort of thing anyway.

xlinuks · 10-11-2006, 01:59 PM

Yeah, thank you both, I didn't know how to backup a file, then I found the 'mv' command which works fine, so after every crash I just used it to replace the xorg.config file last backed up one. After that I took a look at my monitor's specs and put the vert and horiz params, and it worked almost fine! I mean it worked at 1280x1024, there were tiny waves on the screen, which were hard to notice, nevertheless it was a bit pissing me off, I am/was almost sure it's cause I didn't specify my real video card, I let the 'vesa' as the default since I didn't find it in the 'cards database'. Then I remembered that I can actually let nVidia do this for me, I downloaded the last driver (about 12MB) and after it there are no more tiny waves on the screen, it's just like it was in windows! I'm soo happy!! (I have geforce6800-256mb on PCIEx, mandrake (and Ubuntu) failed to setup itself with this card, it was just freezing when starting the x-server or something alike bound to graphics, but slackware did well, so I'm using it)
There's only one thing I can't understand, looks like no rpm file can be installed, I have no clue why, in the dependences list the installers claim the 'sh' from /bin/sh doesn't exist (I always log in as root), this 'sh' exists there - I checked, so I have no clue what's the matter, I'm going around it by downloading pure 'bin' applications instead of rpm, I'll investigate on it later, but if someone could give me a tip I'd appreciate much, for example the RPM files: last Java SDK 6 didn't want to install, and AdobeReader7 either, so (for Java SDK) I downloaded the pure 'bin' installer and I had no problems installing it. However, thank you guys for taking the time to answer

farslayer · 10-11-2006, 02:17 PM

Slackware isn't an RPM based distro.. it wouldn't have a clue what to do with RPMs' as you have found out.

you want to read up on slapt-get and other slackware tools if you intend on sticking with that distro..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slapt-get

Slackware Handbook
http://www.slackbook.org/html/index.html

Also QUIT LOGGING IN AS ROOT ALL THE TIME.. Do NOT practice doing things the wrong way, because then the wrong way will become habit. Being 'root' all the time is the Windows way of doing things, and you see how vulnerable those machines are to spyware and the like.. Login as a normal user su - to root only when necessary or configure sudo to allow your user to perform common tasks..

xlinuks · 10-12-2006, 01:50 AM

OK, I will keep that in mind!