I'm a very new Linux user, and have only installed Kubuntu and Ubuntu 5.10. I just installed Ubuntu on my Dell Inspiron 1100 and everything went fine with the install, as far as I can tell. However, my screen only displays Ubuntu in a certain area in the middle of the screen. The area around it is all black.

Is it a driver I need, or some setting within Ubuntu, or something else?

Thanks,
Nate

If you are using a generic graphics driver, such as vesa, and your screen has a ratio other than 4:3 (such as 1280x800) it may not be able to find the correct resolution.

If you have nvidia graphics, try installing the nvidia kernel driver and changing the "Device" section of /etc/X11/xorg.conf to use Driver "nvidia". If you have a different graphics card, make sure the most suitable driver is chosen.

The "Screen" section should list the screen sizes you wish to use. The first one in the list should be the one you wish to use (the maximum resolution).

Hello

You could also try xvidtune. For more details: http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man1/xvidtune.1.html

Bye

Koen Plessers