I installed Debian 3.1 and I couldn't remember what my video card was when I did the installation so I chose VESA. I later downloaded gkdebconf which was suppose to help me walk through the steps to change the xf86config-4 (or whatever) file. Anyway I switched the video card to ATi and then I was able to get more resolutions, but when I switch to the native 1400 x 1050 the page cuts off strangly and the mouse becomes a big white block.

My questions are this:

Is there an autoconfigure program I can run on debian? Other distros I have played with have had better graphics detection?

Is it dangerous to copy over the xf86config -4 file with one I find on the internet for someone who has the same type of computer as I do (dell latitude c610)?

Is there any other fix for this probelm?

thanks in advance

I am a complete Linux noob and a non programmer who is just interested in seeing what the linux hype is about, I've installed various distros in the past couple of years and have had trouble adding software that I wanted. This debian package thing is excellent, but this video thing is bothering me, out of the gate debian is definately less geered towards a rookie like myself.

I love the idea of debian (stable, and lots of packages)

Also, kde is more similar to windows, is there any disadvantage to using that? It seems like both gnome and kde apps work fine in either environtment.

thanks again

Welcome to LQ.
You can copy someone else's conf file, or try these settings.

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Monitor Model"
HorizSync 31.5-90
VertRefresh 60
Option "DPMS"
DisplaySize 337 252
Modeline "1400x1050" 108.000 1400 1448 1462 1688 1050 1050 1053 1066
EndSection

ubuntu is amuch better fit for me a noob