Changing Screen Res Above 800x600...
 

Hey guys, I've seen the light and have come over to the Linux side (as of today) but a few things have hit me already, first is that my screen resolution seems to be stuck on 800 by 600 and I'm not able to crank it up any higher. My monitor is able to go up to 1024 but I can't go any bigger. Any suggestions?
Secondly, whenever I try to open an install file etc. It opens in the archive manager, what's with that?
Also, I'm a bit stuck on the Instant Messaging and Downloading fronts because I can't get MSN nor uTorrent on this OS. Help please?

I'm severely stuck, help would be so appreciated.
Thanks.

<3

What distro of GNU/Linux are you using? Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Mandriva, CentOS?

Like in Windows, you need to specify a monitor. Nexus pointed out you should tell us which "distro" you're using, you should also open xorg.conf in /etc/X11/ and paste that and send it to us.

try ktorrent or transmission as a replacement for utortrent
and kopete or pidgin for MSN (they also handle AIM, YIM, ICQ... etc etc)

if you tell me what distro your using i can tell you how to isnatll those progs

(example distors would be
ubuntu,
suse
fedora,
slackware
mandriva
and many more)

hint when you are at the logon screen you will normally see the distro name

Thanks for the help so far, I'm using Ubuntu.

Most (if not all) of your queries can be answered here: http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Feisty.

If you have problems that cannot be resolved using the UbuntuGuide, LQ is the right place to be.

Posting your query in the forum for your related distro, may result in a quicker response. :)

Ta very much, I'll be sure to return here if it doesn't work.

Thanks so much. <3

P.S. It may well be a guide, but how is it going to help me? Is there a forum or anything? It looks really confusing. :/

first off there is a bit-torrent client allready installed with ubuntu,
just double click your torrent file and it will sort the rest out for you.

for insatnt messenger open Synaptic pakage manager (from system - administration)

search and install pidgin to get a decent IM client.

also for changing your resolution go to
system - administration -screens and graphics, you should be able to change it in there.
if you are using a nvidia or ati graphics card you may want to check if the restriced drivers are installed.
(system -administration - restricted drivers manager)

Using restricted drivers may reconfigure your x-server (that is what controls how graphics are displayed by your video card, what kind of monitor you have, mouse settings, and many other things) but I don't know if that will also change your monitor. You may want to read up on display drivers and what your options are. (try http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...item=908&num=1)

If you're limited to 800x600 still then either you're using the most basic display driver or Ubuntu thinks your monitor only goes up that high.

Try typing dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg at the command line after rebooting into recovery mode.
"dpkg-reconfigure" reconfigures already installed packages
"-phigh" is an option where -p sets the value 'high' for priority; referring to the questions it will ask you. Leave this out and it will ask you more complicated questions.
"xserver-xorg" is the package you are reconfiguring and this will change the xorg.conf file

Gee, thanks so much for the help guys. It worked, thanks.

Now I'm stuck with the handling package files. I guess I should really start a new topic for this but maybe I can just get help here as I'm already started here. My package files that should open with the package program open with the archive manager, any suggestions here?

Thanks again guys. <3

right click,
open with
Gdebi pakage manager

Remember Ubuntu has Synaptic, so you don't really have to download a lot of files.

Gdebi isn't in the open with program list.

Using the "sudo apt-get" command line which I picked up somewhere, am I able to re-download it at all? Again, sorry for the ignorance, guys.
<3

sudo apt-get install <package name>

this will either install it or tell you its installed..
repositories is the other thing you may have to learn...

do an
sudo apt-get update

as well

alternatively, you can open synaptic package manager from System->Admistration->Synaptic Package Manager on your main "Start" bar. From there you can install just about anything for linux you can think of.

Try searching it for Deluge, which is a pretty good torrent client, very similar to utorrent and not as resource hungry as azureus.