Desktop Resizing
 

Hi, some time since I've been on, but mainly because my Linux use has proceeded fairly hitch-free (unlike a certain other OS which my son's computer uses and which seems to get virused and adwared by the minute. One particular swine was the "about:blank" hijacker, which proved impossible for me to remove permanently. But that's another story).

Enough of these ramblings. I currently use Gnome but have used KDE and the problem is the same in that I'm finding it difficult to resize my desktop. It's an old generic monitor and whatever I do it's still too large. It's like - good analogy this one - looking at an A3 piece of paper through an A4 size window. Also the Open Office is unusable because for some reason the screen size is so big (like one letter fills the screen!) that I can't navigate the cursor to the command toolbars.

Any tips? Mind you, I intend to migrate from RH9 to Mandrake in the very near future so perhaps these problems will disappear. But it will be on the same computer.

You might have to edit your xorg.conf file, or run the setup script for xorg (or xfree86) your default screen resolution could be off.

I have tried changing the display settings through root. The setting starts at 800x600 and I change it to 1024x768. When I click ok the message comes up:

"You need to log out and restart the X server for the changes to take effect. The new configuration was written to /etc/x11/xf86config, the original configuration is saved as /etc/x11/xf86config.backup"

So I click to log out and restart. And when it reboots it's back to 800x600 - argh! I've logged out both with checking the "Save Changes to Settings" box and also without. Neither seems to make any difference.

Any help? Does "restart the x server" happen on bootup, or do I have to do something to make it happen?

Have a read through /var/log/Xorg.0.log and see whats happening. It's pretty easy to follow, it might be trying to use 1024x768 but the monitor is telling it that it doesn't support that resolution. My monitor is a similar story but on a larger resolution. It tells the video card that it tops out at 1280x1024 but if I then tell me video card to ignore that I can get it up 1400x1050, probably with more wear and tear on the internals though.

Try adding this to the device section of your xorg.conf/XF86Config and see if it helps

So now I've got Ubuntu loaded, and looks fine, but this time the screen resolution is stuck at 600x400 although that was definitely not one of the options I chose during the install!

To read other posts, Linux distros seem to have a real problem with graphics, don't they? When I told a friend of mine I was giving Linux a try, he laughed and said "As long as you don't mind the web pages being the size of Mars...."

Oddly enough, Ubuntu seems to recognise the card (which I know can handle a 1024x768 resolution because I swap the hard disk with Windows from time to time) but won't let me try any other resolution. The dropdown menu only has the one configuration on it - choice of one in other words. And no, I didn't limit the offered resolutions during set up!

Any friendly advice? I'm willing to get my hands dirty although I have very limited experience with coding.

run the xorg config script and add other resolutions to the ability of the monitor

Sometimes the autosetup for XOrg is kind of fishy/

I've tried putting the Option "IgnoreEDID" "true" in the xorg file, and I've also tried a couple of suggestions on the ubuntulinux.org page. No damage done, but equally no success. The display remains stubbornly stuck at 640x480. The card is a Cirrus Logic 5446 pci.

I really quite like this Ubuntu distro - it's just a shame that this display glitch is spoiling my enjoyment. So ANY suggestions gratefully received.

Here's hoping.

Does "Ctl" "Alt" "+" or "-" change your resolution. If so set your default size to the one you want in your config file. I assume this still is valid in the newer versions of X.

No, I'm afraid pressing Control Alt +/- has no effect.