Monitor resolution won't stay the same after restarting X?

Chex · 03-03-2006, 05:47 PM

EDIT:
I have a new question below! The question in this post has basically been answered; now I just want to know how I can do essentially the same thing in "recovery console." Please read my reply below. Thank you!

ORIGINAL:
Hello!

I have fairly recently switched to SUSE 10.0, and overall my experience has been very good, and I've been having a lot of fun playing around and learning -- on Linux, I feel like I have way more freedom and control over my system than I ever did with Windows (sort of like driving a car with manual as opposed to automatic...

)

Anyway, although I have been having fun, I have consistently had a problem which has had me stumped... I'm sure the answer is simple, but I'm not sure how to look for it. So, here is my question:

I have a very old 17" CRT monitor, that SUSE seems to detect properly & all. The highest resolution it can run well is 1024x768.

However, whenever I start up X, the computer insists on trying to run in 1280x1024, which is not a good idea at all (the refresh rate drops to 48Hz... painful!). So, I can change it through the GUI, which is good ... until the next time I turn the computer on, or have to restart X, or whatever.

So, how do I make it so that my system automatically starts with a screen resolution of 1024x768? I've heard mention of "xorg.config," but I don't know anything about that or how to edit it ... (is that even anything like what i'd want to do?)?

Please be gentle on me -- I can follow directions, but I am definitely still a newbie with little knowledge. Thank you for reading, and thank you in advance for any help you can offer!

(Also, sorry if I have misused any terms... like i said, I'm a newbie!)

puffinman · 03-03-2006, 06:36 PM

The file is /etc/X11/xorg.conf. You can change the default resolution in the Screen section. Here's mine:

Code:

Section "Screen"                                                                
Identifier "Screen 1"                                                           
Device "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200"                                                 
Monitor "Sun GDM5010PT"                                                         
DefaultDepth 24                                                                 
                                                                                
Subsection "Display"                                                            
Depth 8                                                                         
Modes  "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "320x240"                     
ViewPort 0 0                                                                    
EndSubsection                                                                   
                                                                                
Subsection "Display"                                                            
Depth 16                                                                        
Modes  "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "320x240"                     
ViewPort 0 0                                                                    
EndSubsection                                                                   
                                                                                
Subsection "Display"                                                            
Depth 24                                                                        
Modes  "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "320x240"                     
ViewPort 0 0                                                                    
EndSubsection                                                                   
                                                                                
EndSection

The resolution defaults to the first listed for your color depth (probably 24). My default resolution is 1280x1024 because I have a 21 inch monitor

. If you wanted 1024x768, you would do this:

Code:

Section "Screen"                                                                
Identifier "Screen 1"                                                           
Device "NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200"                                                 
Monitor "Sun GDM5010PT"                                                         
DefaultDepth 24                                                                 
                                                                                
Subsection "Display"                                                            
Depth 8                                                                         
Modes  "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "320x240"                     
ViewPort 0 0                                                                    
EndSubsection                                                                   
                                                                                
Subsection "Display"                                                            
Depth 16                                                                        
Modes  "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "320x240"                     
ViewPort 0 0                                                                    
EndSubsection                                                                   
                                                                                
Subsection "Display"                                                            
Depth 24                                                                        
Modes  "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480" "320x240"                     
ViewPort 0 0                                                                    
EndSubsection                                                                   
                                                                                
EndSection

Chex · 06-15-2006, 06:32 AM

Hello again ...

at the time, puffinman's response was exactly what I needed!

Now, I have another similar problem -- the old 17" monitor finally gave out, after a week or two of craziness on its part, so I bought a new monitor. Now, this new monitor's default is 1200x1600.

What I need to know this time --

The monitor, as soon as SUSE itself boots, will go black and put up a message about how the screen isn't at its optimum resolution, etc. But, I can make it start as "recovery console," which works just fine ...

How would I go about editing the default screen resolution from recovery console?

I'm definitely confused ... (and using a borrowed computer to ask this!)