First of all, I am dual booting mandrake 10 and windows 2000. I can't give up the windows 2000 yet because my wife needs it interact with programs and documents from her job.

My problem is that when I boot into X, the desktop doesn't fill the screen. there is almost an inch of black on the right, 1/2 inch of black on the top and bottom, and 1/4 inch of black on the left. When in windows the desktop fills the monitor screen. I can adjust the screen manually using the external controls on the monitor to make mandrake fill the screen. But then when my wife boots into windows the desktop is bigger than the screen and it has to be manually adjusted again to have windows 2000 fit the screen. Anyone with a wife knows that this is not an acceptable solution, so I need to figure out how to straighten this out once and for all.

Does anyone know where I can adjust anything on the linux side to make mandrake fill out the screen. I am somewhat familiar with the XF86Config-4 file, so if there is something I can change there I can probably handle it without my head exploding.

I am using an Nvidia Geforce 2 Ti with 64 mb of ddr and I have installed the updated nvidia driver for linux.

Hi,

Well, as you say you should be able to match the Linux resolution and horizontal refresh to the Windows values by editing XF86Config-4. Ignore all the modeline stuff - then it should be pretty obvious what to change in the Monitor and Screen sections. XFree will aim for the best of the listed resolutions, so just put in the one you need to force the issue. And make sure you back up the original file!

You can also dynamically tweak settings by running xvidtune, then build yourself a custom modeline. Unfortunately if I try to explain modelines I'll be here all day, but have a tinker.

TIM

Ok, I did some reading about modelines. So basically I just need to get all the information from my monitor and then convert it into a usable modeline.

I also have another question. What happens if I remove the modelines from the XF86Config-4. This is why I ask that question. I have two video cards installed in my system. I use the 2 cards as one big desk top spread across 2 monitors. The way that I set that up was to get mandrake working on each card and monitor seperately and then manually combining the 2 XF85Config-4 files into one big config. Now the second monitor and card fill in the screen just like they do on Windows 2000, but the main card and monitor are the problem. Once I learned a little about modelines, I looked at my XF86Config-4 and saw that there are model lines for the main monitor, but the secondary monitor had no modelines listed in the XF86Config-4.

So the monitor that has NO modelines in the config works fine, and the monitor that has modelines doesn't fill out the screen.

I am still learning about modelines, but if anyone knows what would happen if I removed them for that monitor I would appreciate the input.

Hi CJ,

If you were a true hacker you would remove them and try it anyway!

As far as I am aware, the modern versions of X (ie your one) actually have a load of default modelines coded into the driver. Any specified in the config file will override/supplement these. Therefore the answer to 'what will happen if I remove the modeline' is either:

1) X will use an internal default - which is probably what you want
2) X will report that there is no suitable default - ie will not start.

TIM