I've just loaded Slackware 9.1 on my Inspiron 8200. I have no problems with getting it up and running except for this one. The screen is very small and centered on the display. How can I expand it to take up the full LCD screen? I have an nvidia geforce 2 go video adapter. My screen resolution is normally 1600x1200. Please help. Thanks.

usually notebooks have a bios setting that is something like (for instance on my IBM TP...), called 'screen expansion'.

prolly make sure that it is turned on, assuming you have that option. also if it will help, my notebooks max resolution is 1024x768 (sucky i know), but if i set the resolution to anything under that resolution it ends up being centered with about an inch and a half all around of unused screen space..so play with the resolution and make sure that the bios option above is on..

hope to help,
--jeremy

Are you having this problem when using the Linux console
or when using X Window?

If the former, then it could be due to the fact that you didn't
choose the highest frame-buffer resolution when you configured lilo.

Berhanie, the problem is in both places. The console is small and then after I logon the screen remain the same size. Thanks

you should up your resolution then. there's a file '/etc/lilo.conf'. edit this file (as root of course), and you should see a line labeled 'vga = XXX' where XXX is some number like '791' or something.

if you see in this file that your current vga setting is either A: commented out (that is , all lines that contain 'vga=XXX', have a # (pound sign) in front of them), simply add a line at the top of the .'vga=XXX' list but use 791 in place of 'XXX'.

or.. B: your 'vga=XXX' line contains an 'XXX' value less than 791, just change it to 791 and see if that helps.

(was that confusing?)

here's the top of my 'lilo.conf' file for example ::

so if your vga line equals anything under 791 just change it to 791 (or see my chart below).

now the important part is, after you change that vga line you need to (obviously save the file), run the command `lilo` to update, then simply reboot the machine. if changing to 791 didn't work or you want a higher resolution, see the chart below.

OH... and if this solves your console problem, and you're running X using VESA drivers, then this will solve that problem as well...

I think mine's set at either 773 or 790. I tried doing other stuff, but lilo complained... I'll look at it later, though. Other pressing issues that are non-computer related....

r_jensen11 :: it does not 'need' to be 791 or higher, and in some cases on older hardware 1024x768x64k isn't supported...

however, kro has already mentioned he has used a 1600x1200 resolution, that is why i advise changing to 791 (at least), if he is not already running at 1024x768x64k...but if your hardware can handle that resolution and bit depth and you prefer it...by all means

--jeremy

You see, I'm on a 200mhz PieceOfCrap right now, and my dad won't let me put Linux on any more modern computer until probably when I get ready for college. There's just something about a computer that when we got it, came stock with Win95( I think, maybe Win98 was brand-new when we got the computer, who knows, point being...) and this thing goes back to when they measured pentiums by P1-P5, not Pentium 1, Celeron, Pentium II, Pentium 3, or Pentium 4. Oh, the golden days of architecture....

thanks for all the help. you guys are great. this is where i will come for help from now on. Go Go Linux!!

kro :: i think you'll find most people on this board willing to help if they feel they may have an answer to your question [edit] (that doesn't mean you should neglect your search engine of choice), alot of answers can be found by searching the internet or even these forums (there's a search button at the top).. that's not to say that what you'll find running a search will always produce the results specific to your question, but in the case it does, you'll feel better for figuring it out all on your own .[/edit] still, stop by whenever you can and read up on other peoples posts as well, you may end up finding an answer to a problem you dont 'yet' have __ on another note, i neglected to welcome you to LQ.org, indeed WELCOME!! o_O

r_jensen11 :: 200Mhz is rather ....slow. i'm sorry. i feel your pain perhaps your father will let you experiment on an xbox. (yes, that machine that the 'other' company markets). i know in north east ohio you can buy them used for like $90. they come equipped with 733Mhz celerons, nvidia gpu (i think 32Mb?), 64Mb ram, an 8 or 10Gb hdd (depends on model), and a dvd drive. maybe a viable solution until you get a better desktop.

if you're interested check out http://xbox-linux.sf.net. supposedely there are people as well that will set it up for free, but i haven't really looked into that. there are a few distros for it including a slackware port(slothbox), as well a more mature project 'xebian' (debian port).

note:: dont get all antsy thinking you can just install your slack cds on the xbox, it involves a little love and a custom tailored distro...but it's extremely simple provided you have the right tools

enjoy,
--jeremy

I just casually suggest putting Linux on either the 1.7ghz we have or the 2.8 w/ hyperthreading that we just got. I doubt he won't let me put it on the new one because he has that one up in his room, and he keeps on saying that it can't do some things that he can do on the older one... Well, hopefully persistance will pay off. Either that, or he'll just get really fed up with it. Either way, there'll be an end to it one way or the other.

It's kinda funny, I got into linux all because of the PS2 Linux kit. My dad said that it would be best to put it on a computer first before I go and squander money on the Linux kit, so eventually I put it on the 200mhz as said above. Well, I havn't gotten the Linux kit for PS2(Probably for the best, since it doesn't have support for the CD-Rom or the firewire....), I'm just crossing my fingers that we can put Linux on a newer computer sometime soon. It'd take a miracle, though, something like all 3 different types of backups to fail and the C: partition to get messed up somehow.... I just don't want to be the person held responcible if something like that happens, though....

Edit: Oh, and for the xBox Linux kit, unless you can somehow hook it up to a tv monitor or a HDTV, it'll look crappy as heck (what is the standard resolution, 400x320?)

normal tv resolution is 640x480 i believe, which, yes, is pretty crappy

it does look pretty crappy when you hook it up to a television...a console is almost unreadable, and i wouldn't recomend using a tv for video output as far as that goes.. they do make little boxes that take standard A/V as input and will output through a vga monitor, which looks a hell of a lot better as far as a bash console would go...as well, it works good for playing xbox halo too, without taking up your parents tv all day

I'm going to have to experiment with my box as soon as my brother goes back to college. Then I'll try hooking up my A/V cable to my TV and see if I can get the resolution and the refresh rates to sync properly. 60fps for NTSC tv's, if I remember right. Too bad the tv doesn't have S-Video.... Stupid old-schooled tv's....

Don't be too happy if u have gotten the chance of running Linux in a brand new box with all the high ends hardware (GC, USB, etc ..). Linux driver isn't come within CD like ms-drivers, so it take time untill someone cooked the proper driver for the new hardware.

I bet a pentium 200MH is just good for server. Just look into local ads, maybe someone(or many) gonna rid their pentium 667 etc for free.. I run bind-9.2.3, httpd, postfix, mysqld is schedulled to run also, while used my (adm 350MH, 256MB, 8MB GC) as desktop, but I run open-motif (not kde or gnome). Still ok..

If I got better hardware I ll let this box only for servers, while running desktop or experiment on the new hardware, even better to have a dedicated server.

For server u can u TV as console for subsequent fast look into log files or doing some controls. For most time u can have ur console off connected. For control the server u can actually use telnet/shh into it ..