Hiya, folks! I'm running Windows XP and Ubuntu Studio 9.04 in a dual-boot setup on a Dell Dimension 4300 desktop with 1 GB of RAM and a Wildcat VP Pro (I think--it's either VP or VP Pro) video card with 256MB of video RAM. The card is no longer being manufactured, and, as far as I know, there are no Linux drivers available for it. (I use this card because it has the most video RAM of any graphics card I own, which helps when watching videos and DVDs!)

Anyhow, when I first installed it the screen insisted on setting up a resolution of something 1280 x 1024--readable, but tiny enough to be a strain on my good eye (I'm blind in one eye due to an inoperable detached retina.). When I attempted to reset the screen resolution to a much more readable 1024 x 768, the screen promptly twisted itself into an unreadable mess! Is there some way I can reset the screen without having to remove and reinstall Ubuntu Studio? (Since it's on my boot drive, I'm more than a little nervous about THAT prospect!) I've already tried using the "xfix" feature, but with absolutely NO success!

In the unhappy event that I DO wind up needing to remove and reinstall Ubuntu Studio (whether I wind up upgrading to a newer version or not!), is there some way I can do so without wrecking my Windows XP installation? I don't have internet from my apartment right now, so I can't update online. Thanks in advance for any help or advice!

Tom Nichol

Ubuntu 9.04 has reached end of life:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases
So you really should upgrade to at least 10.04 or the newest 10.10. If you don't have an internet connection, you can purchase an Ubuntu CD for very cheap from may sites like osdic.com.

To fix your resolution problem you can try using xrandr from the terminal like this:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Resolution

If you plan to use this computer for a while, you can purchase an AGP nvidia card pretty cheap these days that will likely work better in linux.