Linux Help

[TechMouse]

su is a command in UNIX which lets you temporarily jump into "superuser" mode to do administration tasks.

sudo is a prefix which you can add to any other command to say "do this command as the superuser".

What screen rez do you use normally?

Do you know what graphics chipset you have?

XOrg is the X Windows system.

Their website is here.

There will almost certainly be a hardware compatibility list and some troubleshooting info.

[TechMouse]

OK, I'm guessing you have the i915 chipset - which is listed in the Ubuntu compatibility list.

Was it a Dell laptop you got?

Which model?

[RDR]

It is the 915 chipset.

I used the i810 workaround for this.

I have a 5630 acer aspire.

Still looking on the ubuntu sites, sadly not very much makes sense to me.

thanks for your help mark.

chris.

[TechMouse]

From https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupp...nesLaptopsAcer

Section on Acer 5612WLMi (which is the closest number I can find)...

X resolution is 1024x678 but in Xorg.conf file there is 1280x800 resolution. And it should be 1280x800 that is the real screen resolution. This bug is solved with the 915resolution program: http://www.geocities.com/stomljen/ (a link to ubuntu wiki is here)

Full information here.

Worth a look?

[RDR]

From https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardwareSupp...nesLaptopsAcer

Section on Acer 5612WLMi (which is the closest number I can find)...



Full information here.

Worth a look?

Yeah thats it.... but TBH i dont really know how to use it... downloaded it to the linux partition but not sure about it.

[TechMouse]

OK, so this is totally off the cuff...

In a command prompt, cd into wherever you downloaded the file.

Do...

tar -zxvf 915resolution-0.5.3.tar.gz

This will decompress the archive into a folder.

Now...

cd 915resolution-0.5.3
make
su

... you will need to stick in your root password here...

make install

This will compile and install the program.

Now, still being in root...

915resolution -l

You should see some information e.g.

Intel 915GM VBIOS Hack : version 0.2

Chipset: 915GM

Mode 30 : 640x480, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 32 : 800x600, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 34 : 1024x768, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 38 : 1280x1024, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 3a : 1600x1200, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 3c : 1920x1440, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 41 : 640x480, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 43 : 800x600, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 45 : 1024x768, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 49 : 1280x1024, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 4b : 1600x1200, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 4d : 1920x1440, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 50 : 640x480, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 52 : 800x600, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 54 : 1024x768, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 58 : 1280x1024, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 5a : 1600x1200, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 5c : 1920x1440, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 60 : 1280x770, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 61 : 1280x770, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 62 : 1280x770, 32 bits/pixel
Mode 63 : 512x771, 8 bits/pixel
Mode 64 : 512x771, 16 bits/pixel
Mode 65 : 512x771, 32 bits/pixel

Pick a mode you don't need (e.g. #38 1280x1024) and overwrite with what you do (e.g. 1280x800)...

915resolution 38 1280 800

If you need 24 bits per pixel...

915resolution 38 1280 800 24

You'll need to add this to your Xorg.conf file...

Section "Screen"
         Identifier  "Screen 1"
         Device      "device"
         Monitor     "LCD"
         DefaultDepth 16

         Subsection "Display"
           Depth       16
           Modes       "1280x800"
         EndSubsection
EndSection

Now start X Windows...

startx

If it works OK, you'll want to add the 915resolution commands to your startup scripts.

We can work through that later.

[TechMouse]

There's a Google group (http://groups.google.com/group/915resolution) where you'll be able to get far more help than I can possibly offer.