Ralph Shumaker wrote: >.. >> Gus will probably give the authoritative answer, but I believe it may >> involve changing >> >> Modes "800x600" >> >> to >> >> Modes "800x600" "1024x768" >> >> in your /etc/X11/xorg.conf. >.. > Thanks jim. Life is a little better now that dialog buttons no longer > run off the bottom of the screen (well, less often). Upon seeing this > suggestion, I made the change and then forgot about it. Last night I > decided to shut my system down because of something a little wonky. > Booting up just now, I was delighted to see the higher resolution > (finally). I never asked about it, because it was merely an annoyance > to buttons off the bottom of the screen and web pages that were too > wide. (Fortunately, most web pages had the text portion narrow enough > where I could adjust the horizontal scroll bar to fit it in, but not all.) > > I seem to always have off-brand monitors that are never listed anywhere > and Linux never seems to recognize them. As a result, I end up with > just basic resolutions. How can I find out what resolutions I can set > them to? Currently the one in front of me says Micron. On back, Model: > RM07L11 (or possibly the 0 could be O), Manufactured: October 1997, and > my tape measure reveals a 17 inch diagonal. (It *is* a CRT, just in > case that was not obvious.)
Micron monitor specs do not seem readily findable. It may be that it's a rebranded item or just too old. Sometimes your system knows more that you think, though. Have you looked at (user configurable) System > Preferences > Screen Resolution or, equivalently, launching from the command line gnome-display-properties The above allows picking/testing a resolution and if you don't respond in 15 secs, it cancels. Another tool is (root-password required) System > Administration > Display or, equivalently, launching from the command line system-config-display Here, the main "Settings" tab page shows resolution choices that your system configuration thinks are available for your monitor. Well, maybe it's not always believable -- mine includes 2048x1536 -- I wish. ;-) The possibly more useful one here, is on the "Hardware" tab page, where you can configure the monitor. If you happened to know that your CRT was a rebranded XYZ-model-17, you might conceivably find such an entry in the choice list. The more likely operation is to force the choice of Generic Monitor, 1024x768 capability Most 17" models seem to be able to do 1024x768 at 60Hz. (Although I believe there are some which only do 800x600). I would be reluctant to get more adventurous than this with an old or unknown monitor, as it is reported that monitors _can_ be damaged by being sent incorrect frequency signals. Anyway, if you do find a res you are happy with, you may still need to set the xorg.conf if you wish to be able to switch via "Ctrl Alt +" and "Ctrl Alt -". That's what I was talking about in my original post. This list controls which settings are walked by the keyboard commands. Be aware that the first item in the Modes list is the startup resolution. Also be aware that at res settings below the highest in that list, you get a "viewport" display that scrolls when you run the mouse off the edge. To add more confusion.. - - - - - - - - - - - - In harder to configure cases, it has sometimes been necessary to specify frequency ranges in the xorg.conf file under the "Monitor" section. If you are tempted to do something at that level, you may wish to solicit advice from Gus, who gets all these questions dumped on him <heh>. Regards, ..jim -- [email protected] http://www.kernel-panic.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/kplug-list
