Subject: Re: screen resolution problems
From: Black (cpa@ece.cmu.edu)
Date: Tue Jun 26 2001 - 11:52:29 MDT
On Tue, 26 Jun 2001, Tim Moran wrote:
> Hey everyone-
>
> Thanks for the replies however they didn't help me (yet). I did install
> the Xautoconfig from the CD but what do I do with it now? I tried to run
> it from the run command in the KDE menu but nothing happened. The ATI
> card seems to be working fine except for the super fine screen
> resolution. When I installed YDL I selected custom setup and picked the
> supported resolutions for the card. I had anticipated being able to
> select resolutions in some sort of control panel. Unfortunately, being
> unfamiliar with KDE and Linux in general, this was not the case. I
> believe that the other resolutions/refresh rates are supported and in
> there somewhere. My problem is exactly how to access them. I am
> comfortable working in the terminal but I have very little knowledge of
> basic unix commands. All I want to do right now is change from 1600x1200
> to 1024x768. If I could do this then I would be able to at least use YDL
> so that I could learn more. As it stands right now, my YDL installation
> is far too frustrating to view and work in for more than 15 minutes or
> so.
Okay, a couple of things...
First, you don't want to run Xautoconfig or Xconfigurator from the run box
in KDE. These tools are meant to be run with X not running, so you want to
logout og KDE and drop down to the bare bones terminal.
Now, this might not be your best option... If I understand you, you set up
a bunch of resolutions in the installer and then expected to be able to
switch through them, but you find you can't, correct?
I had this same problem. I set up all the valid resolutions for my machine
and then found myself in an unusable one, and I could switch around with
the cntl,alt,KP+/- (you are using the keypad plus and minus, right?). I
couldn't do that since my powerbook doesn't actually have a keypad, and
the fn+numlock keypad doesn't seem to be well supported...). What I did
was just go in and edit my F86Config file (which can be found in
/etc/X11/, I believe). I found that while I had told the installer not to
give me all modes, it had anyway. So, I just commented out all of the
modes except the one that I _knew_ that my machine could do. (Once again,
this shouldn't be done with X running!). I advises that if you do this,
you do a couple of things if you haven't played in this file before.
First, make a copy (cp XF86Config old_XF86Config), so that if you screw it
up beyond use, you can get back to were you were. Second, spend some time
reading through it, and trying to understand what it is doing before you
start altering it. I believe there is also a man page on it (I'm not
sitting in front of my machine at the moment, so I can't look...). You can
also find all sort of X info at www.xfree.org.
-Christopher
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