Screen resolution?

[Hansenator]

Hello,

I just installed Debian on my old Presario laptop and I can't figure out how to change the screen resolution. I searched on the internet a bit and most of the things I found either weren't available, didn't work, or I couldn't figure it out.

I'm kind of a noob to Linux configuration but I know the screen can go 1024x768.

Can someone help?

Thanks

[MikeTbob]

You need to know the specs for your monitor, do you have the owners manual for it? Anyhoo, if you know the correct hsync and vsync then you can add them to the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file in the "Monitor or Screen" section.

Here is what mine looks like.

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "HP-Compaq"
ModelName "HP MX50"
HorizSync 30.0 - 50.0
VertRefresh 50.0 - 150.0
Option "DPMS

[Segfault]

Another thing is it may defaulted to the VESA driver. Last time I tried VESA it couldn't do more than 800x600.

[MikeTbob]

Excellent point.
Maybe it would be a good idea to post the whole xorg.conf file.

[Hansenator]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I looked at /etc/X11/xorg.conf and there is nothing in it, completly blank.

[Segfault]

My Debian times are over, from memory one should do something like ...

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

... I think ...

[Hansenator]

My Debian times are over, from memory one should do something like ...

dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

... I think ...

I think I tried that earlier today, I saw something about it on the web. It went through mouse and keyboard configuration but monitor configuration was rather noteworthy in its absence.

[Segfault]

Try X -configure.

If everything fails one can always read man xorg.conf and write one by himself.

[Hansenator]

Try X -configure.

If everything fails one can always read man xorg.conf and write one by himself.

When I tried X -configure, it said

Fatal server error:
Server is already active for display 0
       If the server is no longer running, remove /tmp.X0- lock and start again.

I assume that was because X was running? It seems like it should be more obvious but I couldn't figure out how to get X to not start. I tried ctrl-alt-backspace and that brought me to the login screen. I tried the different sessions and they all bring up some form of gui.

[Segfault]

You have to shut down login manager, XDM probably. Something like

/etc/init.d/xdm stop