Display/Resolution on Dell Inspiron

[Guthdog]

Hello All,

I'll warn you up front, I'm as green as it gets with Linux or any black screen environment, so my questions will hopefully be fundamental and I can start learning about my new OS.

I have an old Dell Inspiron 3500, Celeron 333 256MB of RAM, that used to run W98, (NeoMagic video card). I just went out and purchased the Linux Bible with a jillion iterations of Linux on the two included disks.

Did a net install of Debian and also loaded Gnome and KDE. Here is my, (first of many, I'm sure), questions:

1) I can't get the resolution above 800x600 in the Gnome environment. I know from before that this LCD and video card will support 1024x768 @ 75MHz, which is also borne out by the research I did online. I didn't check the resolution at the time, but Knoppix looked a lot sharper than 800x600 while running from the CD as well.
I ran dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86 which takes you through a wizard, (for lack of a better word), that allowed me to specify my computer's characteristics, (video card, keyboard, mouse etc.). I specified, "Generic Monitor", "LCD", then I get to the monitor characteristics. I tried both Medium and Advanced, but it ultimately ends up at a long list of resolutions, (starting with 1920x1440 and descending to 640x480). Only the last two resolutions are selected with an astarisk and it won't let me choose 1024x768. I can highlight it, but nothing appears in the checkbox. I then selected 24 bit color and the rest of the defaults.

I'm sure these questions are painfully simple, I hope so anyway. Any help is greatly appreciated. Take care.

Stewart

[Javasnob]

In the curses "wizard" for the X server configuration, are you sure you're hitting the right button to select the resolutions? I made this mistake when I started with Debian by hitting 'Enter' instead of 'Space.'

If the "wizard" fails, you could just edit /etc/XF86Config by hand. Take a look at the man pages to learn how to adjust it to your needs.

[antidrugue]

I can highlight it, but nothing appears in the checkbox.

You can press SPACEBAR to select a specific resolution in the configuration wizard ("dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86").

Or you can change it manualy in the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4.

[Guthdog]

Nicely done, I don't remember reading anything about using the space bar, but it worked nonetheless. Thanks for your help, take care