Problems vith desktop size ATI Rage -laptop

[psebor]

hi guys, i am a newcomer to linux bare with my trivial question. I installed Suse 10.1 on my Dell Latitude CPx with ATI Rage Mobility 8Mb video card.
It seems the software recognized the driver, but maybe not completely accurately. I get a size of desktop which has a border about 1.5in away from the physical edge of the screen. I went into the display properties, played with resolution, frequency, physical definition of the screen properties to no avail. I must be missing something probably very simple. please help. thanks

[devils casper]

in Boot Up screen, select SuSe title and press '3'. press 'Enter' key. SuSe will boot up in Command line mode and drop you at command line login prompt. login as root and execute 'sax2' command. set resolutions, video driver etc. execute 'startx' to check GUI.






Casper

[psebor]

hi casper,

i executed sax2, but I was not able to fix the desktop size there. I played with resolution, many types of displays, even frequency settings. I always got the test screen with buttons to change the size, but they do not react to my commands. One thing I am not able to change at all and that is the graphic adapter. I do not think the GRUB is recognizing the right adapter. I have ATI Rage Mobility with 16Mb of memory and the GRUB is coming back with ATI Mach64. Do you have nay ideas?

Thanks
Pavel

[devils casper]

you must be logged in as 'root' to execute 'sax2' command. select 'Generic Monitor' in Monitor's list.







Casper

[psebor]

Casper, thanks for the reply. I did logg in as root. I did not see "generic monitor", it sellected VESA monitor, which I thought was the substitute for generic monitor. I wil re-check again tonight though. Thanks. Pavel

[psebor]

casper, I logged in as root and executed sax2. It did not give me an option for a generic monitor. The closest thing to a generic monitor was LCD, I tried with several resolutions to no avail. The other day I tried almost all of the available monitors under different resolutions. It seems to me that I get that smaller size of the desktop as soon as the Grub is loaded. I see the text starting already in that smaller window before any drivers are loaded. Any ideas. Thanks Pavel

[devils casper]

post the Monitor and Screen Sections of /etc/X11/xorg.conf file.






Casper

[psebor]

Section "Monitor"
DisplaySize 300 230
HorizSync 31-85
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "1280X960@85HZ"
VendorName "--> VESA"
VertRefresh 50-85
UseModes "Modes[0]"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 32
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "default"
EndSubSection
Device "Device[0]"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
EndSection

[devils casper]

boot up in Command line mode, login as root.

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

set DefaultDepth to 24 i Section "Screen" and add modes under Depth 24

SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1280x960" "1024x768" "1024x600" "800x600" "768x576" "640x480"
EndSubSection

save file and execute 'startx'.




Casper

[psebor]

thanks casper, will give it a shot and let you know. Pavel