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distro with widescreen res support

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Scott9027

Scott9027

Member
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Joined
Jun 6, 2005
Location
NC
anyone know a distro that will support 1920x1200 resolution on intel integrated graphics? im completely unable to get it working in dapper drake and im hoping somebody knows a distro which can handle it. i may give gentoo a shot, but im not comfortable with c and useflags, i never really feel like i know how to customize the os to help my performance and it takes a while if you bootstrap your own system.
 
As far as I know (someone correct me if I'm wrong here), screen resolution depends first on driver support. If you know that your video driver is correctly supported/loaded by the kernel, then the setting also has to be in your xorg.conf file. In Breezy it's in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, it's probably the same with Dapper. Look for a bit in the file that looks like this:
Code: 
Section "Screen"
<snip>
        SubSection "Display"
                Depth           24
                Modes           "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
        EndSubSection
Try adding your resolution there, if it's truly supported by your chipset/driver/screen, it should work.
 
Yeah, I've added it to that file, made it the only resolution in that file, and it still won't use it. It uses 1280x1024 when that resolution isn't even in the file. 915resolution didn't work either, it somehow broke my X. I know it's supported by my chipset/screen because it's the default in Windows when the driver is installed. And the driver I used in Linux was i810, which I understood to be the correct one for my Intel 945GM chipset.
 
http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_Widescreen_Resolutions_(WSXGA) said:
...use your /var/log/Xorg.0.log logfile to search the problem. It will say something like it is out of bounds. It should post the EDID information to help you create a modeline. Using the EDID information from the log file the following modline was added to xorg.conf.

[SIZE=-1]File: /etc/X11/xorg.conf [/SIZE] Section "Monitor"
Code: 
         Identifier   "My Monitor"
        ...
        #modeline explained [URL="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO/synth.html"]http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO/synth.html[/URL]
        #from [URL="http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO/index.html"]http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO/index.html[/URL]
        #            ___name____ clock _horizontal_timing_ __vertical_timing__  ____flag____
        #                <name> --DCF --HR -SH1 -SH2 -HFL --VR -SV1 -SV2 _VFL
        ModeLine     "1680x1050" 119.0 1680 1728 1760 1840 1050 1053 1059 1080
Click to expand...
This is a direct quote from the webpage listed above. I know that the resolutions included in the code snip are not exactly your goal, but you may be able to apply the resolutions you want. I don't know if this helps, but I'm sure you'll let us know if it don't. :p
 
would a modeline generator for xfree86 instead of xorg work anyway?
 
Anyone know how i would find out my vertical frequency in hz or my dot clock frequency?
 
Ah well you and me are in the same boat. It took me awhile to figure this one out.

Modelines won't help you.

915resolution is what worked for me.

Post your Xorg.conf and tell us how 915resolution isn't working. What commands did you use? What errors does it throw up?

Also what is the hardware you are on?
 
Ok, I downloaded 915resolution, ran the command: sudo 915resolution 5c 1920 1200

There is no error message, but nothing happens. I know I don't have to restart X, because it has to be run at start up. If that's not true I will try restarting X, but I'm worried that once I do that I won't be able to get back into it.
 
Scott9027 said:
I know I don't have to restart X, because it has to be run at start up.
Click to expand...

To test that 915resolution has worked, you have to end your current session and restart X. If it has worked, your login screen should be shown in all its widescreen glory :).
915resolution worked fine for me on my Inspiron 9400 @ 1920x1200 (Intel 945/950 Integrated Chipset).
I also manually edited /etc/X11/xorg.conf, leaving only the 1920x1200 resolution in there.

Also, under what user id are you running the command? It will only execute when you are root.

Binny.
 
Last edited:
Success! What files do I have to move, or commands do I have to execute, in order to get the BIOS hack to run at every start up?
 
does anyone know what i need to do to keep this working after i restart?
 
The install script should automatically create the files you need to initialise 915resolution on boot. However, I manually edited /etc/init.d/915resolution to just say the following:

#! /bin/sh
/usr/sbin/915resolution 5c 1920 1200
exit 0

That file is linked to by /etc/rc?.d/S20915resolution, which ensures it starts on boot. Sorry for the long delay before replying.. I haven't been at home for a while :).

Binny.
 
I've posted my /etc/init.d/915resolution file contents. Could anyone point out where I need to make the changes? I assume the whole file shouldn't be what only what you said in your last post, right?

Code: 
#! /bin/sh

PATH=/sbin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin
PROG=/usr/sbin/915resolution
NAME=915resolution
DESC=915resolution

test -x $DAEMON || exit 0

# Include 915resolution defaults if available
if [ -f /etc/default/915resolution ] ; then
	. /etc/default/915resolution
fi
if [ "$MODE" = "" ] || [ "$XRESO" = "" ] || [ "$YRESO" = "" ] ; then
   echo "*** Your 915resolution hasn't been configured! ***"
   echo "Please read /usr/share/doc/915resolution/README.Debian and define"
   echo "MODE, XRESO, and YRESO."
   exit 0
fi

set -e

case "$1" in
  start)
	echo -n "Starting $DESC: "
	$PROG $MODE $XRESO $YRESO $BIT
	echo "$NAME."
	;;
  stop)
	#echo -n "Stopping $DESC: "
	#echo "$NAME."
	;;
  restart|force-reload)
	#echo -n "Stopping $DESC: "
        #echo "$NAME."
	echo -n "Starting $DESC: "
        $PROG $MODE $XRESO $YRESO $BIT
        echo "$NAME."
        ;;
  *)
	N=/etc/init.d/$NAME
	# echo "Usage: $N start" >&2
	echo "Usage: $N start" >&2
	exit 1
	;;
esac

exit 0

Perhaps the reason it doesn't execute it automatically is because I did not set it up the way the file indicates. The only command I used to get my current resolution was sudo 915resolution 5c 1920 1200 followed by restarting x. Is there some way to tell Ubuntu to run this command before starting x each time I restart?
 
Last edited:
Just delete everything in the file and add the following:

#! /bin/sh
/usr/sbin/915resolution 5c 1920 1200
exit 0

Of course, replace the 5c and resolution with whatever you wish to use. Works fine for me. Make sure you have "S20915resolution" files (which link to the above script) in each of your "/etc/rc?.d/" directories. The install procedure actually created all of these for me - I didnt need to manually create them.
If you get it set up like this, the script that you modified will execute during boot and will force x's resolution to what you want.

Binny.
 
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