Screen resolution

[David Purdy]

Hi John:

What kind of monitor are you using?

I don't know if this will help, but I had a problem
when I installed YDL 3.0 on my G3, coupled with an
older (ancient!) Apple Color Monitor (originally from
an old LCIII) - which functions only at 640 by 480. 
The install went just fine, but when I rebooted, the
resolution was set to 800 by 600, resulting in a
stretched, difficult to read image.  I tried changing
the settings using the monitor settings panel, and I
got nowhere - the screen settings would not "save" or
"take hold".  I tried using all of the built in
configurator programs, too.  They all failed, leaving
me back to the barely usable 800 x 600.

It seemed to me as though some part of the
auto-sensing function of the install program or
autoconfiguration program did not work correctly,
resulting in a configuration file that had faulty
settings. 

I read over the HowTos - one in particular gave me
some great ideas.  and this is how I fixed my
situation... see... 
http://yellowdoglinux.com/support/solutions/ydl_2.3/rage.shtml
  .  Read the section where he talks about fine tuning
the video settings.

I researched (on the web) my monitor to find its
settings.... horizontal refresh, vertical refresh and
the resolution that I wanted.  If you have an Apple
monitor, then Gamba's OS site is great.  see
http://home.earthlink.net/~gamba2/vid-mon-matrix.html
,for instance.

I went to a console shell, su'ed to login as root,
pico-edited the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4  {see
caution comment below}  so that the ranges listed in
this configuration file were wide enough for my
monitor's values to fall within.  I saved it, rebooted
and voila, no more monitor-resolution weirdness.  You
can read through the config file to search for the
correct place where the monitor's values/ranges on
vertical & horizontal refresh, and resolution are
shown.  I used pico to edit the file, while the writer
of the HowTo used vi.  Guess you could use the emacs
editor, too.


***Caution:{I ***think*** it was the file ending in
Config-4   ,...,there were two other similar
configuration files in the same directory - one I seem
to remember as a 'backup' settings file.  It could
have been one ending in simple Config.  Also, I am
using boht 2.3 and 3.0...there may have been a slight
difference in the location and naming of the
configuruation file.  You can use Konqueror to browse
the /etc/ directory, and peek around in there. 
XXXXXXXX!!!!! You should read other HowTos to see how
to drop out of the X window system, so that if
experimentation doesn't work out on the first try, you
can still work in full-screen console mode.  I'm not
at home right now, so I can't check the exact
specifics for you.}

It worked for me and the writer of the HowTo, maybe it
will work for you.

Good Luck, and let me know if it works...

Dave Purdy
Wisconsin

--- John Dennis <jmdennis@atsecure.net> wrote:
> I would like to be able to change my screen from
> 640X480 and have it saved.  I have tried different
> things, but it reverts back to this setting.
> _______________________________________________
> yellowdog-newbie mailing list
> yellowdog-newbie@lists.terrasoftsolutions.com
>
http://lists.terrasoftsolutions.com/mailman/listinfo/yellowdog-newbie


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