Screen resolution

[carlos]

PCU: Athlon 64 3200+
MB: Asus A8N-E
Chipset: nForce4
Mem: 1024 MB
Video Card: Ati - Asus Extreme AX5500 (PCI)
Monitor: HP f2105 set to 1680x1050 (32bit)on Windows XPSP2 and on KUBUNTU 7.10

Previously installed FreeSpire 2.0.3 (installation went well but monitor resolution was at best 1600x1200 (24bit) and could not be corrected. Text was OK but somewhat blurry.

PCBSD 1.5 on 320MB SATA HD
PCBSD installs harmoniously (font is beautiful), after reboot a frozen scrambled screen.

New to Linux.

[wmjodea]

Will will need to correct the xorg.conf file. Looks like the horizontal and vertical frequency rate are not right. Find the specs on the monitor then enter them manually.

[Oko]

PCU: Athlon 64 3200+
MB: Asus A8N-E
Chipset: nForce4
Mem: 1024 MB
Video Card: Ati - Asus Extreme AX5500 (PCI)
Monitor: HP f2105 set to 1680x1050 (32bit)on Windows XPSP2 and on KUBUNTU 7.10

Previously installed FreeSpire 2.0.3 (installation went well but monitor resolution was at best 1600x1200 (24bit) and could not be corrected. Text was OK but somewhat blurry.

PCBSD 1.5 on 320MB SATA HD
PCBSD installs harmoniously (font is beautiful), after reboot a frozen scrambled screen.

New to Linux.

Well I never got to use Linux in my life either.

Configuring X window in Unix is simple. You drop to console run X -configure in supper user mode and then inspect your
/var/log/xorg.log file. Then you need to edit xorg.conf and probe it
with x -config /root/xorg.conf.new if it is stable.

I disagree with the above comment that you have a problem with Vert and Horz sync rates. Actually you are better of erasing them all together as they should be specified on modern hardware only in couple of instances.

I would be guessing your troubles without reading the log file but you can try to specify DefaultDepth in ScreenSection to something like 24 or even better to 16 and probe X server.

[carlos]

Installed in VESA.
None of the screen resolutions offered -not even the 800x600 in 16 bit-worked.
Cancel.
Sys:"Reboot to default"
That worked. It is a low resolution, slightly distorted screen.
The monitor was correctly detected as HP f2105 (it is a wide screen monitor 1680x1050 and is working properly in KUBUNTU and Windows XP environment)

Following up your recommendation.
Console> sudo X -config
Password: (did not work) neither the user nor the administrator.
Console> su X -config
Sys: Sorry

By the way, at first tried to enter safe (or any other) mode during the boot up. That did not work. It would just go ahead and do its thing.

Have no Internet connection either on PCBSD. I have to change back and forth between a Window/KUBUNTU and PCBSD HD.

[wmjodea]

Is VESA your only choice? Do you have Xorg? In Xorg you would type Xorg -config. Enter as root try su (enter) then password (enter) then xorg (space) config. You may have to edit the xorg.conf file which should be at /etc/X11. Look under screen0 for the resolution settings. You may have to add the one you want if it is not listed. Check the Horizontal and Vertical Sync setting to make sure their are correct for your monitor.

[Oko]

Is VESA your only choice? Do you have Xorg? In Xorg you would type Xorg -config. Enter as root try su (enter) then password (enter) then xorg (space) config. You may have to edit the xorg.conf file which should be at /etc/X11. Look under screen0 for the resolution settings. You may have to add the one you want if it is not listed. Check the Horizontal and Vertical Sync setting to make sure their are correct for your monitor.

Do not be ridiculous. Xorg -configure and X -configure do the same thing.
Read man pages.

NO, I am repeating he needs to erase Horz and Vert sync. X server is very smart and will do better without those rates.

Please do not answer question if you do not know what are you talking about.


To original question:

Seems that I am dealing with an Ubuntu user.

You need to go to su mode. Unless you set up sudo account you can not use it.

su -
password

then

#whatever is your command

The easiest way is to completely kill the X before you go to su mode
In vanilla FreeBSD which doesn't run XDM it is simply
alt+ctrl+backspace.

I am not using PC-BSD so I do not know what is the fastest way to drop
in console mode on PC.

[wmjodea]

I did what Oko suggested and removed the HorizSync and VertRefresh from my xorg.conf file. Now I have only one resolution option,800x680. After adding the HorizSync and VertRefresh settings under Monitor my 1024x768 setting came back. Please go to http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/han ... onfig.html and read X11 Configuration. The information I posting to help you came from the FreeBSD Handbook Chapter 5 :The X Window System. which is on Freebsd.org. I do not know if what works for Freebsd will work for sure on PC-BSD ; but this is what I did when I had problems with screen resolution on my FreeBSD system. I also use PC-BSD ; but I have had no problems with PC-BSD so far. I would think when you installed PC-BSD it did an X -configure as part of the set up. Some times editing the xorg.conf is require for certain sysytems.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/han ... onfig.html

Or just Google X11 Configuration

[Oko]

I did what Oko suggested and removed the HorizSync and VertRefresh from my xorg.conf file. Now I have only one resolution option,800x680. After adding the HorizSync and VertRefresh settings under Monitor my 1024x768 setting came back. Please go to http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/books/han ... onfig.html and read X11 Configuration. The information I posting to help you came from the FreeBSD Handbook Chapter 5 :The X Window System. which is on Freebsd.org. I do not know if what works for Freebsd will work for sure on PC-BSD ; but this is what I did when I had problems with screen resolution on my FreeBSD system. I also use PC-BSD ; but I have had no problems with PC-BSD so far. I would think when you installed PC-BSD it did an X -configure as part of the set up. Some times editing the xorg.conf is require for certain sysytems.

http://www.freebsd.org/doc/books/handbook/x-config.html

Or just Google X11 Configuration

The Handbook Chapter 5 about configuration of X window system is badly outdated!

Vert and Horz syn rates are harmless if you know exactly your hardware.
Look now the Section Screen and in particular SubSection Display. If your DefaultDepth is let say 24 try to add something like

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        DefaultDepth   24

        SubSection "Display"
                Viewport   0 0
                Depth     24
                Modes	"1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

and some other even better resolutions.
X server will try to launch with the first one and if it fails will try
to use the next one resolution in the line Mode.

So specify the first one that you want and then a few alternatives.

The resolution is also driver and depth specific. There is a very complicated formula that can tell you what is the best resolution you
can get with the certain Depth (Colors) on the particular driver.

I would imagine that VESA will try to do 800x600 if not forced by Mode lines to do better. VESA should be your last choice for the video driver anyway.

Cheers,


P. S.
I also forgot that you can use

xrandr

to adjust the resolution on the fly. You need to refresh the
X server after you do that.

This is an up to date how to for X server.

http://www.openbsd.org/faq/faq11.html#amd64i386


but the readings howtos is not a substitution for reading books and
Xorg manuals.



OKO

[wmjodea]

The FreeBSD handbook maybe out dated ; but the information in it worked for me. My Subsection is also set with Depth And Mode setting.

SubSection "screen"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x786"
EndSubSection

All I did was remove the HorizSync and the VertRefresh.

Yes I agree. I have Absolute FreeBSD 2nd Edition by Micheal W. Lucas which I use for information also. Do you have any other books to suggest?

[carlos]

Not an KUBUNTU "user". It is installed only for Internet use.

Back to your rec. It worked.
Su
Password
Commands

Of course it was done in the Konsole while X(abr.for graphical interface?)running.
cd unto /var/ was OK. That's it. There is no /log/ file to go on.

Do you have to shut down X before make changes in the xorg.log file?
Ctr+Alt+Del brings up a screen in "X" with computer stats or something like that.
Where is this xorg.log file to modify.