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Harald Markus Wirth

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Setting the Screen Resolution in X.org

Default Resolution and Login Screen

If you are using Jaunty Jackalope, you can use the old method of adding a few lines to /etc/X11/xorg.conf - the following snippet shows only the important parts, the "SubSection". Adding the "Modes" should force your X server to use only the mentioned resolution: 

Section "Screen"
   SubSection "Display"
      Modes   "1280x1024"
   EndSubSection
EndSection

In Jaunty, I found a simpler way to achieve this. After booting the Live-CD, it started using the highest possible resolution (1600x1200). When I used the GUI-program to set a lower one, it became the default resolution for the installed system. Simply use System / Preferences / Display to set the desired resolution, then start the install program.

xorg.conf is being ignored in Lucid Lynx

When I installed Lucid Lynx, creating an xorg.conf did not help - the settings were simply ignored. I found another place, where one can put a line to enforce a certain resolution: /etc/gdm/Init/Default. I had to place a line just before the line "/sbin/initctl -q emit login-session-start DISPLAY_MANAGER=gdm":

Setting the default resolution using xrandr in /etc/gdm/Init/Default

You can call xrandr without parameters to list all recognized screen modes. 

#!/bin/sh
# Stolen from the debian kdm setup, aren't I sneaky
# Plus a lot of fun stuff added
#  -George

PATH="/usr/bin:$PATH"
OLD_IFS=$IFS

#if [ -x '/usr/bin/xsplash' ];
#then
#        /usr/bin/xsplash --gdm-session --daemon
#fi

xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1280x1024 --rate 85

/sbin/initctl -q emit login-session-start DISPLAY_MANAGER=gdm

Links

/etc/default/grub

NOT YET VERIFIED: It looks like 1600x1200 is used on my machine before xrandr takes effect (I can tell, because the mouse cursor is not in the center after boot) Perhaps makeing 

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024x8

# this replaces vga= parameters from earlier Ubuntu versions
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=1280x1024

# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY="true"

# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

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