Re: configuring xserver [Solved]
On 2009-09-24_19:09:15, thveillon.debian wrote:
> Paul E Condon wrote:
> > On 2009-09-24_22:49:04, Adrian Levi wrote:
> >> 2009/9/24 Paul E Condon <pecondon@mesanetworks.net>:
> >>> I just purchased a small LCD monitor. It is 16:9 format and 1366x768.
> >>> I ran dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
> >>> and that program set up the driver for 1024x768, so naturely the letters
> >>> and graphics were stretched out horizontally. 1366x768 is not an option
> >>> offered by Gnome preferences screen-resolution. What is the Debian way
> >>> to deal with this? What should I read?
> >> You might like to look into configuring yourself a modeline to tell
> >> the xserver what the hardware is capable of if it's not automatically
> >> detected.
> >>
> >> Adrian
> >
> > Yes. That is what I want to do. Where are the current modelines stored?
> > Somewhere in /etc I suppose, but there is a lot of stuff in /etc that
> > is automatically overwritten. I'd like to put my mode line in a place
> > that is considered authoritative by the Debian/GNU/Xwindows/Linux system.
> > And I'd like to use correct syntax for my modelines to that they are properly
> > understood by whatever is designed to read modelines.
> >
> > I wouldn't mind reading some documents that explain what is going on, but
> > I doubt that I will remember whatever I might learn, especially if it
> > doesn't actually lead to my successfully configuring this monitor.
> >
> > Thanks for the clue that what I need is 'a modeline'. Words matter, especially
> > if you can't remember the ones that are used in the index to life.
> > I'll go Google modeline.
>
> Hi,
>
> I'd use something like "gtf 1366 768 60" (for 60Hz) to get a modeline,
> then put it in the "Monitor" section of xorg.conf.
> Otherwise learn some "randr" magic there maybe ?
>
> http://wiki.debian.org/XStrikeForce/HowToRandR12
>
> and forget it as I did... :-(
>
> Tom
Thanks. gtf gave me a plausible modeline. I editted it into xorg.conf
as suggested and it worked.
Prior to that all the lines in xorg.conf were basically just place
holders that contained no information about the real world outside the
confines of X11. I thought surely all that information that used to be
in xorg.conf has been moved somewhere else, like has been done with
the new disagregated exim configuration. Now I know that X11 is a
really different can of worms.
Further googling leads me to believe that why this modeline works is
knowledge that has very rapidly declining future worth, because hal
will likely start working 'really soon, now'. I sincerely hope that
hal will actually solve the configuration problem as opposed to
casting current disfunctional automation in the stone of software
convention.
It is curious that no amount of lying to gtf would make it produce a
mode that actually had 1366 columns. The closest it would produce was
1368. And even that got reinterpreted to be 1280 in the Gnome
Preferences Screen Resolution window. But that gives a setup in which
the figure of a circle in the wikipedia article on 'circle' gives an
ellipse for which the eccentricity is hardly perceptible at a
glance.
--
Paul E Condon
pecondon@mesanetworks.net
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