Setting higher screen resolution in Linux (Ubuntu)

[Andy]

I span up ubuntu off a CD so it does seem to work ok with my laptop. The only thing I got concerned by was the maximum screen res was 1024x768 which looks ok on my screen but my laptop is a widescreen so I think it is something like 1200 pixels wide.

[SensoVision]

Hi Andy, I see the problem. Not sure if Gnome Screen Resolution utility could fix this if you got 1024x768 in beginning, but if you got Nvidia card you may install latest Nvidia drivers (9629), they got nice built in utility which in recent release got interface for setting screen resolution, and there a way to put custom resolutions if they were not detected previously. Let me know if you need any help at installation of this driver or it's use.
You can also add desired screen resolution to xorg.conf file manually, if you wish to try this way just attach /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and let me know exactly what resolution you're trying to set.

[donecweb]

This is a good question Andy, that I have been concerned about for some time myself but it hasn't been important enough to me to ask yet since I have been forced to only use my laptop while recuperating. So thanks for asking.

Denis your answer is OK for a computer that has a Nvidia card but it is not the only card. I happen to have 3 computers with ATI video cards and while the resolution for the laptop is fine it is not high enough for the desktops. This is a problem with MEPIS, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and FreeSpire as I have tried these (but not quite up to giving an evaluation, but when I get better one will be forthcoming).

Is this just a concern with Debian distros or all Linux OS distros?

[SensoVision]

Denis your answer is OK for a computer that has a Nvidia card but it is not the only card. Wink I happen to have 3 computers with ATI video cards and while the resolution for the laptop is fine it is not high enough for the desktops. This is a problem with MEPIS, Ubuntu, Kubuntu and FreeSpire as I have tried these (but not quite up to giving an evaluation, but when I get better one will be forthcoming). Grin

I know that ATI cards have problems with installing them but fortunately or not I never owned any ATI made card. So I can't write a HOWTO about how to use them, unless someone provide me with this card
But if problem comes only to resolution in some cases it could be solved with X.org configuration, and here I can help you out, just let me know if you wish to take some risk and play with config files.

Is this just a concern with Debian distros or all Linux OS distros?

it's problem of any distro as ATI just recently comparing to NVidia start to take Linux seriously and make drivers for them, and those early versions was kind of buggy and hard to install from what I've read, but hopefully this would change with time and their Linux drivers achieve as good quality as Windows ones, till that time there is alternative of using free drivers from kernel which sometimes work even faster than ATI ones(can't confirm this myself).

[Andy]

Even in Windows, ATI drivers have a legacy of being difficult to work with. I had lots of trouble in the past getting my ATI graphics cards to work correctly. But some of these problems were due to an NVidia card melt-down  So I never really had a chance to enjoy an NVidea card and all our computers seem to be using ATI.

[SensoVision]

yeah, ATI is popular here as well but only because it's price to speed ratio, NVidia mostly bought by fans or those who use alternative OSs like Linux, as NVidia do good job in writing drivers for it.

[donecweb]

I know that ATI cards have problems with installing them but fortunately or not I never owned any ATI made card. So I can't write a HOWTO about how to use them, unless someone provide me with this card
But if problem comes only to resolution in some cases it could be solved with X.org configuration, and here I can help you out, just let me know if you wish to take some risk and play with config files.
it's problem of any distro as ATI just recently comparing to NVidia start to take Linux seriously and make drivers for them, and those early versions was kind of buggy and hard to install from what I've read, but hopefully this would change with time and their Linux drivers achieve as good quality as Windows ones, till that time there is alternative of using free drivers from kernel which sometimes work even faster than ATI ones(can't confirm this myself).

I have never had a problem with getting ATI cards to work with windows and the newer versions of Linux distros seem to be working on this concern.