[CS-FSLUG] many distros won't recognise my monitor

[Ed Hurst]

On Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:29:00 -0500, <Davidm at hisfeet.net> wrote:

> How does one answer a specific letter in this list
> (writing to the entire list)?

Most of the time, using a standard email client, you can hit "Reply" to  
the specific letter in question, and the list software should handle  
things from there. So, for example, I use Opera, which has a built-in  
email client. When I read your message, I just hit a button for "reply"  
and it pulled up your message with the angle brackets already in place.  
Opera knew that I was replying to the mail server of the list, so the  
return address is <christiansource at ofb.biz>.

> As you might have guessed, I'm working through the GUI interfaces only.   
> I am pretty limited on my knowledge of xorg.conf, and other such things.
> For instance, does nVidia even use xorg.conf? or does it have it.s own
> config file?  I have a Compaaq Presario SR2027X with nVidia Graphics
> GeForce 6150LE.  The monitor is an ADVUEU: product number: ADV190WDT

(When asking about editing xorg.conf, you'll generally need to post a copy  
of yours for us to see.)

I've fought with this for years. It seems I often end up with hardware  
which Linux distros don't read well. My Dell monitor was NEVER recognized.  
I tried Mint awhile back on a desktop and it insisted I had to accept  
800x600 and offered no option to fix it without directly editing the  
xorg.conf. When you do, it will still probably ignore your changes until  
you get things just right. That's the Ubuntu way, and Mint is derived from  
Ubuntu. Some distros do it better, and one did it worse (640x480).

The nVidia drivers will solve the problem with the video chipset itself,  
but some monitors don't know how to answer the query the video chips send.  
If you know the full specs of your monitor, you can construct a good  
xorg.conf section and save it for future use. Here's what I found:

Optimum Resolution 1440 x 900
Horizontal Frequency 30 ~ 82kHz
Vertical Frequency 60 ~ 75Hz

I can't find an actual display size, either in inches or in mm. You can  
simply measure that with any standard ruler, etc. Convert inches to mm.  
Let's guess for now it's 428x321. Whatever the actual numbers, the ratio  
has to be 4x3. I'm going to suggest you put this under the portion of the  
file marked Section "Monitor"

------ snip ------
Section "Monitor"
   DisplaySize  428 321
   HorizSync    30-82
   Identifier   "Monitor"    <---whatever your file has
   ModelName    "ADV190WDT"
   Option       "DPMS"
   VendorName   "ADVUEU"
   VertRefresh  60-75
EndSection
------ snip ------

I might warn you this depends on some other entries in your xorg.conf.

-- 
Ed Hurst
------------
Associate Editor, Open for Business: http://ofb.biz/
Applied Bible - http://soulkiln.org/
Kiln of the Soul - http://soulkiln.blogspot.com/