Dell 1100 Laptop Vid Resolution Problems??

[ken0069]

Hello all. This is my first post here but I've been a regular Ubuntu user now since I loaded v9.04 a few years back. Got tired of having to make Ubuntu NOT look like a Mac so I downloaded Kubuntu back a month or so ago and I liked what I saw on the one mule box desk top I installed it on.

Which brings me to my current problem. I've got an old Dell 1100 laptop I use for various stuff and today I decided to install Kubuntu 11.10 on it. After it finished I have a problem with screen resolution that is stuck at 640x480 with no apparent way to fix it? I did a search here but none of that stuff is current, ie, dates back to 2007?

So can someone tell me how to change the resolution to 1024x480 so I can see WTF I'm doing?

Thanks,

Ken

[vinnywright]

it would help to know what GPU the box has ..... lspci will tell.

+ check ... kickoff>applications>system>additional drivers and see if it offers you anything

VINNY

[ken0069]

Vinny thanks for your reply.

Oh, the resolution I need is 1024x768....my bad but you know what I meant.

Not sure what you mean by GPU? it's got a 2GHz Celeron processor and I think it's got intel 845 video. Also don't know what lspci is?

So guess I need to clarify where I am. I'm a Windowz guy but use Ubuntu for secure work online so it's more of a tool for me than anything else. I have a racing forum that got hacked a few years back from a key logger and since then I've been paranoid about anything I do that needs to be secure. I'm also NOT a command line guy. The extent of my command line experience is format C: and that's about it.

So answers you give me or things to try need to be geared for the novice.

Will try the kickoff etc tomorrow if I can figure out what you are talking about. ;-) That and with the resolution the way it is, that thing is acting all funky any time I try to do anything with it.

[SteveRiley]

Hi, Ken, welcome to KFN. Some items of note.

Security
About modern operating systems, claims that one is more intrinsically secure than another are no longer true. Properly-managed Windows machines can be kept free of malware and are perfectly safe for all kinds of online work. Equally true is that an unmaintained Linux computer will eventually get attacked. Getting and staying secure is much more about practicing safe computing habits.

Hardware
A Google search for "Dell 1100" results in many things -- most often, some kind of printer. For us to help you, we need to know as much about your PC as you can tell us. The problem you're experiencing likely involves video drivers, but it could be other things.

Learning Linux
I'll be honest here: a certain amount of time investment is required. Not every method for doing something in Windows has an equivalent method in Linux. One thing you'll realize quickly is that gaining some basic command-line skills will be immensely helpful and improve your overall experience.

The lspci command enumerates devices attached to your computer's PCI bus. Graphics adapters are attached to the PCI bus, so the output of lspci will show us the beginnings of what we need to know so that we can help you.

Kickoff is KDE's application launcher -- the menu that appears when you click the blue square "K" button in the lower left corner of your desktop (technically, it's a widget in the panel, but you'll learn the jargon soon enough). Following the path Vinny mentioned will lead you to a utility that detects and installs drivers not normally included in Kubuntu -- usually propietary drivers for certain graphics cards, sound cards, and wireless adapters.

Do stick around the forum, we're a friendly lot. Ask questions, but also try to make some time to do a little research. Google is your friend!

[ken0069]

UPDATE: Simple fix I got from the regular Ubuntu forum so I thought I'd post it here in case someone else runs into this problem. And BTW, I've installed and re-installed probably a dozen times since this original post. This problem also happens with Linux Mint, Suse, Mepis, Fedora and Ubuntu.

Since this is basically a Grub problem, I needed to install "Startup Manager" but was rather difficult to do with the video screwed like it was. So I booted while holding the "Shift" key down and chose the standard startup from the Grub menu and let it boot. Then I went to "kickoff" > "applications" > "system" > "package manager", then typed "startup manager" in the search box and installed it. Afterwards you can go into "startup manager" in "system" and change the video resolution to 1024x768 with 24bit color. And make sure you change it in BOTH places! Once that is done, then you can reboot and the desktop will be "normal".

Now I have a possible issue with a Linksys WPC300N wireless adapter but I'll start another thread for that.