Starting a journey toward Linux

[vineyridge]

I've downloaded some Live CDs of various flavors of Ubuntu and have one vital question about Kubuntu that will determine if I can use Ubuntu based Linux.

I have an old CRT VGA monitor which I like very much. I like the way it renders color better than the digital monitors. It is 19 in, and it has more than enough screen resolution and refresh rate to satisfy me. As long as it continues to work, it will be my monitor. Besides, I can'f afford to buy a new monitor of equal quality.

The problem that I've faced in Ubuntu is that neither the screen resolution or the refresh rate can be adjusted to anything higher than 1024 x 768 at 60Hz. I cannot live with this. It appears that Ubuntu does not provide any easy way to set resolution on legacy monitors. I'm not a computer expert and have let all my DOS/unix skills lapse after years on Windows. I'm still running XP Pro, SP3 and the Linux migration is based on two factors: Microsoft dropping support, and a world that is increasingly incompatible with XP. I will NOT use Microsoft again and have none of their other products.

I was looking for answers and found a reference to a utility in KDE and GNOME that permits users to make resolution/refresh changes without having to do it manually. Does Kubuntu include that utility?

If it does, I may have found my Linux flavor.

BTW, I'm not a guy and I'm 66 years old and getting older by the minute.

[Snowhog]

Welcome.

Have you actually tried the Kubuntu LiveCD yet? Which version did you get? What graphics card/chip is in your PC?

[vineyridge]

I have the Kubuntu Live CD, but haven't tried it yet.

I'm using the Intel integrated graphics that came on my ASUS P5G41-M LE/CSM motherboard. They are Intel GMA X4500. I have an MSI NVida 620 on order to upgrade the graphics. It has a VGA connection, which is one reason that I chose it.

The Kubuntu that is on my Live CD is the 64 bit 12.10. I'm not a gamer.

[Snowhog]

The first thing to do is to try the LiveCD. That's what's nice about a LiveCD -- you can try it without having to install it. This permits you to find out how it works with your hardware.

[oshunluvr]

Likely the problem you'll face is that old monitor won't "tell" the system it's details - it's called EDID - and old monitors either don't have it or did it poorly. You will have to configure it manually.

The good news is it's not that hard. First, you'll want to learn the command called "xrandr" and how to use it. Start by booting the liveCD and see what results you get. Then post back and describe what results you want.

Someone will walk you through it.

[vineyridge]

Booted to the live CD. Went straight to System settings and then Display and Monitor and got the same 1024x768 at 60 Hz on VGA Monitor 1. That's the highest allowed.

I tried Puppy Linux live CD and it included an Xorg utility that allowed me to select my resolution.

[vineyridge]

So what is the output of

xrandr

I could not find anywhere to input that code except search from desktop and that didn't do anything.

What is the Kubuntu equivalent of MS's run box, and where do I find it?

[Snowhog]

Press Alt+F2 then type: konsole and press the Enter key. This will open a konsole. Then type: xrandr and press enter. Click Edit and Select All to copy the output. You can then paste it in your reply.

[vineyridge]

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA1 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 60.0*
800x600 60.3 56.2
848x480 60.0
640x480 59.9
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

[michel]

Looks to me as if you video card is limited to 1024 x 768. At least under Linux. Your monitor seems to be capable of 8192 x 8192 is that the resolution you where using under XP?

Did you get your new video card? The good news is that the NVida 620 seems to be well supported under Linux and that should help resolve your resolution issue.

Keep us posted.

Separately. Linux has some nice and free graphic programs: Gimp as a Photoshop replacement and Inkscape as an Illustrator replacement. I use Inkscape quite a lot and while you need to get used to it's commands it's a a nice application.

Digikam is a very nice and powerful image processing application. It will do a great job with fixing and bettering picture quality and it's quite easy to use.

You can use TTF fonts under Linux so no problem there and if you still need to work with some Windows software, you can run it from within Linux via Virtual box. it will run faster and be more stable then when you run it nativelly.

Last but not least Linux is rock solid so you can work without having to worry about system reboots and breakdowns.

Michel

[oshunluvr]

The maximum is here:

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA1 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 60.0*
800x600 60.3 56.2
848x480 60.0
640x480 59.9
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

is not a display resolution, rather a screen size limit.

For sure your GPU and monitor will not come anywhere near this number.

A little explanation: "Screen" in Xfree86 or Xorg lingo is not the same as "Monitor."

A Monitor is a piece of hardware and a Screen is a logical display setting. So "Screen0" is created by "Device0" (the video card) and then displayed on "Monitor0." You can have a Screen larger than the Monitor, but then you will have to scroll around to view it all.

The fact the nothing above 1024x768 isn't available as a mode does not mean the GPU or Monitor can't display higher. It just means it's not set up right. Like I said before, old monitors don't do EDID well or at all. This means they are not detected or auto-configured properly. Changing the video card isn't going to change that fact.

Before we go further, we need to know the highest resolution and scan frequency range your monitor will support. If necessary, we can manually create and install the modes you require. You will also need to have a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file to keep everything stable.

Any chance you can get the specs of your monitor off the internet somewhere?

[oshunluvr]

Here's the display limits of the

Mobile Intel® GL40 Express Chipset with integrated 3D graphics, featuring Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator 4500M (Intel® GMA 4500M) with up to 1759 MB of Intel® Dynamic Video Memory Technology 5.0 (64 MB of dedicated video memory, up to 1695 MB of shared system memory), supporting Microsoft DirectX® 10
Dual independent display support
16.7 million colors
External resolution/refresh rate:
2048 x 1536: 75/60 Hz
1920 x 1440: 85/75/60 Hz
1920 x 1200: 75/60 Hz
1920 x 1080: 100/85/75/60 Hz
1680 x 945: 100/85/75/60 Hz
1600 x 1200: 120/100/85/75/60 Hz
1600 x 900: 120/100/85/75/60 Hz
1400 x 1050: 85/75/60 Hz
1366 x 768: 85/75/60 Hz
1280 x 1024: 120/100/85/75/60 Hz
1280 x 960: 85/75/60 Hz
1280 x 768: 85/75/60 Hz
1280 x 720: 100/85/75/60 Hz
1024 x 768: 120/100/85/75/60 Hz
800 x 600: 120/100/85/72/60 Hz
MPEG-2/DVD decoding
WMV9 (VC-1) and H.264 (AVC) decoding

More than likely, your old monitor will be limited to 1280x1024 at 75hz. This was the most popular VGA resolution back-in-the-day. The good news is, it's a nice resolution size - a good compromise between sharp images and readable text.

[oshunluvr]

Here's an example list of xrandr commands that will set your monitor at 1280x1024 @75hz interlaced. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS UNLESS YOU KNOW FOR A FACT THAT YOUR MONITOR WILL DISPLAY THIS RESOLUTION AND FREQUENCY. These commands do no error checking and you can actually damage a display if not. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !

[SIZE=2]xrandr --newmode[/SIZE] "1280x1024" 146.37 1280 1376 1512 1744 1024 1026 1032 1118 -HSync +Vsync interlace[SIZE=2]
xrandr --addmode VGA1 1[SIZE=2]280[/SIZE]x1[SIZE=2]024[/SIZE] 
xrandr --output VGA1 --mode [SIZE=2]1280x1024[/SIZE][/SIZE]

[michel]

You need to go to the start menu -> System -> Konsole. That will launch Konsole. Copy each line and paste it into Konsole and press enter. You have to do this for three lines.

Michel

[jlittle]

More than likely, your old monitor will be limited to 1280x1024 at 75hz. This was the most popular VGA resolution back-in-the-day.

Hmm, better quality monitors would do better than the "most popular", and given that the OP really likes his CRT, maybe it's a good one. I had a "19 inch" Viewsonic Trinitron that did 1600x1200 at a decent refresh rate, 75 Hz IIRC. Marvellous for editing code in small fonts. Bought last century, died only a few years ago.

Regards, John Little