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Nov 11th, 2007
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display resolution under Debian

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I'm new to Linux, so please bear with me. I have a new install of Debian, latest stable release, on an old ALR server running quad 200 MHz Pentium Pros. I only get two choices for screen resolution: 800 X 600 or 640 X 480. How can I get a higher resolution? I may be mistaken, but I think the video card should be capable of higher resolution. Is there a program in Debian comparable to the "Device Manager" in Windows? If so, how do I access it to get the details of my video card?
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Nov 11th, 2007
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Re: display resolution under Debian

Most likely Debian is using a default generic driver, one that only supports 'safe' resolutions like the ones you mentioned above. So, find the manufacturer of your video card, and use Google to find the appropriate drivers to install.
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Nov 12th, 2007
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Re: display resolution under Debian

OK, how about the "Device Manager"? Is there something comparable in Linux, or will I have to shut down and pull the card to find the manufacturer and model?
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Nov 12th, 2007
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Re: display resolution under Debian

Sorry. Open a terminal window and type
lspci
and then hit return. You should get a listing of all your computer's PCI-related hardware.
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Nov 13th, 2007
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Re: display resolution under Debian

Thanks, Joe, thats what I was looking for. If only Windows had such a feature. No, wait, thats why I want to leave Microshaft and switch to Linux!
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Nov 14th, 2007
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Re: display resolution under Debian

The max resolution probably wont be much higher anyway.

I have a compaq proliant (dual p2) and it does 1024x768 at the limited number of colours and 800x600 at the better colour, why is this?
Last edited by jbennet; Nov 14th, 2007 at 9:08 am.
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Nov 15th, 2007
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Re: display resolution under Debian

Well, I found out that my video card is an STB Systems, with a Cirrus chipset, but I can't find any Linux drivers for it. So I dug up an old ATI card I had laying around with a Rage 128 Pro chipset. I can find drivers for it, but now I have to figure out how to change everything over from the STB card to the ATI. As I said earlier, I am new to Linux, so I'll probably ask a lot of really stupid questions for a while yet. Thanks for all the help so far!
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Nov 15th, 2007
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Re: display resolution under Debian

login as root

dpkg --reconfigure xserver-xorg

This will run the graphics card configuration tool.

if the graphics dont work do alt+f2 to get a command line
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Nov 15th, 2007
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Re: display resolution under Debian

I had a similiar problem when I was using debian awhile back. As Jbennet suggested, do dpkg --reconfigure xserver-org and ONLY select the res of our monitor when configuring.
Last edited by Sturm; Nov 15th, 2007 at 8:46 pm.
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Nov 16th, 2007
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Re: display resolution under Debian

Click to Expand / Collapse  Quote originally posted by Sturm ...
I had a similiar problem when I was using debian awhile back. As Jbennet suggested, do dpkg --reconfigure xserver-org and ONLY select the res of our monitor when configuring.
hes putting in a different card now, but it should select the options for that automatically right?
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