[ale] help forcing Ubuntu NOT to scramble my screen resolution

[Ron Frazier]

John,

Thanks for the note. Right now, I have the laptop sitting off to the 
side of the desktop monitor. I have the KVM keyboard and mouse port 
attached but not the video just for this reason. I'm afraid I may need a 
visit to my chiropractor to fix my neck if I do this too long. I'll keep 
that 'root' thing in mind if I have to use it. I think root is disabled 
on my system, as I always use sudo for root commands.

Sincerely,

Ron

On 01/27/2011 09:01 AM, John Mills wrote:
> Good question - I had a similar, slightly less troublesome problem with
> ubuntu-9.x and never really resolved it.
>
> My Samsung LCD monitor was quite sharp at its maximum resolution, but
> lower resolutions had nasty blur and aspect distortion - terrible to stare
> at all day! Each time the system was rebooted my regular screen dropped
> into a bad resolution and the higher, crisp setting was not available in
> the configuration. If I logged on as 'root' I had the full range of
> settings and could choose the top resolution. After that, an ordinary
> login also got the higher resolution screen.
>
> An old 2-port, PS-2 KVM passed its signals through a maze of adapters to
> handle old and newer boxes, and was by-passed by one of the displays in
> favor of the monitor's input selector. This setup was probably part of the
> issue but it was the only way I ever found to get all the controls to
> function for both units.
>
> Mercifully this didn't happen each time I switched between displays, but
> at one point it happened each time I logged in. I developed the habit of
> using screen-lock instead of logging out.
>
> Now that computer is someone else's problem.&8-)X
>
>    - Mills
>
> On Thu, 27 Jan 2011, Ron Frazier wrote:
>
>    
>> I have an interesting situation that I need help with.  I am running
>> Ubuntu 10.04.  I have a laptop with a screen resolution of 1280 x 800.
>> I have a desktop monitor with a max resolution of 1280 x 1024.  So,
>> coincidentally, the horizontal resolution of the monitor is the same as
>> the laptop.  I have an Iogear KVM switch that I use to switch the
>> desktop monitor from my desktop computer to my laptop.
>>      
>    
>> In Windows, when I connect the laptop to the KVM and switch to the
>> desktop monitor, I am still able to output a 1200 x 800 image, and
>> maintain aspect ratio, on the desktop monitor.  Therefore, the desktop
>> monitor displays a replica of the laptop image, with black bars at the
>> top and bottom.
>>      
>    
>> However, when I'm running Ubuntu, and I connect the laptop to the KVM
>> and switch over to the desktop monitor, Ubuntu decides that the maximum
>> resolution is now 1024 x 768 instead of 1200 x 800.  It resizes my
>> windows and scrambles my icons, which drives me insane.  So, how do I
>> force Ubuntu to output 1280 x 800, regardless of what it THINKS the
>> monitor is capable of.
>>      
>    
>> Any help is greatly appreciated.
>>      
>    
>> Sincerely,
>>      
>    
>> Ron
>>      
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>    

-- 

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Ron Frazier

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