HOWTO : Screen resolution on Ubuntu 9.10

When your display cannot report the correct EDID (Extended Display Identification Data), your X will not work properly. Usually, it will display 800x600 resolution or lower although your display is 1024x768 or higher.

Step 0 :
sudo service gdm stop
sudo Xorg -configure
sudo service gdm start

Step 1 :
If your monitor is 1024x768 at 60Hz, you can go to the following site and calculate the modeline.

Calculator for video timings

Select standard "1024x768@60Hz" mode and press the Calculate button.

The modeline will be as the followings :

Modeline "1024x768" 65 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 -hsync -vsync

Copy and paste the captioned "modeline" to "Monitor Section" of ~/xorg.conf.new.

Step 2 :
sudo cp xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Step 3 :
Go to "System" - "preference" - "Display"

Choose "Yes" and select the desired resolution then save.

Step 4 :
Reboot your system or restart X.

If you are using nVidia display card, you need to do the following.

Step a :
Install the nVidia driver from "System" - "Administration" - "Hardware driver".

Reboot your system.

Step b :
sudo nvidia-xconfig

Step c :
gksudo nvidia-settings

Select the desired resolution and save to the configuration file.

Step d :
Go to "System" - "preference" - "Display"

Choose "No" and select the desired resolution then save.

Step e :
Reboot your system or logout and login again.

That's all. See you!