Resolution and Color

[Gosha]

hey, im a Linux newbie and i got a question, in windows, to change the color depth or resolution u just right click desk top and go to proporties, how can i do this in Linux? How do i change the default resolution and color depth, i have tried starting X with the command: startx -- -16bpp
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME

[Dexter]

At the console, type Xconfigurator (case sensitive). You'll be able to choose through the dialogues that will appear.

[geekd]

Behold the mysteries of XF86Config !! :-)

on a red hat system it's /etc/X11/XF86Config

Make a backup before you go messing with it. And make sure you aren't booting directly into X. Boot into textmode (runlevel 3) first and then do startx.

Ok, as root, we go now to edit this file.

Way at the bottom, you will see some stuff like this:

# ************************************************** ********************
# Screen sections
# ************************************************** ********************

# The Colour SVGA server


Section "Screen"
Driver "svga"
Device ""
Monitor ""
DefaultColorDepth 16
Subsection "Display"
Depth 8
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 15
Modes "1280x1024" "1152x864" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection
Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0

I hope the line wrap doesn';t mess them up in this post.

Anyway, there will be a few of these, one for each X server you have. You probably want the SVGA server one. I have a Voodoo3 and that;s what I use.

Notice the line I put in :

DefaultColorDepth 16

and where I put it. That will do that bit of magic. Then, in the lines for 16 bit:

Subsection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
ViewPort 0 0
EndSubsection

put the screen resolutions in the order you want. I put "1024x768" first because that's the one I want to go to by default.

Then, after you are in X, you can cycle through these screen resolutions by using <CTRL><ALT><+> or <CTRL><ALT><->

Have fun, and be sure to make a backup before you go messing with XF86Config.

-geekd