sábado, 1 de enero de 2011

Video Configuration for My New Monitor

My new computer seems to be too new for Mepis 8.0 to handle. I'll hang in there until Mepis 11 comes out.

One small problem I got had to do with my Samsung SyncMaster B1930 flat monitor. Although Mepis could use it, I kept getting a "Current display settings are not optimal. 1366 x 768 60 Hz is recommended" notice at my login screen.

That led me to a new quest: how to configure my display settings.

The Way of Changing the Display Settings

Once I logged in and was at mepis desktop, I followed this procedure:

1- Pressed Ctrl+Alt+F1 This opens a console login. (The hideous black screen that many other newbies fear so much!)

2. Logged in as root. I achieved this by typing "root" when prompted and then the root password.

3. Got into Runlevel 3 by typing "telinit 3". Wow! This reminds me of my first RPG game: a very old, amateurish game called Dark Ages I: The Continents, by Brothersoft. All I remember of that game was that a drunkard advised the hero "to get 'lefels'." I don't know why I still remember that.
Anyway, This is a short description of the different runlevels (I took it from the Mepis Manual):

0 Halt (power down)
1 Single-user mode: provides a root console without logon. Useful if you lose your root password
2 Multiuser with no network
3 Console logon, no X (i.e. no GUI)
4 Not used/custom
5 Default GUI logon
6 Reboot


As it can be seen, Lefel 3, I mean, runlevel 3 means no graphic elements...like the GOOD OL' TIMES!

4. Reconfigured Xorg. I typed "dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg" Here I got problems because I added extra spaces. Once I realized my mistake and typed the commands correctly, I could go on.

5. Followed the instructions on screen. The system asked me questions about the keyboard and such. I must confess that most of the times I just let the system choose or opted for the choice "if you are unsure, leave the option blank."

6. Booted up my system. I braced myself for a black screen and a kernel panic, but got my login screen much bigger and the "Current display settings are not optimal" notice was gone. It was a total success at the first time! :P

2 comentarios:

  1. Hehehe, congratulations!
    It seems you got more lefels than I do.

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  2. I actually learned that trick in the mepis forum. Another user needed to reconfigure xorg because he had replaced a monitor for an older one that supported only one specific resolution. I figured out that if the trick worked for older monitors, it might as well work for newer ones. Fortunately, it did!

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