Resolution Issues Kubuntu Gutsy 32 bit Thinkpad T61P

[Kelly L. Fulks]

Doug Stryjew wrote:
> Usually when you hear of resolution issues/problems you might think of
> typical problems. (ex.. I just installed and my pc/laptop won't use the
> proper resolution.) This is not the case here. First let me tell everyone my
> specs.
> 
> Video Card: nVidia Corporation Quadro FX 570M
> 
> Driver: nvidia driver, downloaded from restricted driver manager
> 
> Machine: Thinkpad T61p
> 
> Laptop Screen: 15.4" Wide Screen WUXGA (1920x1200)
> 
> Secondary Monitor: SCEPTRE WX24 (1920x1200)
> 
> OS: 32 bit Gutsy Kubuntu
> 
> All of my repositories are updated.
> 
> I'll keep this part simple as it doesn't play a huge role in this problem.
> 
> It is well documented that the T61P will not boot right off the start to a
> working X.
> 
> Before you log in you have to go into recovery mode and change the xorg.conf.
> By default it gives you the "nv" driver which simply will not work with this
> particular video card. According to many guides, including thinkwiki's you
> have to change the driver to "vesa" in order to get X to start. I log in and
> everything is very tiny just like I wanted (And expected using such a high
> resolution) Once I do that I update my repositories and once that is
> complete I install the restricted "nvidia" driver. I check my xorg.conf to
> verify the driver my card is using is "nvidia".
> 
> I run glxinfo |grep ren
> 
> And I have rendering.
> 
> Here is my problem. When I power on I am prompted with a login screen like
> usual. The second I enter my user credentials it's like everything just gets
> a little bit bigger. A big notification is my mouse icon, it will be very
> tiny but when I login the mouse gets a little bit bigger. When I open up a
> terminal I do not expect it to take up over 1/4 of the screen. I know I can
> change the font size of konsole as well as the whole scale of the window.
> But it should not be this big. It should be very small. The monitor I have
> plugged into the Thinkpad makes the applications look even bigger. The weird
> part is both of these screens are displaying the proper resolution. I have
> worked with xorg.conf resolution problems a lot. I know when the screen
> isn't displaying the right resolution. But even though the resolution is set
> correctly, everything appears to be big. Not streched out, using the wrong
> resolution big, but wow these windows very large. I have searched my butt
> off trying to find an answer and asked everyone I know who uses kubuntu with
> the nvidia driver (Which is a lot) and nobody seems to be able to offer any
> help. I realize the problem and the description doesn't make much sense and
> that is why it's hard to answer something you don't understand. But if I had
> to boil it down to a very short description I would say this.
> 
> While my resolution is correct, everything seems to be rather large. At the
> login screen everything looks very nice and small. But the second I enter my
> password and login it's like the screen magnifies. I haven't found any
> options in my nvidia-settings or kde window settings that described the
> option I want to change. Which is to make everything not so big.
> 
> So yes, this sounds very strange and most people I talk to would put money
> the resolution is not setup correctly or something is just wrong with my
> xorg.conf. It however is not. I know what a monitor running the wrong
> resolution looks like and I am very familiar with this. There just doesn't
> seem to be any documentation on my problem. I was told to subscribe to a
> mailing list and ask all of you.
> 
> Any ideas?
> 
> dok
> 
> 

Two things come to mind that are related to the same thing actually.  A
user can change the resolution, so maybe at some time you did this?  I
doubt it, but just a sanity check.  The second is that there is not
enough video memory to support both screens at 1920x1200 resolution.  To
compensate the system is backing the resolution down.  KDE doesn't
really see the second head until you login (depending upon your exact
dual head configuration).

In either case, you should verify your resolution.  You can extract this
from the /var/log/Xorg.log.0 file (grep for "Virtual screen") or you can
run xwininfo from that terminal window and then click on the wallpaper
(root window), and look at the Width, Height, and Depth (bits per pixel)
entries.

You can see lots of interesting information in the Xorg.log.0 file when
you get into it.  It is useful for more than just determining why X
isn't running.  As you look through this file, you may very well see
message that tells you exactly why the system has backed off some setting.





-- 
Kelly L. Fulks
Home Account
near Huntsville, AL