screen resolution ubuntu 8.04-9.04 and 9.10 alpha 1-6 and beta

[David Curtis]

On Sun, 4 Oct 2009 02:45:13 +0200
Henning Nymark Melgaard <nymark1 at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello
> I have been testing Ubuntu 9.10 on my pc with an Integrated Intel
> Graphics card (865G). I have experienced some problems with the
> screen resolution wich I have reported as a bug at
> http://launchpad.net  (bug 408588). In this process I became aware of
> something strange: The newer version of Ubuntu I use, the lower my
> screen resolution gets:
> 
> Ubuntu 8.04- max screen resolution : 1280x800
> ubuntu 8.10- max screen resolution  : 1152x864
> ubuntu 9.04- max screen resolution  : 1152x864
> ubuntu 9.10- max screen resolution  :   800x600
> 
> For an operating system that is constantly seeking to develop in
> order to be able to compete with MacOs and Microsoft Windows, this is
> a bit of a riddle to me...If it worked well with older versions, why
> does it suddenly perform so poorly?

Ubuntu has little to no control over Intel Xorg support. But it
does seem like there are individuals interested in your bug report. If
it cannot be solved in Ubuntu launchpad perhaps go upstream. [0] 
> 
> Or is this simply a matter of priority? Is my graphics card to old for
> Ubuntu to be bothered with it?

See above.

> Is this some kind of "Ubuntu policy", that older hardware is not
> going to be supported. If it is that would be nice to know.

According to Intel's website Intel 865G is supported. [1]

> For how many years will Ubuntu support your hardware? How often will
> you have to go and buy a new pc, to keep using Ubuntu?

In the open source community there are many parties that
provide/develop support for common hardware like Intel products. In
this case Intel themselves provide/commission the support included in
an Xorg (Ubuntu/Linux's graphical system) install. 

> Or is this a kernel problem? Have the maintainers of the Linux Kernel
> decided, that hardware like mine is to old to keep supporting?

Like the Ubuntu project, the kernel project has nothing to do with
graphic device support included in the Xorg project. As for hardware
supported in the kernel it is very rare that support for old hardware
is removed, as the size of the kernel is not affected by its inclusion.

> If this is a result of decisions and priority, this should be
> published for the users to know.

See above.
 
> Or is this just a matter of coincidence, mistake, bugs?

More of a timeline issue. The decision by Ubuntu and recently Debian [2]
to abide by release deadlines attempts to improve this. The release of
Jaunty without the latest Intel video support was well documented [3]. 
 
> I have been looking everywhere I could think of to find an answer -
> and still I just don´t know.

I think you have a configuration issue, please see: [4],[5],[6].

> Advocating Linux to my friends and family - stubborn Windows
> users :-) - is a bit difficult when the performance of a Linux os
> suddenly deterioates this way.

See above and below. Also the kids are now calling windows users
'wintards'. ;)

HTH, Dave

[0] http://intellinuxgraphics.org/feedback.html
[1] http://www.intellinuxgraphics.org/documentation.html
[2] http://www.debian.org/News/2009/20090729
[3]http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/904#Other%20known%20issues
[4] http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=801404
[5] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Troubleshooting/IntelPerformance
[6] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/X/Config/Resolution