Netbooks usually have weird and non-standard resolutions, such as 1024x600. This makes some dialog boxes disappear in the bottom of the screen, and users anxious on how to click the buttons. This explains how to configure X Window to have a bigger resolution than the maximum physical one the screen has. The method, as old as X Window is valid for all GNU/Linux distributions and for all Unix-es that use the Xorg X Window implementation, such as Solaris or OpenBSD.
We are going to log into a text mode terminal. To do this, logout from GNOME/ KDE , this is, get to the login prompt. When the login prompt appears, press Control+Alt+F1 at the same time. You will see a new prompt, this time text-mode. Enter your username and password.
To become root, depending on the distribution, you can use sudo or su to become root. On Ubuntu, which has sudo installed by default, use sudo
$amp; sudo -s (enter your password) #
For more information regarding sudo, see this link
In Debian or any other distribution for which no sudo is installed, you will use su
$amp; su (enter root password) #
Now, shutdown X11 using either
/etc/init.d/gdm stop
or
/etc/init.d/kdm stop
or
/etc/init.d/xdm stop
depending on which display manager you use. Just try them in order. Usually Linux distributions have 6 virtual consoles, and the 7th is used by Xorg. To check that the display manager is not running, press Alt-F7. You should not see the display manager prompt, but a blank screen. Get back to the first virtual console by pressing Alt-F1
We are going to use the most ancient method of configuring X window-related things: editing the Xorg configuration file. Nowadays, Xorg is so plug and play that it have a very lenient configuration file. We need to get a more verbose one to edit. To get it, run:
# Xorg -configure
This will write a file named xorg.conf.new in the current directory. Back up the original /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and put this in place. Then edit it with your favorite editor
# mv /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.default # mv xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf # vi (or whichever editor) /etc/X11/xorg.conf
In the Xorg configuration file look for the lines:
Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Card0" Monitor "Monitor0" SubSection "Display" Viewport 0 0 Depth 1 EndSubSection SubSection "Display" ... ...
Depth means the bits per pixel (color-depth) of each "Display" subsection Most likely in a modern computer (and in all netbooks), 24 bits per pixel is the default used, so we are going to configure that.
In ancient times, each "Display" subsection had a "Modes" lines specifying a list of resolutions the screen was capable to achieve. Nowadays, Xorg just auto-detect the highest resolution and stick to that. We are going to write it. If the resolution in your netbook screen is 1024x600, for example
SubSection "Display" Viewport 0 0 Depth 24 Modes "1024x600" EndSubSection
Now for the "virtual" part. We are going to add a "Virtual" line specifying the number of pixels we want the window manager believe we have. In our case, we say "1024x768" which is the next standard resolution and will suffice for solving our problem (seeing the buttons in the bottom of dialog boxes, remember). Feel free to experiment with higher resolutions if needed
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Virtual 1024 768
Modes "1024x600"
EndSubSection
Restart gdm/kdm/xdm by issuing
# /etc/init.d/gdm start
You will see the well-known welcome screen and login prompt, but this time the bottom will be missing. Log in, and you will see your status bar... is also missing to get there, put the mouse pointer in the bottom of the screen and you will see the screen scrolling up. Now, the top menu bar disappears... you will know how to see it by now :)
Intel 950 cards do not honor the ancient parameter to set virtual resolutions in X11. If you have one of those, you will have to stick to VESA or framebuffer drivers. To make a "vesa" device, search for this:
Section "Device" ... ... Identifier "Card0" Driver "intel" ... ... EndSection
And add this after it
Section "Device" Identifier "Card1" Driver "vesa" EndSection
Go to the "Screen" section and change the "device" so it is "Card1":
Section "Screen" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Card1" Monitor "Monitor0" Defaultdepth 24 ...
Restart X11 and you will get the desired effect, with one big caveat; you will lose hardware acceleration (so no fancy OpenGL graphics). That's the choice.
Pablo Martin