Time Opens Up, Ubuntu Style

Finally, college is out for the summer and now I have some time on my hands to do the things I really wanted to do. One of those first things that I wanted to do was get rid of Windows on my desktop machine nad replace is with a Linux distrobution. From an earlier post about switching over to Linux, you can see that I was torn about which Linux distro to go with for my first “Linux Experience”.

Yesterday, I chose to switch to Ubuntu, despite getting some people trying to persuade me towards Slackware. I think the main difference in why I went with a GNOME-based environment is because KDE (The environment used in Slackware - along with Kubuntu) felt too much like a Windows-based environment. But don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against Slackware and am in no way comparing it to Windows.

My Decision was based upon two main points:

1. The current and growing popularity of Ubuntu (which means more user-based support)
2. After doing the (what I call) proper research, the learning curve for Ubuntu is less steep than that of Slackware.

Of course, I know that making the transition from Windows to Linux (irregardless of the distrobution) is going to take time, but I think Ubuntu is the right place to start.

Windows. Where to begin. I know the operating system is built for idiots. So I understand why you are making the formating of a hard drive so hard (for those people). But must your software run everything? After running the standard procedure in DOS, the formatting was underway. It was waiting time.

Formatting had completed. Now it was time for the installation of Ubuntu 5.10 Breezy Badger. Not the newest out there, but stable. This is something that I wanted to have since it was my first time administering a Linux system. Installation seemed to go fine.

Once I got into the main Ubuntu login screen, I noticed that it was trying to display at a minute screen resolution of 640×480px. Definitely reminded me of the old days of pre-Windows 95. Time for some more research.

After figuring out the right search terms to use, I came across a nice tutorial on the Ubuntu wiki on how to manually detect the settings of the new monitor. I am using an older LCD, the Compaq 5017m.

After reading the wiki, I entered the following command into the terminal to find the HoizSync and VertRefresh rates:

sudo ddcprobe | grep monitorrange

These two array sets contained the screen rate information that Ubuntu needs to properly set a resolution size to output to your monitor.

For future reference of others using the Ubuntu and the Compaq 5017m which goes un-autodectected, the information is as follows.

Section “Monitor”
Identifier      “COMPAQ 5017″
Option          “DPMS”
HorizSync       30-61
VertRefresh     56-75
EndSection

This information can be entered manually into the xorg.conf file by executing the following command in the terminal and replacing the existing “Monitor” Section with the above code.

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Restart Ubuntu and the login screen should look like its set back to the proper resolution, but after you sue the login information, you’ll see that the changes look only temporary to the login screen.  Now, you will need to go back to the Menubar and click System -> Preferences -> Screen Resolution.

There you should see more screen resolutions and screen refresh rates, and you’re all set to go.

For more detailed instructions, visit the Ubuntu Wiki, and more specifically How to Manually Fix Your Video Resolution on the Ubuntu Wiki.