Adventures in a New Ubuntu 6.10 Clean Install – Day 2, Part 1

Day 2, Part 1

Configuring Display Settings and Resolution

The first thing I had to do once I got to my Ubuntu desktop (after login, of course!) was to reconfigure my display settings. The maximum resolution allowed was 1024×768 with a refresh rate of 60Hz. My default is usually 1280×1024 @ 75Hz. So my screen was too small and flickered at such a low refresh rate.

To fix this screen resolution issue, I did a sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg.

I also had to Google my monitor’s specs so I can correctly tell the xserver what my horizontal and vertical frequency ranges are. When I ran that command in terminal and followed the steps, I noticed that Ubuntu had set my X Server Driver to “vesa” for some reason. I changed that to ATI, my video card manufacturer. I continued with the other steps and mostly hit Enter throughout unless I knew what to change. I got to the frequency range and inputted the correct numbers.

After finishing the reconfiguration of my display settings, I did a CTRL+BACKSPACE to restart the xserver and make the settings go into effect.

My display was finally normal again.

How to Kill Your Ubuntu: Impatience!

Okay.

I was impatient.

I killed my Ubuntu system.

How?

Despite what I said in a previous post, despite all the warnings, I was anxious and impatient and I went and installed the Release Candidate of Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy last night. I couldn’t wait 5 days for the final release. Stupid me.

Now I can’t load X and my cordless keyboard from my keyboard/mouse combo is not working in CLI (command line interface). It’s rendered useless (without a degree in Linux-ism! <grin>). Although I haven’t really looked into it… I don’t know if I really want to. There were a lot of errors during the upgrade so, I don’t want to spend the rest of 2006 fixing it! I wish I could just type in: $ sudo fix-it –now

Of course, in my impatience, I didn’t really back up anything. Now I have to figure out how to access my Linux partition (either from Windows XP or a Live CD) and copy what I want to keep to my Data partition (FAT32).

There’s not much to backup. I’d like to keep my Thunderbird emails and settings, though… oh, and possibly my Amarok settings and data. There’s some music, pictures, and videos I’d also like to move. As for other Ubuntu-specific configs or software, that’s not really important.

BUT, there is a couple positive things to this (believe it or not)…

First, my Ubuntu is my first-time Ubuntu installation and has been installed since April (I think?). Since then, there’s been a lot of tinkering, customizing, testing, updating, re-tinkering, etc, that my system has gained a lot of peculiarities and issues that I can’t get rid of… like my issue with transparent panels killing my x-server and crashing Ubuntu. Re-doing my system will allow me to start over from scratch with a brand new system. I know my way around it now and I know what I want, what I don’t need to try, and what not to do (like install a RC on top of a highly tinkered system — shut up, I know now!).

Second, with a new Ubuntu version from scratch, it will give me more material to write for my blog! I plan on documenting most of my experiences, issues, and reviews. Hopefully, it will help the newbies experiencing fear, uncertainty, and doubt about using Linux.

Wish me luck!

Ubuntu Crashes on Start and Returns to the Login Screen

While customizing my Ubuntu Desktop, I installed Murrine by following this thread on Ubuntu Forums.

I spent quite some time customizing my desktop’s look and feel after this installation. Once all was said and done, it was late, so I logged out and went to bed.

The next day, I could no longer log into my Gnome Desktop. It would start loading, my gDesklets would load, the panels would start loading, and all of a sudden,

GDM (Login Screen) Resolution Too Big to Fit Screen? Try this…

For the longest time after installing KDE in Ubuntu, my login screen became too big to fit my screen. The resolution was permanently set to 1600×1200. I tried everything to change it back to 1280×1024 and nothing worked. I searched the Ubuntu Forums, Googled my head off, and eventually gave up.

Today, I decided to try again with different keywords and found the solution on the Ubuntu Forums.

Edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf …and remove all 1600×1200 references (or the offending resolution) under the Section “Screen”. Perfect!

UPDATE (2008.01.29): Only remove all the offending resolutions if you do not plan on ever using them. I removed them all because I never change resolutions. And as Anne suggests in the comments below, changing your “Virtual” line to the correct resolution may also fix your problem. I say “may” because this had no effect in Ubuntu 7.10. It should work in Ubuntu 6.04 and 6.10. Anne suggests:

Choose the resolution you want for the login (say, 1280 x 1024)
edit your xorg.conf file.

In the Section “Screen”, SubSection “Display”, you have two entries:
Modes and Virtual.

For the login, X will default to the first resolution defined in the “mode” entry. Thus, you must select the resolution you want (say, “1280×1024@60″) and move it at the first position.

Next, the “Virtual” entry is used to have a larger desktop resolution than screen resolution (you can reach the zones “outside the screen” by moving your mouser pointer to the edges). Your Virtual section should have the same size you want for the login resolution (say 1280 1024).

Thank you Ubuntu Forum Users!

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