January 24th, 2005
Over some time I noticed that I was getting a headache from using Slackware 10. So I decided to do something about it.
This advice comes with no warranty that it’ll actually work without causing you to spontaneously combust, or your monitor to blow up, but it’s along the lines of how I did it. I’m writing this on Windows at the moment, so fill in simple semantics if there are any.
Ok, first off it’s wise to be booting into console mode (the default for Slackware 10) and make sure we are root. Next we navigate to the file we want:
cd /etc/X11
ls
You will see lots of files, now we’ll backup the one we’ll be editing for (mental) security:
cp xorg.conf xorg-backup.conf
Now here comes the good part, we’ll use gtf to make our modes. For me what I wanted was 800 * 600 at 85hz, thus:
gtf 800 600 85
# 800x600 @ 85.00 Hz (GTF) hsync: 53.55 kHz; pclk: 56.55 MHz [snip]
Now we’ll note the horizontal sync out of this (hsync: 53.55kHz) in my case. Ok, so recap, I have my monitor set at 800 * 600 and want it to display at 85hz instead of something ‘low’ like 70hz. If you look at computers on T.V. screens you’ll see them flickering, the more Hz your monitor can display at, the less flickering - and headaches - you’ll get. Right, now we insert this into the xorg.conf file we backed up earlier. Using your favourite text editor navigate to the part as below:
vi xorg.conf
/sync
This should bring you to where you need, else scroll around until you get to the place that looks like this:
HorizSync 53.55
[snip]
# HorizSync 30-64 [snip]
# HorizSync 31.5, 35.2 [snip]
# HorizSync 15-25, 30-50[snip]
[snip]
# NOTE: THE VALUES HERE ARE EXAMPLES ONLY.
# [snip]
VertRefresh 85
i
The ‘i’ changes you into insert mode with vi, edit out the bits shown in bold type to your specifications. Now save it with:
Esc :wq Enter
Escape gets you out of insert mode, then :wq means ‘write then quit’. Now hopefully X will be set at that resolution. Assuming you’re in console mode plug in this command and watch the magic:
startx
If things go downhill from there, then reboot your computer (you did set it to boot into console mode didn’t you?) then restore the backed up xorg.conf file and try again:
cd /etc/X11
rm xorg.conf
mv xorg-backup.conf xorg.conf
Enjoy!
February 12th, 2005 at 8:06 pm
Getting the Graphics card to work is a whole different matter of course. nvidia is the least painful. GUI-wise, Windows is still the quickest, sadly. I always use shift zz to save in vi.
February 13th, 2005 at 9:09 pm
Ok, tomado tomarto.
Actually very good point. Listen folks, use Shift z z to save yourself 3 key pokes.