Had to save myself

I decided to take a break from the WPA problems and move onto something that I can fix. I think I'm getting frustrated. So I decided to tackle the display. The display is capable of doing 1280x800 and that's what I want. So I had to do some research.

Found that by using 915resolution I can trick the system into having this available to me. So I download and install without a hitch. I then run

# 915resolution 38 1280 800

and it displays the correct resolutions being available. I get out of X and restart it and I can't select the resolution. I figure it must need to be rebooted, so I put the above line in my /etc/rc.d/rc.local file and reboot.

Still can't get the right resolution. I then find that /etc/X11/xorg.conf controls the available resolutions. So I change this file to include my resolution. I also decide that my depth should go to 32 as well. Well, this is a mistake. I reboot and X starts to come up and fails. Says it's not supported and I need to correct the problem. But the real problem is it won't allow me to log in to correct it.

Luckily I have a SLAX CD and I was able to boot off that to correct my file. It's really cool to be able to do this. I always knew I could do it, but didn't know how. Messing with Linux has made it possible for me to be a better all around tech. Now I should be able to correct just about any issues on the machines.

But back to the current problem. I see there are other xorg.conf files in that directory. For instance, there's one for VESA. Since my machine occasionally says that it's showing VESA, I changes that file. Still nothing. I'm going to have to do more research on how to get the display correct. Hopefully by the time I'm back to school, I'll be up and running just fine.