High resolution on openSUSE 10.3 with Intel 915G

The Intel 915G is a chip typically used to give laptops graphics with 3D acceleration, but it is used on cheap desktop computers as well, such as the all-in-one Hp motherboard I built my workstation around.

The problem is that in Suse Linux 10.3, the resolution refuses to be set too high. Whenever one adjust it in Yast, some lower resolution gets put on the screen. Typically 800x600 or 1024x768.

Searching on the net I found recommendations for using the "915resolution" program, but that did not work as advertised, and I really tried for a while, and thereby discovered that Suse actually uses this program when starting X, but failing with it as well.

The solution that actually worked is thanks to Rick Schröder, who recommendend using "xrandr". This worked fine. First I adjusted the resolution to 1600x1200 with accelerated 3D in Yast, and got something lower. Then each time i logged in, I "su"ed to root, and typed:

xrandr --output VGA --mode 1600x1200

After a while I put it in "Xstartup", which resides in "/etc/X11/xdm/". It has to be a little bit before the ending, so the end of my file looks like this:

/usr/bin/xrandr --output VGA --mode 1600x1200
#
# Write utmp, wtmp, and lastlog entries.  Note that the `exec' is required
# to hold an exisiting pid in utmp during xsession.
#
exec ${BINDIR}/sessreg -l $LINE -h $LOCATION -a $USER
$xmessage -timeout 10 -default okay -center "$0: sessreg failed."
exit 1

This gives 1600x1200 resolution after I log in, while the inlogging screen has some lower resolution.

Kim Øyhus, 2007-1-7