I have a Hi_Grade VA250D which has a native screen resolution of 1280x800 (WXGA TFT).
When I ran the live Ubuntu Mate for the first time it worked at 1280x800 but after installing it only boots up in 640x480. How can I get it to run at its native 1280x800 resolution permanently? I believe it can be set in the xorg config file but I do not know how to do this.
Hi rwickenden,
Have you tried setting the display for your laptop screen in the Control Center app called “Displays”? This should open “Monitor Preferences” where you should be able to set your screen resolution.
I’m typing this reply on an old laptop running at 1280x800 running Ubuntu MATE 17.10. I guess that is the other question I have for you. Which version of Ubuntu MATE are you running. I know there have been improvements to the display functions with each release of UM, so 17.10 might work better for you than an earlier version.
Hi mowestusa
Thanks for answering so quickly. I should have said that I had tried Displays and only had the 640x480 option offered. I am using Ubuntu Mate LTS 32bit (16.04.3) and have tried other distros with no success. If I use partitionmagic live it definitely supports 1280x800 and on the initial boot of Ubuntu Mate live it worked at 1024x768 which is useable but 640x480 is too low for general use.
Regards Richard Wickenden
rwickenden,
I’m just getting back into Linux after a 6 year break. I used to edit my xorg config files all the time, but I have not done it in years. There used to be a debian config program you could run to assist you in editing the config file so it finds most of the proper settings on its own, but I don’t remember the CLI foo to get that done. Hopefully, someone else can chime in.
If you are willing I would like you to try Ubuntu MATE 17.10 to see if you have issues. For not being an LTS release it is rock solid and there are big improvements. Also we are only a few months away from the new LTS 18.04 so it would be an easy upgrade from 17.10 to 18.04 when it comes out. Another distro that is known to have some positives for older hardware is antiX which is Debian based so similar to the Ubuntu family, but I’m hopeful that 17.10 fixes your issues.
Hi @rwickenden, I suggest a few things.
First, in a terminal run inxi -G and post the info here. Maybe someone can help. It’s often helpful to use this info in a web search, too.
Second, there’s an “Additional Drivers” in the Control Center. Does it find any graphics drivers? I don’t suggest installing just yet, it’s not 100% safe, what do you see there involving graphics?
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