How to permanently set my second screen's resolution?

Question

For the past few days, I've been trying to match my second screen's resolution to my match my main screen.

Using the following code i got from this website, I was to get it done:

xrandr --newmode "1368x768_60.00"   85.25  1368 1440 1576 1784  768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode DVI-I-1 1368x768_60.00
xrandr --output DVI-I-1 --mode  1368x768_60.00

My problem, now, is when i reboot my computer, the second screen goes back to its old resolution. Then, i learned that i have to add these scripts to this file sudo gedit /etc/modules which i did but still didn't work.

I'm new to ubuntu and i'm really liking it. I can get my second screen set.

TIA!

Or: http://askubuntu.com/questions/609490/running-a-script-at-startup-that-uses-xrandr-to-set-display-options/609499#609499, or: http://askubuntu.com/questions/582752/permanently-set-the-resolution-for-my-second-monitor/582762#582762 — Jacob Vlijm, Sep 07 '15 at 07:51

Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy · Answer 1 · 2015-09-07T08:42:25.893

2

/etc/modules file is for kernel moludes ( aka drivers). It says right at the top of the file. That's not the right place to put custom commands.

Step 1: Take those 3 commands, save in a set-screen.sh somewhere in your home directory. For example, mine would be in /home/serg/bin/set-screen.sh and that's how it would look like:

#!/bin/sh
sleep 15
xrandr --newmode "1368x768_60.00"   85.25  1368 1440 1576 1784  768 771 781 798 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode DVI-I-1 1368x768_60.00
xrandr --output DVI-I-1 --mode  1368x768_60.00

Step 2: do in terminal chmod 755 set-screen.sh.

Step 3: Open the Startup Applications and add full path to your file as one of the startup commands.

Note: alternatively you could add /bin/bash -c "sleep 15 && /home/serg/bin/set-screen.sh" as command to Startup Applications, and remove sleep 15 entry from the script itself

Now every time you log in, those 3 commands will run automatically 15 seconds right after you log in. Note, that these commands won't run until you log in, so the log-in screen will be with the old resolution

edited Sep 07 '15 at 08:42

answered Sep 07 '15 at 07:28

Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy

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Without a small break before the script runs, in many cases the script breaks (due to xrandr commands) or misses its target, especially when using external screens. – Jacob Vlijm Sep 07 '15 at 08:09
@JacobVlijm so . . .should I add sleep 3 to the beginning ? – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Sep 07 '15 at 08:15
I think 3 is too little, I would say somewhere between 15 and 50, depending on the system. or make the xrandr test smart somehow :) – Jacob Vlijm Sep 07 '15 at 08:36
...Or add the sleep to the startup command: `/bin/bash -c "sleep 15 && /home/serg/bin/set-screen.sh" – Jacob Vlijm Sep 07 '15 at 08:41
@JacobVlijm Edited my answer to include the suggestions :) – Sergiy Kolodyazhnyy Sep 07 '15 at 08:44
@BryanGumpic the question was a dupe, but there is nothing against accepting the answer still :) – Jacob Vlijm Sep 07 '15 at 12:37

user447855 · Answer 2 · 2015-09-07T08:52:23.490

Use the xorg.conf

It's the best way to set the resolution for your second monitor:

Login use xrandr to change everything, so that the second monitor has the right resolution and then open a terminal and enter:

sudo Xorg :1 -configure
sudo cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf_bak
sudo cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf

(Do not forget to always backup your config files, if the second command fails because the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf doesn't exists, ignore it.)

See here for more details.

How to permanently set my second screen's resolution?

2 Answers2

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