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I have an old laptop (Esprimo Mobile). I am new to Ubuntu. I ran xrandr -q and the only option available is 640 x 480

$ xrandr -q 
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default 
Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 640 x 480, maximum 640 x 480 default connected primary 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm 
640x480 73.00* 
1240x800_60.00 (0x288) 80.750MHz -HSync +VSync
 h: width 1240 start 1304 end 1432 total 1624 skew 0 clock 49.72KHz 
v: height 800 start 803 end 813 total 831 clock 59.84Hz –

This makes my windows on screen way too big. How can I fix them?

EDIT: Since posting I have managed to create a new screen resolution option. When I applied the 1240 x 800 resolution it made things worse, all the windows became even wider and the top bar stretched out so I couldn't see the far right corner. I switched back from the 1240x800 (3:2) to the 640 x 480 but i am back where I started. What do I need to change?

pa4080
  • 29,831
David Mansell
  • 11

1 Answers1

3

Please note the following approach shall work within Ubuntu on Xorg. For Ubuntu on Wayland you could try this approach: Wayland how to set a custom resolution.

I did a little research and I think the native resolution of Esprimo Mobile V5335 is 1280x800. I think the refresh rate should be 59 or 60 Hz, but maybe I'm wrong.

About the refresh rate in man cvt is written:

refresh - Provide a vertical refresh rate in Hz.   
          The CVT standard prefers either 50.0, 60.0, 75.0 or 85.0Hz.   
          The default is 60.0Hz.

How to calculate, generate and set new mode using cvt and xrandr

  • In the examples below I use resolution 1280x800@60Hz.

1. Use the command cvt to calculate the new modeline:

$ cvt 1280 800 60

# 1280x800 59.81 Hz (CVT 1.02MA) hsync: 49.70 kHz; pclk: 83.50 MHz
Modeline "1280x800_60.00"   83.50  1280 1352 1480 1680  800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync

2. Use xrandr to create the new mode:

xrandr --newmode "1280x800_60.00"   83.50  1280 1352 1480 1680  800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync
  • Please note "1280x800_60.00" is the name of the mode. If you wish you could change it as desired, for example "1280x800_custom_1".

3. Use xrandr to find your output name. Just execute xrandr without any arguments. The output name should be VGA1, DP1, HDMI1, HDMI-1, LVDS1, LVDS-1, etc. For our example, let's assume the output name is LVDS-1.

4. Use xrandr to add the new mode to the list of modes of your output:

xrandr --addmode LVDS-1 1280x800_60.00

5. Activate the new mode:

xrandr --output LVDS-1 --mode 1280x800_60.00
  • In the worst case, if the screen image disappears, just power off and power on the computer.

6. When you find the right mode, you can make the changes permanent with one of the methods described here: Adding newmode with Xrandr - "800x480_60.00".

pa4080
  • 29,831