screen resolution

If you like to change the screen resolution, try the following:

1: Copy the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf to /etc/X11/xorg.conf.bak
2: In a Terminal enter sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
3: Have a look at the screen section (the sub section is important)

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Device "nVidia Corporation NV5M64 [RIVA TNT2 Model 64/Model 64 Pro]"
 Monitor "Generic Monitor"
 DefaultDepth 24
        SubSection "Display"
                   Modes "1280x800"
        EndSubSection
EndSection

4: Save the file
5: Restart the system

Hope it helps.
Peter

I am not confident that this answers my question what follows is my xorg.conf file.
I am perhaps remembering something incorrectly but I seem to recall that editing this file with the latest changes in the auto detection would be a problem. Is it your advice to copy the structure of your code replacing the monitor information with the pertinent info? if so what is DefaultDepth.
furthermore shouldn't there be a place to include the Mhz or sync.
"1920*1080" "80 MHz" and the * should be x.

# xorg.conf (X.Org X Window System server configuration file)
#
# This file was generated by dexconf, the Debian X Configuration tool, using
# values from the debconf database.
#
# Edit this file with caution, and see the xorg.conf manual page.
# (Type "man xorg.conf" at the shell prompt.)
#
# This file is automatically updated on xserver-xorg package upgrades *only*
# if it has not been modified since the last upgrade of the xserver-xorg
# package.
#
# If you have edited this file but would like it to be automatically updated
# again, run the following command:
# sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

# commented out by update-manager, HAL is now used
#Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
# Driver "kbd"
# Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
# Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
# Option "XkbLayout" "us"
#EndSection

# commented out by update-manager, HAL is now used
#Section "InputDevice"
# Identifier "Configured Mouse"
# Driver "mouse"
# Option "CorePointer"
#EndSection

Section "Device"
 Identifier "Configured Video Device"
 Driver "vesa"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
 Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
 Identifier "Default Screen"
 Monitor "Configured Monitor"
 Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
 Identifier "Default Layout"
 Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection

after making a first attempt at understanding the man page for xorg.conf I am concerned that there must be a reference between the device, monitor and screen sections. perhaps the same name.

 "Configured Monitor" seems to implie that another script is being used somewhere else.
I do not want to create interference between interlocking scripts or drop the connection between them.

I have the complete description of the monitor which may not correspond with the actual.
when the monitor was first on it was requesting 80 Hz but the manual says 60Hz.

display color is 16.7 M. Is this the same as DefaultDepth 16?
I would like to see a complete and connected conf file with a fully populated mode section just so i can be a bit more confident of syntax.

Thanks for your time Peter.

I am still wondering about Xrandr

thanks for the information I might not have seen the information in the web page cruncher posted.
I am not having a problem now.
I did a fresh install of 8.1 from a linux identity pack.
previously I had upgraded over the Internet from hardy.

if others are interested in a general recollection from me regarding what happened...

reconfigure did not work at any point as the driver for ati radeon 9000 did not install during the attempted recovery at the command line.
Xrandr did not help as i was unable to either follow the man/help or Xrandr did not do what I thought it might.
I could not understand what to do with the xorg.conf.
there was no option to select or change from 4:3->16:9 as the monitor was not detected.