xrandr output where?

This is what xrandr -q shows me:

Screen 0: minimum 640 x 480, current 800 x 600, maximum 800 x 600
default connected 800x600+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   800x600 61.0*
   640x480 60.0
  1024x768_75.00 (0x104) 82.0MHz
        h: width 1024 start 1088 end 1192 total 1360 skew 0 clock 60.3KHz
        v: height 768 start 771 end 775 total 805 clock 74.9Hz

I put this line in my /etc/gdm/init/Default:

xrandr --newmode "1024x768_75.00"
                  82.00 1024 1088 1192 1360 768 771 775 805 -hsync +vsync

Based on my xrandr -q output from above, it worked.

I don't understand addmode. I don't understand why I don't see a VGA or LVDS to use as the output in the addmode command.

xrandr --addmode "1024x768_75.00"

why not just use display in system -> preferences

If you are using nvidia or ati there are nice gui app to configure the video display

I would like to use the display settings from preferences but it only shows 600x400 @60hz.

My monitor does 1024x768 @ 75 hz, but it does not show up in the settings window.

I tried installing on a more modern monitor and that was even worse, a blank screen.

Maybe my machine is too new. i860 cpu, 5770 graphics, 4gigs of ram, plenty of disk space.

I am surprised Ubuntu 9.04 is not able to install on this system.
I am throwing in the towel for now, and see if Fedora 12 is any better. I am not a newbie, been using Ubunto 8.04 for 2+ years. Very dissappointed.

I am going to hit "Problem Solved" here because the don't have a "Giving Up" button.

By 5770 I am guessing you mean an ATi 5770 (please use FULL descriptions in future. This will help:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI

Yes, Asus ATI 5770.

I did manage to get the fglrx drivers to work. Sort of. In the lower right hand corner of the display a translucent square appeared saying the hardware is unsupported.

Why the install process didn't alert me to this or why Ubuntu suggested these drivers to me is beyond me.

I understand the Linux/X graphics stack is undergoing improvements at the moment. This is early days. This new stuff is just not ready for prime-time.

In order to track these problems down I would have to start with the Linux kernel mode setting feature, move to the X server and all of its components and finally the drivers, either proprietary of open source.

That is too big a project for me at this time. I am going to see if Fedora 12 has configured this stuff a little bit better than Ubuntu.

Installed Fedora 12. Things went much better. The screen came up in 1024x768. The Display Preferences window is showing 0hz for a refresh rate, so there are some bugs along the way.

Here is a good spot to start working through some of these Xorg problems:
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Xorg/Debugging

When the kernel and Xorg folks get all this stuff ironed out in the next few months things will be much better and will provide a basis for much improved graphics on Linux in the future.