MEPIS Community Forum

The LCD monitor is a 15" HP model which has a native screen resolution of 1024x768. When Mepis 11 boots up it autosets the screen res to 1154x864 which generates an error in the monitor causing it to "go to sleep". My reading said to edit xorg.conf. That file doesn't exist. The instructions I found for creating an xorg.conf file didn't work. On boot up, the monitor shuts off before I can access the system settings to reset the monitor resolution but the monitor can be switched off and switched back on, giving me just about exactly enough time to reset the resolution. I've found all sorts of info which applies to Mepis 8.5 but nothing (useful) which applied to Mepis 11. Very frustrating. Open to suggestions. Thanks.

Cheatcodes:

confx res=1024x768

http://www.mepis.org/docs/en/index.php?title=Cheatcodes
You use these at the GRUB boot screen. Just follow the directions. Any questions just post.

I thought that the confx needed to follow. No?

Next time check the Users Manual. A search on "resolution" takes you to a short list of cheatcodes, with a link to the Wiki for the full list.

The order it appears in doesn't matter.

The 'confx' needs to be included on the kernel options line with the res (or xres) cheat for the cheat to take affect.

In examples I've posted on how to use the cheats I usually place the 'confx' after the cheats, but it can appear anywhere on the kernel options line.

Back story:

This is a machine which I fixed up with Kubuntu 10.04 LTS and gave to friends who couldn't otherwise have afforded a computer. A few days ago flash stopped working on the machine and, after a half hour of fruitless troubleshooting, I decided to just upgrade their OS. Kubuntu 12.04 LTS wouldn't boot on the machine (Xubuntu 12.04 booted ok but wouldn't install) so, having had excellent luck in the past with Mepis, I decided to give it a try. Mepis 11 booted up, ran well and installed beautifully with my bench monitor. This problem manifested when I took it back to them.

I was hoping to find a solution which wouldn't require them to do anything. Neither of them is particularly computer literate and, frankly, the thing intimidates them a little. Will grub remember the cheatcode once I've used it or will they be forced to type it in every time they boot up?

Just for the record, I read the manual and while it told me I could specify the resolution at boot up, it didn't tell me how.

You'll need to enter it once at bootup to get the machine usable, then (as root) edit the menu.lst kernel line to include the 'confx' and 'res=1024x768' entries. Once that's done, they will be applied at every bootup.

The cheatcode(s) only need to be used one time, either from the LiveDVD's grub screen or from the grub screen on a harddrive install.

If the cheatcodes worked and you're able to boot to a desktop okay, you don't need to keep using them again and again on subsequent boots.

Some background on the cheats. The Xorg version that M11 (and Debian Squeeze) uses in most cases does not require an /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. So normally an xorg.conf isn't created when booting the M11 LiveDVD, and it isn't modified when booting from a harddrive install. Using 'confx' overrides that behaviour. If a 'confx' is present on the the kernel options line, the mepis-init script calls /usr/sbin/buildxconfig which creates a xorg.conf file using the values passed to it in cheatcodes like 'xres=1024x768', 'xdrvr=radeon', 'xdepth=24', etc.

Do you mean he will not need to edit menu.lst?

I'll be... Learn sumpthin' every day...

Move along, folks. Nothing to see here.

If Mepis 11 is installed to harddrive, at the grubscreen you can add the cheats to the kernel options line {the editable line at the bottom of the screen}. The 'confx' along with the cheats cause a xorg.conf to be created during the boot. The cheats are only good for that boot session but if they worked (or didn't work) the settings will remain in the xorg.conf file for future bootups.

If you're using the LiveDVD, there is no menu.lst. In that case you arrow up or down to the selection you want, press the tab key, and then type in the cheats. An xorg.conf gets created while booting. If the xorg.conf works, you successfully boot to the desktop and run the installer. The xorg.conf is added to the harddrive install.

It doesn't hurt anything to put the cheats in menu.lst but it does mean that a new xorg.conf file will be created on each and every boot. If you've changed/tweaked xorg.conf in any way those changes will be wiped out on the next bootup if the cheats are in menu.lst. A newbie/beginner might not be changing or customizing xorg.conf, so that might not be an issue. I don't like having the cheats in menu.lst because there's been times I forgot that they were there.