# Framebuffer & Monitor Readjusting

## Brendenm

I'm getting everything setup on my laptop (C840) and so far it's going great.

My main annoyance right now is when I switch between windows and linux docking station I have to 'Auto Adjust' the screen, other wise in linux part of it is hidden on the left or in windows part is off to the right.

Specs:

Dell C840

nvidia graphics card using vesa-tng framebuffer

Dell 1900FP running at 1280x1024@60 according to it's on screen display

Any ideas?

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## simon_irl

either use a display mode that's identical in every respect (refresh rate, colour depth etc.) in which case the monitor settings (horizontal adjustment etc.) should work for both, *or* use a different resolution (i.e. set up windows at 1024x768 or 1600x1200 or something) so that the monitor settings can be different without causing you any problems.

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## Brendenm

I'm running 1280x1024 32bit @ 60Hz in Windows.

My grub.conf line is 

```
video=vesafb:mtrr:4,ywrap,nocrtc,1280x1024-16@60
```

  I've tried @75 but still no go.  How would I go about find exactly what Windows is running my display at?[/code]

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## simon_irl

well, i guess you could try dropping your windows colour depth down to 16-bits, so it matches your X settings.

[EDIT] whoops...just noticed you weren't giving me your X settings...that's your grub framebuffer settings...so i'm assuming you're working in a framebuffer console, or else you have xorg.conf set up for the same mode.

from memory, you adjust windows display settings by right-clicking on the desktop and poking around in "properties" or "settings" or something similar. it's not hard to find.

even using an identical mode may not fix your problem if the graphics card chipsets are different. my girlfriend had a similar problem when she was required to use a windows box for a computing course she was taking. we set up a kvm switch so the two boxes were hooked up to the one monitor, but the timings for the adapter in the windows box were different from the one in the linux box, so using the same resolution meant that the monitor could either store the correct position settings for one, or the other, but not both simultaneously. we just dropped the windows desktop down to 1024x768 and the problem was solved.

i appreciate the fact that 1024x768 is pretty chunky and if you're actually using windows for more than a few minutes at a time, this resolution may be too low. if 1600x1200 is too high, maybe one or both of your cards will support an unusual resolution that's closer to 1280x1024 (e.g. 1440x1050) and you can set it to that. otherwise, if you must use the same resolution with different cards on the same monitor, you may just have to live with adjusting the monitor each time you switch.

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## Brendenm

This is on the same computer, no KVM, it is dual booting Windows XP \ Gentoo.

The Xorg settings match the framebuffer ones, no adjustment needed when I switch between those two.

The adjustment is only needed when I boot between Windows and Gentoo.

I tried changing my color depth in Windows to 16bit and it didn't cause me to have to readjust my flat panel inside of windows so I'm guessing it won't make much of a difference between it and Gentoo.  I'll try when I get a chance to reboot, right now however I'm sort of stuck.

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## simon_irl

that's weird. my first linux install was a dual-boot windows/linux setup with an nvidia card, and there was never any need to fiddle with the monitor so long as the display modes were identical.

re the 60Hz cap on vesa framebuffer, yeah, the only way i ever got higher refresh on nvidia cards was by using the nvidia framebuffer, and of course that clashes with the xorg nvidia driver. *however*...i was running X at a much higher rate (i think about 87Hz)...but i guess if you're using a flat-panel lcd monitor, it may have a 60Hz limit regardless? if it doesn't (i.e. if your monitor can do 70Hz or whatever) try upping the refresh rate in X (with appropriate settings in xorg.conf).

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## Brendenm

Here is my xvidtune mode from Xorg.  This fits on my screen perfectly, no adjustment needed.

"1280x1024"  135.00  1280 1296 1440 1688  1024 1025 1028 1066 +hsyn +vsync

There are two 1280x1024 modelines it seems one, is works, one is skewed to the right.  besides -16 or -32 on the video= grub.conf line what else could I use?

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