For some reason, I am a Suse Linux guy (for the most part). Over the years, I’ve used many distributions, but I keep going back to Suse. But Ubuntu intrigues me. Every time there is a new release I load it up on a spare machine and play with it. So when I saw the beta 7.04 was out, I downloaded it. I installed it. I updated it.
Then I tried to change my display resolution. My choices were 1024×768, 800×600, and the ever-present 640×480. Um, what? Ok, I figure that it didn’t load the proper display driver. I check the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file, and I see the open source “radeon” driver is loaded, which is fine for my purposes. Then I see what I figure is the problem: all my color depths have modes of the above-listed resolutions, and nothing higher. So I manually create the modeline for 1600×1200 and add it to all the color-depths. I restart X, expecting things to be right with the world. But it isn’t. It’s all still 1024×768, with no higher choices.
I head back to the xorg.conf file. This time, I notice that my monitor was detected as a standard VESA monitor with crappy horizontal sync and vertical refresh rates. I have a Dell 20.1 LCD, hardly what I would consider a strange display, considering that other distributions find it perfectly. I check the xorg.conf file on one of my other systems and input the correct values for my monitor in this one, restart X, and all is good in the world.
Why, since Ubuntu aims to be a simple-to-use distro, did I have to do this? I had to do this by hand because Ubuntu 7.04 “Feisty Fawn” Beta didn’t come with a utility to allow me to choose my monitor. If I had been an inexperienced user, I would have been screwed. Yes, I know it’s a beta, but we’re two weeks from the official release, and I doubt that this will be changed.
Other than the display issue, Ubuntu 7.04 seems to be very solid and usable. But I don’t think I’ll be switching from Suse permanently any time soon.
Update: Since I wrote this, the final version of “Feisty Fawn” was released. With the same monitor problem.
