My G+ Profile
« The Conversation Keeps Evolving | Main | Open Access to Research »
Changing Linux Screen Resolution In Parallels
I’ve had parallels running now for some time on my MacBook Pro and it’s really nice to be able to fire up Windows or Linux when needed. I have a feeling this is going to come in real handy this fall when I’m teaching CS462 and have 40 students using Linux to do their assignment. I can keep a fresh image that’s identical to the one their using and just fire it up when I need to try something out.
One thing that’s bothered me, however, is that Fedora didn’t want to create screens bigger and 800x600. I knew I’d blown over this on the install, but figured I’d come back and figure it out later. Maybe I was Googling the wrong terms, but I couldn’t find much specific to setting up screen resolutions on Linux running under Parallels.
Tonight I spent a few minutes figuring it out because John Dougall was having the same problem. As an aside, don’t you wish your state representative ran Linux? Here’s what I did.
First, I ran system-config-display and selected “Generic LCD Panel 1280x1024” under the “Hardware” tab. Then I edited (by hand) /etc/X11/xorg.conf to change the Modes line in the Section “Screen” declaration to read:
Modes "1280x1024"
This did it. Logging out and logging back in started up the larger screen. I couldn’t change the hardware from “Generic” but that didn’t seem to matter.
Posted by windley on July 1, 2006 10:37 PM
Comment from Marc at July 2, 2006 1:32 AM
Were you using a Debian-based distro? I wonder if sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg would've worked also.
Comment from Phil Windley at July 3, 2006 8:33 AM
Sorry, I should have been more specific. I was loading Fedora Core 5.
Comment from Lamont R. Peterson at July 4, 2006 11:27 AM
Part of the problem with Fedora installation and screen resolutions is that the LCD spec does not even mention DDC, so many LCDs don't support DDC probing. Since the installer can't figure out what the monitor is, it just uses a default figuring nobody is using something that can't handle 800x600.
I think Fedora should change that to 1024x768 minimum. But hey, who am I to make such a decision?
It just seems that anyone who has a monitor that can only do 800x600, and not 1024x768, hooked up to a computer that can run FC5 should stop trying to limp along with that monitor. Either that, or they're using the old dinosaur while installing otherwise headless servers, so they wouldn't care about GUI anyway.
Comment from Lyle at August 16, 2006 6:21 PM
A belated thanks for the tip! I can confirm that this works for Fedora Core 4 on a MacBook (with a 1280x800 display).
Comment from Bob Bradley at October 23, 2006 11:43 AM
This all worked well and good for me
except that my gnome user preference
was still the old resolution and I
could no longer get X to run. So
I had to go to a failsafe terminal,
and find the right Gnome preferences
config file, and edit
the screen resolution manually to
match the new Screen configuration
size.
Comment from J C at February 10, 2007 3:58 AM
NOTE: After trying to configure Fedora Core 6 on my Core2Duo Macbook Pro under parallels (I was only able to get either 1600x1200 or 800x600 resolution), I decided to just do a dual boot. BTW, IF 800X600 WILL WORK FOR YOU, just go to the administration panel/displays/hardware choose Radeon ATI driver. reboot. this will cause problems stating x, and the machine to ask you if you want to edit it. say yes and go for the generic lcd, and generic card, and choose the 800x6000. Anyway I didn't like that, so instead i forgot about parallels and did a dual boot set up. this is how i did it:
Comment from J C at February 10, 2007 4:01 AM
-----Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo with Fedora Core 6-----
Run Bootcamp. Don't Burn Driver Disk. Run Fedora 6 x86 32bit distro. installation. Check the option to review drive setup. choose the remove linux partitions option (i think). make sure to review partition set up to make sure you're not going to erase your osx volume (look at the size, and remember what size it is supposed to be after partition)
try
if you don't get a gui, login as root and type startx
if it tells you you need to go erase /tem/.X0-lock, go ahead and do it, then type startx again. you may be able to do this without having to be root, though you will need the root password anyway.
the stuff below i found on http://lunapark6.com/?p=2646
Other things to improve the functionality of Fedora Core 6 on the MacBook :
Map Right Click and Middle Click (Right Click = Lower Enter Key / Middle Click = Right Apple Key) to your keyboard :
From the Gnome Menu select System ?> Preferences ?> Accessibility ?> Keyboard
Check ?Enable Keyboard accessibility features?
Choose ?Mouse Keys?, check ?Enable Mouse Keys?
Then :
gedit ~/.xmodmap
Insert these two lines into the .xmodmap file :
keycode 108 = Pointer_Button3
keycode 116 = Pointer_Button2
Then restart X server by rebooting or ctrl-alt-backspace. This will make the lower right ?enter? function as ?right click? and the lower right Apple key as ?middle click.?
Map Volume Control Keys
System ?> Preferences ?> Keyboard Shortcuts
Scroll Down until you see ?Sound? and select the keys you want to bind for Volume Down, Volume Up, and Volume Mute. I picked F3, F4, and F5.
I hope this works for you!
--an illegal immigrant.
P.S. airport card not yet supported. internet will work through ethernet port, just enable it.
Comment from harsh at October 18, 2007 5:09 AM
thanks a lot, it was simple and cute way of solving the problem..
Leave a comment
I encourage you to leave a comment below. Your email address will not be displayed on Technometria, but allows me to communicate with you directly. Your email address won't be displayed, but will be used to compute a MicroID for your comment.