How to change to lower screen resolution of different monitor? (Solved)

[dcung]

I've been using one of my old PC with an Acer X213W monitor (22 inch).
ASUS M4A78LT-M LE motherboard with onboard VGA/DVI (ATI Radeon 3000).

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Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 1400 x 1050, maximum 1400 x 1050
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
default connected 1400x1050+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1400x1050      0.00* 
   640x480        0.00
   720x400        0.00  

I want to swap monitor with a Phillips 241S (24 in).
Got resolutions choice of

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Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 640 x 480, maximum 720 x 480
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
default connected 640x480+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   640x480        0.00* 
   720x400        0.00
   720x480        0.00 

Am I stuck with the Acer with this Radeon?
Buster DDOG, Bullseye DDOG, Bookworm DDOG - same result.

I know both the Acer or Phillips have more choices when connected to a better GPU.
Eg. this is the Phillips when connected to GTX-670.

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Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 16384 x 16384
DVI-I-0 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-I-1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 527mm x 296mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+
   1680x1050     59.95
   1440x900      74.98    59.89
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02
   1280x960      60.00
   1280x720      60.00
   1024x768      75.03    60.00
   800x600       75.00    60.32
   640x480       75.00    72.81    59.94
HDMI-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-D-0 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Xorg.0.log

(107.65 KiB) Downloaded 6 times

[dcung]

I installed Stretch DDOG, to see any difference.
Got these choices on the Phillips.

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Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 1280 x 1024, maximum 1280 x 1024
xrandr: Failed to get size of gamma for output default
default connected 1280x1024+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1280x1024      0.00*
   1024x768       0.00
   800x600        0.00
   640x480        0.00
   720x400        0.00  

Got these choices on the Acer.

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Screen 0: minimum 640 x 400, current 1600 x 1200, maximum 1600 x 1200
default connected 1600x1200+0+0 0mm x 0mm
   1600x1200      0.00*
   1400x1050      0.00
   1280x1024      0.00
   1152x864       0.00
   1024x768       0.00
   800x600        0.00
   640x480        0.00
   720x400        0.00  

It turns out the Acer get even better resolution when using Stretch.
But I can live with 1280 x 1024 for what I need from this old PC with Phillips.
So, for now I will use Stretch until I figure out more.

BTW - Someone changed the topic title of initial post. I can't tell who did, no note.
I changed it to 'back' here, since I don't think I was trying to 'change to lower screen resolution'.
Trying to get better 'max resolution' on the Phillips monitor is more what I am after.
On paper (specs) - Phillips 241S is better than Acer X213W.

[dcung]

A little background of what I'm doing this for.

I have many SCSI U320 HDDs, 300GB-500GB each, salvaged from servers (boat anchors) long ago.
It's not like I'm short of storage, but I don't feel like sending them for landfill yet.
And this mid-tower old PC have 12 bays. So, I have been using this to archive more junk.

I'm moving the PC from where the Acer monitor is to where the Phillips monitor is, hence I encountered this issue.

But it looks like, I can 'downgrade' to Stretch and 'close' this thread.

A little side-track (FYI) while I was doing this.
I tested EasyOS (v541) on this PC (with Phillips monitor). And it gives the 'best' resolution choices so far.
Unfortunately for me, EasyOS has no Adaptec SCSI support OOTB (?).
DDOG has it - all I did was to stick in the Adaptec card and the disks are accessible.
I'll ask in EasyOS forum section if I feel like tinkering further.

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Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA-0 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-0 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 527mm x 296mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+
   1680x1050     59.88
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02
   1440x900      74.98    59.90
   1280x960      60.00
   1280x720      60.00
   1024x768      75.03    60.00
   800x600       75.00    60.32
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    59.94
   720x400       70.08  

[dcung]

Apparently, I was not done tinkering with this.

I'm glad that I tried @rcrsn51 starter kit.
DebLive_daedalus-6109-amd64.iso

It's closest to Fred's DDOG, so less learning curve for me.
And it took care of the screen resolution issue that I'm having.

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Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA-1 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-D-1 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 527mm x 296mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+  59.96    59.93
   1680x1050     59.95    59.88
   1400x1050     74.76    59.98
   1600x900      59.95    59.82
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02
   1440x900      74.98    59.90
   1400x900      59.96    59.88
   1280x960      60.00
   1440x810      59.97
   1368x768      59.88    59.85
   1280x800      59.99    59.97    59.81    59.91
   1152x864      75.00
   1280x720      60.00    59.99    59.86    60.00    59.74
   1024x768      75.05    60.04    75.03    70.07    60.00
   960x720       75.00    60.00
   928x696       75.00    60.05
   896x672       75.05    60.01
   1024x576      59.95    59.96    59.90    59.82
   960x600       59.93    60.00
   832x624       74.55
   960x540       59.96    59.99    59.63    59.82
   800x600       75.00    70.00    65.00    60.00    72.19    75.00    60.32    56.25
   840x525       60.01    59.88
   864x486       59.92    59.57
   700x525       74.76    59.98
   800x450       59.95    59.82
   640x512       75.02    60.02
   700x450       59.96    59.88
   640x480       60.00    75.00    72.81    75.00    66.67    59.94
   720x405       59.51    58.99
   720x400       70.08
   684x384       59.88    59.85
   640x400       59.88    59.98
   576x432       75.00
   640x360       59.86    59.83    59.84    59.32
   512x384       75.03    70.07    60.00
   512x288       60.00    59.92
   416x312       74.66
   480x270       59.63    59.82
   400x300       72.19    75.12    60.32    56.34
   432x243       59.92    59.57
   320x240       72.81    75.00    60.05
   360x202       59.51    59.13
   320x180       59.84    59.32

[fredx181]

Apparently, I was not done tinkering with this.

I'm glad that I tried @rcrsn51 starter kit.
DebLive_daedalus-6109-amd64.iso

It's closest to Fred's DDOG, so less learning curve for me.
And it took care of the screen resolution issue that I'm having.

...

The difference may be that the starter-kit has xserver-xorg-input-libinput installed (probably a regular mklive build hasn't, it has xserver-xorg-input-evdev).
(edit: now you mention the starter-kit, I remember a discussion from years ago where @rcrsn51 plead for including libinput)
(good chance this is the reason for your resolution issue and installing it on DDog will fix it, not really sure though)

[dcung]

The difference may be that the starter-kit has xserver-xorg-input-libinput installed (probably a regular mklive build hasn't, it has xserver-xorg-input-evdev).
(edit: now you mention the starter-kit, I remember a discussion from years ago where @rcrsn51 plead for including libinput)
(good chance this is the reason for your resolution issue and installing it on DDog will fix it, not really sure though)

Ah...thank you for this info Fred.
I was wondering why and what was the diff.
I did test your minimum DE builds (XFCE4, JWM), but X did not start.
After reading https://wiki.debian.org/AtiHowTo
then I added xserver-xorg-video-radeon, xserver-xorg-video-r128 one by one, but no joy.

I will try again later and report.

[dcung]

I tested with fresh bullseye DDOG and bookworm DDOG, installed xserver-xorg-input-libinput
No change, with or without removing xserver-xorg-input-evdev, so that was not it.

I looked at the starter kit mklive build log.
Found firmware-amd-graphics.
Tested DDOG again from fresh installed, added firmware-amd-graphics.
Happy days!

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Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1920 x 1080, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA-0 disconnected primary (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DVI-0 connected 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 527mm x 296mm
   1920x1080     60.00*+
   1680x1050     59.88
   1280x1024     75.02    60.02
   1440x900      74.98    59.90
   1280x960      60.00
   1280x720      60.00
   1024x768      75.03    60.00
   800x600       75.00    60.32
   640x480       75.00    72.81    66.67    59.94
   720x400       70.08