Configuring a Display Under Linux
The setup utility in recent Linux distributions probes the video adapter and display to determine their capabilities and automatically configures optimum video settings. Setup prompts you to confirm the hardware it detects and to choose display settings such as resolution and color depth. To change the display type, log on as root and run Xconfigurator or whatever equivalent GUI utility your distribution provides. For example, the Mandrake Control Center, shown in Figure 16-4, allows you to select among hundreds of standard displays.

Figure 16-4. Using Mandrake Control Center to reconfigure display type
If your display is not listed, you can define a custom display type. Before you do that, check the manual to determine the combinations of resolution and refresh frequency that the monitor can support. For a digital FPD, also take color depth into account. Choose the optimum combination for your needs, define the display properly, and then configure the video adapter to use the settings you chose (see Chapter 15).
Warning
If you define a custom display type, Linux assumes you have specified the correct parameters for the display, so you must be very careful to enter accurate values for horizontal and vertical synchronization frequencies. If you choose video settings that require more bandwidth than the display can handle, using those settings for even ...