About a month ago, I had a little computer glitch. I ended up reinstalling Windows XP, but I ran into some more problems when Windows updates began to trickle in. I just couldn’t get past Windows Authentication since I didn’t have a valid license.
I was literally stuck with Windows XP SP1. There were some programs that refuse to install unless I had SP2. So much for that idea.
Then, Solaris came out a few weeks ago, I tried to install it by overwriting my Ubuntu partition. The Solaris installation was smooth. There were no issues. However, running it is another story.
There were two major problems:
- Xorg wasn’t working quite well. I was only seeing 3/4 of the screen. I tried rebooting. I also reconfigured Xorg. It worked for the lower resolutions, but not the 1680×1050 widescreen my monitor supported. So, I gave up Solaris and went back to Ubuntu.
- I learned after the install of Ubuntu that the MBR (Master Boot Record) aka PBR was destroyed. I could no longer boot to Windows or Ubuntu. Nice job, Solaris.
I wiped out the entire disk and removed the two partitions. I installed Ubuntu as the only OS on my computer. C’est la vie, Windows.
The only thing I missed in Windows is viewing in portrait mode which is great for browsing websites and documents, while landscape mode is perfect for viewing spreadsheets.
So, did I get portrait mode working in Ubuntu?
I had an old ATI graphics card which I learned later that it had issues with rotating views. I ended up buying an older Nvidia FX-5200 from Ebay for a fairly good price.
So, here’s my setup.
- Monitor: HP w2207h 1680×1050 60 Hz
- Video Card: Nvidia GeForce FX-5200
- Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04.
I set the device section of my Xorg.conf to:
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "glx"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Default Device"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "True"
Option "RandRRotation"
EndSection
Screenshots:
To view in portrait mode, just go to Systems – Preferences – Screen Resolution – Monitor Resolution Settings and choose either Normal or Left rotation.
Landscape Mode (Normal) Setting: 1680×1050 pixels.
Portrait Mode (Rotated Left) Setting: 1050×1680 pixels.
So, this is how I setup my Ubuntu in Portrait mode with my HP w2207h monitor and my Nvidia FX-5200 video card. I will note however, that are currently issues with running Xrandr with Compiz at the same. Unfortunately, you can’t have both. Other than, I’m a happy camper.
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I bought that same monitor last weekend, and could not withstand the urge to get automatical flipping to work in Ubuntu 8.04. So I wrote a HowTo for that at http://niels.kicks-ass.org/index.php/2008/07/10/the-sound-of-the-dolphin-or-how-to-rotate-a-monitor/ . Thought you might be interested.
By the way, with me, compiz does work side by side with xrandr. However, I use the proprietary nvidia driver (shame, shame) with the option RandRRotation set to “True”. Perhaps that’s the difference?
Niels, I’m going to try if I can get both compiz and xrandr to work on my Nvidia FX-5200 using your xorg setup. I hope it works. Thanks for sharing.
I am looking for an AGP 4x/8x dual head video card (preferably with dual DVI and an nVidia chipset) to run two 1680×1050 screens in portrait mode under Linux. Could you recommend any cards that would fit the bill? My mobo doesn’t have a PCI-e slot, so that’s not an option. Thanks!