Need help with apparent screen resolution problem

Hello, I am new to Linux and . I just installed on my laptop and I am having a hard time figuring something out. When I go into preferences to change the screen resolution, I get only two options - 640x480 and 800x600. I have it set to 800x600, but it is not really the resolution of my LCD panel - instead I get only an 800x600 screen in the center of my panel. In other words, it is not using my whole screen. If I set it to 640x480, the resolution doesn't really change, I only get a smaller box in the center of my screen. I think my resolution should be able to go up to 1280x1024.

I have a Sony Vaio laptop (PCG-FRV37) with an ATI Radeon IGP 340/345M graphics card. I can't find any drivers for it on either the Sony or the ATI websites.

I downloaded libdrm-2.3.0, but I can't get it to make. I can configure, but I get the following error when I try to make it:

make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.

Also, when I try to turn desktop effects on, I get only a blank white screen with a mouse pointer. If I go into Beryl Manager, I also get the same white screen.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Point me in the right direction.

Any help will be much appreciated. Thanks

It looks like ATI no longer supports this chipset in the current drivers. You may be able to get it working with one of the older drivers at: from : localhost/ati.amd.com/support/drivers/l...ous-linux.html
Be sure to check the release notes to see if any of these support your card. There is no guarantee that any of them do especially since this is a laptop and laptop vendors are notorious for doing their own customizations to graphics chipsets.

OK. Thanks, qamelian. It won't work - those drivers do not support my card. I double-checked the Sony site, and they only have drivers for Windows XP and Vista. I will look up the specs on my desktop PC and perhaps do a dual install on that one. Once again, thanks!

just run
Code:
sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg
, it'll take you through a setup and you'll be able to change you resolution to a higher one. I'm afraid I can't help you with the graphics driver though...

Hey Sand, Thanks a lot. That did the trick. Thanks to both of you. Now, if I can only get Anjuta working...