12.04 ... nvidia 3xx drivers allow max resolution only

[edgue]

Question and information for others:

I am using a Lenovo Thinkpad W510 ... and with past drivers, nvidia would allow me to pick the resolution of the internal display from this list:

display DFP-0: LEN
resolutions: 320x175, 320x200, 360x200, 320x240, 400x300, 416x312, 512x384, 640x350, 576x432, 640x400, 680x384, 720x400, 640x480, 720x450, 640x512, 700x525, 800x512, 840x525, 800x600, 960x540, 832x624, 960x600, 896x672, 1024x768, 1152x864, 1360x768, 1600x900

For some strange reasons, the nvidia settings utility was updated lately ... then it claims that the installed driver (295) is too old; and therefore "setting" things isnt possible any more.

So I went forward and installed the newer drivers that are available - 304 and 310. Afterwards the nvidia settings is working again, but the driver itself has an annoying effect: it will only allow the maximum resolution of 1600x900. What basically sucks big time when you want to use a projector from time to time and you want to go for a cloned desktop.
( and yes, I checked: it is the same when using the "disper" command line tooling )

Long story short - if there is a need on your end for "lower" resolutions - you definitely want to stay with the 295 nvidia driver.

On the other hand: if you are running with 304 / 310 and found a workaround ... please share

[robenroute]

edgue, it's been a while since you posted this issue here, but have you made any progress on this? I'm about to buy a second-hand W510 and as I'll be using multiple monitors, this issue would be rather relevant to me. Thanks for any feedback!

Regards,
Robenroute

[edgue]

Hello there,

you can run a script like I do to get a cloned display:

#!/bin/sh

resolution=1024x768
#resolution=1280x1024
#resolution=1360x768
#resolution=1440x9h00
#resolution=1400x1050
#resolution=1600x1200

nvidia-settings --assign CurrentMetaMode="CRT-0:$resolution@$resolution+0+0,DFP-0:nvidia-auto-select@$resolution+0+0{viewportin=$resolution}"


In addtion, when using the really latest greatest drivers (xorg edgers ppa) 313, there is also an extended "advanced settings" button on the nvidia settings panel.
That can be used to setup the "viewportin" stuff too.

But the bad news is that the annoying behavior itself is still there - this means for example, that disper still only list the 1600x900 resolution for the internal display.
I tried playing around with the many different nvidia xconfig switches; but nothing really helped to bring back the old behavior.

[robenroute]

Thanks for the reply and info, edgue. I'll see what I can do. If I make any progress, I'll let you know via this thread.