HOWTO: get xorg.conf to work w/ 1600x1200 res and an old Intel card

1. Check your hardware spec, and determine how much memory your card has[1]:

   # lspci -vv | grep "Intel" -A7 | grep "VGA controller" -A7 | egrep "controller|Region"
   00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
    Region 0: Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
    Region 1: Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=512K]

2. Use the above values to configure your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file - I suspect much of this is not needed, but here's what I have:

   Section "Device"
    Identifier "Intel"
    Option "AccelMethod" "UXA"
    VideoRam 130560
    #Driver      "intel"
    Driver      "vesa"
    VendorName  "Intel Corporation"
    BoardName   "82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device"
    BusID       "PCI:0:2:0"
   EndSection
   
   Section "Monitor"
    Identifier "VGA"
    ModelName    "Sceptre 24"
           HorizSync    31 - 80
           VertRefresh  55 - 76
           Option      "DPMS" "true"
   EndSection
   
   Section "Screen"
    Identifier "Default Screen"
    Device "Intel"
    Monitor "VGA"
    DefaultDepth 16
           SubSection "Display"
                  Depth           16
                  Modes           "1920x1440_60" "1920x1200_60" "1920x1080_60" "1680x1050_59.883" "1360x768_59.8" "1600x1200_60" "1280x1024_60" "1024x768_60"
                  #Modes           "1920x1440" "1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1280x768"
           EndSubSection
   EndSection 
   
   Section "DRI"
           Mode         0666
   EndSection
   
   Section "Extensions"
           Option      "Composite" "Enable"
   EndSection
   
   Section "Module"
           Load  "dri"
   EndSection

3. In /boot/grub/menu.lst, add the correct vga mode for 1600x1200 (vga=8). If you enter what you think is the correct mode based on this table, you'll be told it's wrong and can manually correct it, boot up, then fix the file & reboot.

   default=0
   timeout=5
   splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
   
   
   title Fedora (2.6.34.7-56.fc13.i686)
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-56.fc13.i686 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_xlappy-lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_xlappy/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_xlappy/lv_swap rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us rhgb quiet vga=8
    initrd /initramfs-2.6.34.7-56.fc13.i686.img
   
   title Fedora (2.6.34.7-56.fc13.i686) cmdline only, vga=8 = 1600x1200x16
    root (hd0,0)
    kernel /vmlinuz-2.6.34.7-56.fc13.i686 ro root=/dev/mapper/vg_xlappy-lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_xlappy/lv_root rd_LVM_LV=vg_xlappy/lv_swap rd_NO_LUKS rd_NO_MD rd_NO_DM LANG=en_US.UTF-8 SYSFONT=latarcyrheb-sun16 KEYBOARDTYPE=pc KEYTABLE=us init=3 init 3 vga=8
    initrd /initramfs-2.6.34.7-56.fc13.i686.img

See also:

• VGA Modes
• grub VGA Modes