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How to change the screen resolution Ubuntu 19.04 and 18.04

in Linux / Unix by (551k points)
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How to change the resolution of the screen from the configuration of Ubuntu 19.04 and 18.0

The screen is one of the most essential components when working on a computer whatever your operating system. The screen, unless we master the telepathy, shows us what we are doing in the team, execution of commands , creation of files, managing apps, etc. Without the screen it is really impossible to do a correct and integral work since we would be subject to hundreds of errors..

Well, as we know the screens have different options to be managed and this goes far beyond just establishing a theme, order icons and, no, we can modify their resolution, orientation and more variables that facilitate both reading and visibility of it.

For this reason TechnoWikis will explain how we can manage the screen in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10 or Ubuntu 19.04 and in this way, which is ideal, knowing that it is the best option for the screen, but as we said, if you handle telepathy this does not It's your thing

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How to change the resolution of the screen from the configuration of Ubuntu 19.04 and 18.0

It is important before carrying out this process to understand a little the tasks to be carried out, if our objective is to change the size or dimension of the objects we must change the resolution of the screen, instead, if what we want is to change the way that these are displayed, we must change the rotation of the screen..

Screen features
Some technical aspects related to the screen in Ubuntu are:
  • Native resolution: it is the default option that the monitor brings by the manufacturer, in it, the pixels in the video signal will present an exact alignment next to the pixels on the screen, therefore, when we use different resolutions, most likely is that we lose image quality.
  • Resolution: the resolution refers to the number of pixels that can be displayed in each address on the screen, the resolution has an aspect ratio, which technically is the ratio of width to height. Today we find aspect ratios 16:9 and other screens apply resolutions 4:3, based on this we can improve the viewing angles on the screen.
  • Scale: this term refers to the configuration that increases the size of the objects on the screen so that they are aligned with the density of the same, this results in a simple and comprehensive reading, in Ubuntu 18.04, 18.10 or 19004 we can select scales between 100%, 200% or 300%.
  • Orientation: this is an aspect addressed to some teams or public in particular, since the guidance applies to teams in which it is possible to physically rotate the screen in some directions.
Step 1

To make room for this process we go to the option "Show applications" located in the lower left and in the search box enter "Settings":

image

[panelwarning = 'Note'] Another option to access is by clicking on the gear icon located in the upper right and there select System configuration.

Step 2

Once we access the configuration options of Ubuntu 18 or 19, we will go to the "Devices" section and then go to "Monitors" where we will see the following: image
Step 3

There we have two options as they are: Define the orientation of the screen where we have options such as:
  • Horizontal
  • Vertical right
  • Vertical left
  • Horizontal (turned around)
image
Step 4

In the section "Resolution" we have some variables, together with its aspect ratio, such as:
  • 2560 x 1600 (16:10)
  • 1920 x 1440 (4: 3)
  • 1856 x 1392 (4: 3)
  • 1792 x 1344 (4: 3)
  • 1920 x 1200 (16:10)
  • 1600 x 1200 (4: 3)
  • 1920 x 975
  • 1680 x 1050 (16:10)
image
Step 5

At the moment we select a new resolution, and based on the one chosen, a new option called "Scale" will be activated, which will allow us to define the percentage of scaling of the objects on the Ubuntu 18 or 19 screen: image
Step 6

By clicking on "Apply" the new selected configuration will be available for 20 seconds to see its behavior and general appearance:

image

Step 7

If we click on the "Revert changes" button, we will return to the configuration that was before applying the change and if we click on the "Keep changes" button, the new configuration will be applied. Another option offered by Ubuntu to set the resolution of the screen is the use of the terminal, for this we must access a new terminal and run the following line in this case to select the resolution 1920 x 1080:
 gtf 1920 1080 60 
Step 8

Pressing Enter will display the following:

image

Step 9

After this we will execute the following line:
 xrandr 

image

Step 10

xrandr (X Resize & Rotate) is a utility to configure the screen resolution in Linux, when executing it we can see that for the resolution 1920 × 975 it is only available up to 60.0 Hz and we can visualize the ranges in the following resolutions. Now, to apply a new resolution we will execute the following:
 xrandr -newmode "mode" 
Step 11

This mode is the complete line after ModeLine when executing xrandr:
 xrandr -newmode "1920x1080_60.00" 172.580 1920 2040 2248 2576 1080 1081 1084 1118 -Hsync + Vsync 

image

With this simple command it will be possible to apply the desired resolution in Linux and we have both the graphic options or commands for that purpose..


by (3.5m points)
edited
A major problem: this is only temporary. Why not a simple permanent solution?
Useless. --newmode gives error in 18.04 lts
+4 votes

Change screen resolution in Ubuntu
How to change the resolution from GNOME 3
We can also change it from terminal

All, or practically all, have a FullHD monitor for day to day. Or if we are players, we may have up to a 2K or 4K screen that gives us better quality. Operating systems usually automatically adjust the screen resolution to the highest possible to offer the best quality. However, this is not always the best.

When we configure our monitor in the maximum resolution we can enjoy the maximum image quality in all the elements of the system. However, the higher the quality, the smaller the size of many elements. And this implies that if we have a vision problem, it is difficult for us to read or find certain elements.

If we reduce the resolution, we will lower the image quality and make some icons appear with irregular borders. However, we will be making all the elements bigger, and therefore, making it easier and more comfortable to work with the computer.

The maximum and minimum resolution that we can configure depends on both our monitor and our graphics card and the operating system we use. Next we will explain how to change the screen resolution in Ubuntu.

Change screen resolution in Ubuntu

The first thing that we must take into account to be able to change the screen resolution in Ubuntu is that we must have the graphics card drivers installed. Otherwise, we can only use the one assigned by default and we cannot adjust it.

There are two ways to change the screen resolution in Ubuntu. The first one is using the configuration menu of the distro, and the second from the terminal. The first one may vary depending on the type of desktop we use (we will do it with GNOME 3 , the default desktop of this distro), and the second of the methods is valid for any desktop, since it depends only on the terminal .

How to change the resolution from GNOME 3

To change the resolution of Ubuntu , we must open the applications menu from the bottom left of the screen, and in the list of applications access "Settings".

Ubuntu - Change screen resolution 1

The Ubuntu Settings panel will open. In it we must access the "Devices" section from the menu on the left.

Ubuntu - Change screen resolution 2

Within this menu we can see another new section called «Monitors». From here we can change the resolution of the screen.

Ubuntu - Change screen resolution 3

We click on this section to display the list with all possible resolutions that we can choose.

Ubuntu - Change screen resolution 4

Select the one we want, and voila. We only have to click on the "Apply" button and the new Ubuntu resolution will be applied to the entire distro.

Ubuntu - Change screen resolution 5

We can also change it from terminal

If we do not want to use the Configuration menu, we do not use GNOME 3 or directly we want to use the universal method, by commands, to change the resolution of the monitor, we can also do it.

Ubuntu uses the Xorg application component And this has a tool called Xrandr that can be used to dynamically change the output of a screen without having to manually modify the configuration of xorg.conf.

This tool is installed by default. And to use it, we will simply open a terminal and execute the following command (changing the resolution we want to configure):

  • xrandr –size 800 × 600

Ubuntu - Change screen resolution 6

In this way we can change the resolution much faster, and we don't depend on GNOME 3 for it. Of course, we must choose one that is registered, otherwise the change will not apply.


by (551k points)
edited

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