Adding a mode to xrandr

I was trying to use an HP w19b with my old dell inspiron laptop e1505 with a vga output. But for some reason knoppix can't seem to bring up a resolution greater than 1024x768.

So after some searching I found this page:

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-change-display-resolution-settings-using-xrandr.html

The top res for the HP w19b is 1440x900 so

cvt 1440 900

gives me:

# 1440x900 59.89 Hz (CVT 1.30MA) hsync: 55.93 kHz; pclk: 106.50 MHz
Modeline "1440x900_60.00" 106.50 1440 1528 1672 1904 900 903 909 934 -hsync +vsync

xrandr --newmode "1440x900_60.00" 106.50 1440 1528 1672 1904 900 903 909 934 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode VGA-1 1440x900_60.00
xrandr --output VGA-1 --mode 1440x900_60.00


what's kind of cool is that once I add the mode, it will show up in the ARandR gui tool as well.

xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 4096 x 4096
VGA-1 connected primary 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm
1024x768 60.00*
800x600 60.32 56.25
848x480 60.00
640x480 59.94
TV-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
1440x900_60.00 (0x1aa) 106.500MHz
h: width 1440 start 1528 end 1672 total 1904 skew 0 clock 55.93KHz
v: height 900 start 903 end 909 total 934 clock 59.89Hz



Just for fun, I thought I'd make some "nonstandard modes" just to see if they'd work.

I tried cvt 1200 900 and that worked, and cvt 480 900 and that worked too. 480x900 makes pixels 3x wide as high for a 1440x900 monitor. Looks trippy.

cvt 480 900
# 480x900 59.62 Hz (CVT) hsync: 55.69 kHz; pclk: 34.75 MHz
Modeline "480x900_60.00" 34.75 480 504 552 624 900 903 913 934 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --newmode "480x900_60.00" 34.75 480 504 552 624 900 903 913 934 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode VGA-1 480x900_60.00
xrandr --output VGA-1 -mode 480x900_600.00


and I have this Haier 24 inch tv that only reports that it goes up to 1680x1050 in VGA mode. After making a cvt 1920 1080 mode is the first time I've been able to put 1920x1080 on the vga with it.