incorrect desktop screen size

[mitchell]

Hi.the width of my desktop is smaller than the monitor view size. The vertical size is correct but the horizontal is smaller both left and right. Nothing is cut off. But when i open say Opera browser sections are missing  left/right. I have no problems with other distros(have 4 installed) . I'm using a HP2710p laptop. Xvesa does not respond to any changes. I've been searching on the net for tiny aspect ratio, screen size etc but nothing seems to work.
Both the hard drive installation and from usb gives me a reduced screen size. Would greatly appreciate if i'm directed to the required links etc.
Many thanks.

[Juanito]

If you exit to the prompt and enter xsetup.sh - do you get the screen size/resolution you're looking for?

If not, maybe you need to try Xorg-7.7 and the appropriate driver (xf86-video-*) for your hardware.

[mitchell]

Thank you for the prompt reply. Nothing happens with xsetup.sh. tried all options displayed. It's not the resolution but the actual screen size which is smaller and not filling up the monitor size. Do we call this the aspect ratio. Well thats how i interpret it. Thanks and best Regards.

[Juanito]

As mentioned, you could try Xorg and the appropriate driver for your hardware

[mitchell]

busy looking into Xorg. could you explain what the -screen option in Xvesa used for. Thank you.

[curaga]

It allows giving an exact resolution on drivers capable of such. The vesa driver (Xvesa) is not, it can only use resolutions supported by the bios. If you gave a custom resolution, it would pick the closest one to that from the bios's list.

[mitchell]

What's puzzling, this is on a laptop. Surely the bios is reporting the correct aspect ratio. 

[Juanito]

what graphics hardware does your machine have?

Note also that you could try Xfbdev with a suitable boot code (see the wiki).

[curaga]

No, most laptops do not have correct resolutions in their vesa bios, even though you'd expect that.

[mitchell]

Screen Size: 12.10 "; Display Screen Type: Active Matrix TFT Color LCD; Aspect Ratio: 16:10; Screen Mode: WXGA;
Screen Resolution: 1280 x 800; Graphics Controller Manufacturer: Intel; Graphics Controller Model: GMA X3100;
Graphics Memory Capacity: Up to 384 MB; Graphics Memory Technology: DDR2 SDRAM; Graphics Memory

[gerald_clark]

You can use the i910 extension to create a valid VESA entry.

[mitchell]

I cannot find i910 in apps/google. I'm lookin at all suggestions given here. My primary aim is to learn Linux. and keep tiny as small as possible.

[curaga]

I believe he meant 915resolution.tcz, which allows using Xvesa with arbitrary resolutions for some Intel cards.