Cfrtjryk

I have been able to accomplish what I want with xrandr commands and put them into a startup application to make them be set for each time I start or reboot the system.

I have to (want to) believe there is a way to put the equivalent settings into an xorg.conf file but I cannot get it to work. So if someone could tell me what I need to put into an xorg.conf file to accomplish the same thing as

xrandr --newmode "1280x960_60.00"  101.25  1280 1360 1488 1696  960 963 967 996 -hsync +vsync

xrandr --addmode VIRTUAL1 "1280x960_60.00"

xrandr --output VIRTUAL1 --mode 1280x960_60.00

So here is what I have:

I am running a headless - no monitor - server running LinuxMint19 with vino-server feeding an UltraVNC client on a Windows 7 PC

I do not intend to use alternative VNC servers (or other additional applications/packages) as a solution. I know I could use x11vnc or other vnc servers and there may be other additional applications that could work, but since I have it working with vino-server and xrandr commands, I know it will work; I just can't get it to work with xorg.conf settings and would prefer to learn how and do it that way.

When I connect to the server via UltraVNC, I get a screen that is 800x600. That is too small and crowded to be very useful.

So I used

cvt 1280 960

to get the Modeline settings for the higher screen size and used the xrandr commands above and everything works fine, until of course the next reboot.

So I put the xrandr commands into a startup script and it works, giving me the larger screen at every startup and reboot.

I did try the above in .profile and .bashrc but there were issues with each of those so I reverted to the startup script solution and it works.

But I would prefer to use xorg.conf files to accomplish the same thing. Unfortunately, up until now, I can only get the first two xrandr commands "kind of" simulated by putting the code below into /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/80-larger-monitor-for-remote-desktop.conf - but I cannot get the --output command duplicated. I still need to manually (or via startup script) use the xrandr --output command.

Section "Monitor"

    Identifier "VIRTUAL1"

    HorizSync 28.0-80.0

    VertRefresh 48.0-75.0

    Modeline "1280x960_60.00"  101.25  1280 1360 1488 1696  960 963 967 996 -hsync +vsync

    Option "PreferredMode" "1280x960_60.00"

    Option "Enable" "true"

EndSection

I say "kind of simulated" since, after creating the above xorg.conf file and rebooting, I can just run the final xrandr command

xrandr --output VIRTUAL1 --mode 1280x960_60.00

and the correct screen size will be created, but not in exactly the same way. The larger screen will be created but ...

When I do NOT use the xorg.conf settings and instead use the full set of xrandr commands, the output of xrandr -q is

Screen 0: minimum 8 x 8, current 1280 x 960, maximum 32767 x 32767

DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

VIRTUAL1 connected 1280x960+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 0mm x 0mm

   1280x960_60.00  59.94* 

VIRTUAL2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

but when I use the xorg.xonf settings and only use the xrandr --output command, the screen size is changed but the output of xrandr -q shows the VIRTUAL1 monitor as disconnected and there is no VIRTUAL2 monitor added

So apparently, I do not have the settings quite figured out.

I do NOT want to use the dummy driver solution suggested in other posts, since that creates a software driver and it eliminates any acceleration for the monitor. The performance difference is noticeable.

And the fact that I can successfully do this using all xrandr commands says it is doable without a dummy driver; I just cannot fgure out how to do it via xorg.conf file settings.

Is it possible to do this in a headless environment with just xorg.conf settings or, is the fact that I have no connected monitors making it impossible to set a properly functioning setup via xorg.conf since there is no "connected monitors" until I connect in to manually make the settings?

In case you were going to suggest a more comprehensive xorg.conf file (please do) you should know that I tried, in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/80-larger-monitor-for-remote-desktop.conf

Section "ServerLayout"

    Identifier "RC Remote Desktop"

    Screen     0 "RC Screen" 0 0

EndSection



Section "Monitor"

    Identifier "VIRTUAL1"

    HorizSync 28.0-80.0

    VertRefresh 48.0-75.0

    Modeline "1280x800_60.00"   83.50  1280 1352 1480 1680  800 803 809 831 -hsync +vsync

    Modeline "1280x960_60.00"  101.25  1280 1360 1488 1696  960 963 967 996 -hsync +vsync

    Option "PreferredMode" "1280x960_60.00"

    Option "Enable" "true"

EndSection



Section "Device"

    Identifier "RC Device"

    Driver "intel"

    BusID "PCI:0:2:0"

EndSection



Section "Screen"

    Identifier "RC Screen"

    Device "RC Device"

    Monitor "VIRTUAL1"

    SubSection "Display"

        Depth 24

        Modes "1280x960_60.00"    

    EndSubSection

EndSection

but there was no change to the result.