Inspiron Netbook Resolution Problem

[Frederick]

New question on my newly gotten Netbook (Dell Inspiron 1010).

I am trying GoogleEarth and it tells me that it needs at least
1024X768 resolution, but that this netbook is set to a lower
resolution. Turns out it is set to 1024X600.

I have installed all the drivers I can find for the netbook from Dell
and DriverAgent to whom I subscribe.

I think the driver I am using is 'Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset
Family'. I think I have the best video driver available, but maybe
not. Or just maybe the netbook can't handle a resolution any higher?

Anyone know?

Thanks

Big Fred

 

[BillW50]

New question on my newly gotten Netbook (Dell Inspiron 1010).

I am trying GoogleEarth and it tells me that it needs at least
1024X768 resolution, but that this netbook is set to a lower
resolution. Turns out it is set to 1024X600.

I have installed all the drivers I can find for the netbook from Dell
and DriverAgent to whom I subscribe.

I think the driver I am using is 'Mobile Intel 945 Express Chipset
Family'. I think I have the best video driver available, but maybe
not. Or just maybe the netbook can't handle a resolution any higher?

Anyone know?

Thanks

Big Fred

I have a bunch of netbooks. And you can indeed use higher resolutions.
The easy way is by connecting a large high resolution external monitor.
Yeah not real handy unless you have one right in front of you, eh?

You didn't say which version and OS you are running. And normally
Windows makes it hard to select a higher resolution than the max that
your current screen can handle. But it still can be done. How? Well it
depends on the OS you are using.

And how the Intel 915 and 945 handles higher resolutions is that you
only see a movable window of the desktop. So part of the desktop will be
off of the screen somewhere. and you move this window by moving the
pointer to one of the sides.

Another thing you can do is a feature of Intel is to use compressed
mode. I don't know of an easy way to use this without some sort of
utility. Or maybe hacking the registry or something. But how this works
is by compressing the higher resolution to fit on the smaller screen.

Yeah... how is that possible without enough pixels? Well it doesn't work
perfectly, but some slightly larger resolutions don't look all that bad.
But this compress mode also slows down screen updates too. So scrolling
web pages and such gets much slower.

But this is a start. And you have two ways to do this.

 

[Frederick]

I have a bunch of netbooks. And you can indeed use higher resolutions.
The easy way is by connecting a large high resolution external monitor.
Yeah not real handy unless you have one right in front of you, eh?

As it happens, I do have one of those I think. I'll try the hookup.
Thanks

You didn't say which version and OS you are running.

XP SP3

 

[BillW50]

As it happens, I do have one of those I think. I'll try the hookup.
Thanks


XP SP3

Okay most of my systems are slightly modified from stock. But here is
how I think it should work for you under XP.

Control Panel
Display
Settings (tab)
Advanced (button)
Monitor (tab)
Hide modes that this monitor cannot display (uncheck)
OK (button)

You should be back at the Settings (tab). Here you can move the slider
to higher resolutions. If it doesn't let you, maybe you have to reboot.
But you should be able to move the slider to any resolution that the
Intel 945GM is capable of.

 

[Frederick]

Okay most of my systems are slightly modified from stock. But here is
how I think it should work for you under XP.

Control Panel
Display
Settings (tab)
Advanced (button)
Monitor (tab)
Hide modes that this monitor cannot display (uncheck)
OK (button)

You should be back at the Settings (tab). Here you can move the slider
to higher resolutions. If it doesn't let you, maybe you have to reboot.
But you should be able to move the slider to any resolution that the
Intel 945GM is capable of.

Indeed it did. Thanks.

Only problem is - the different resolution choices to satisfy GEarth
all make the desktop icons and task bar no longer fit the netbook
screen very well. I can reset the settings for the icons and their
spacing but I have to scroll the mouse curser to reach the task bar at
the bottom which seems to remain in place no matter what I do.
Maybe that's the way it will have to be?

Thanks again

BF

 

[BillW50]

In

Indeed it did. Thanks.

Only problem is - the different resolution choices to satisfy GEarth
all make the desktop icons and task bar no longer fit the netbook
screen very well. I can reset the settings for the icons and their
spacing but I have to scroll the mouse curser to reach the task bar at
the bottom which seems to remain in place no matter what I do.
Maybe that's the way it will have to be?

Thanks again

BF

Yes, that is the way it is using a smaller resolution screen with a
larger desktop. Two other options are:

1) Use an external monitor (best)

2) Use Intel compressed video mode

Compressed video mode the whole desktop fits. But especially smaller
text to much harder to read. And screen updates slows down a lot.
Scrolling through a page becomes very slow. So very seldom is this even
used. And without special software, I don't know how you would get there
from a stock system.

 

[BillW50]

In

Compressed video mode the whole desktop fits. But especially smaller
text to much harder to read. And screen updates slows down a lot.
Scrolling through a page becomes very slow. So very seldom is this
even used. And without special software, I don't know how you would
get there from a stock system.

Sorry, I guess I should proofread before sending and not after. :-(

 

[Frederick]

In

Sorry, I guess I should proofread before sending and not after. :-(

I

I find that anchoring the task bar at the top on the netbook at least
presents the task bar consistently. I can scroll around below it, and
can even fix the desktop display of it's icons so that I see all of
them (as long as I limit how many). I think I'll go with that
approach.

Thanx for your helps

Big Fred