New Laptop help desired

[Kristian Erik Hermansen]

On Feb 2, 2008 1:02 PM, Carlton Brooks <linux at carltonbrooks.net> wrote:
> First the laptop has a 17" WXGA screen. It has a resolution of 1440x900.
> When Ubuntu is displayed on the desktop the tool bars only cover about
> 75% the width of the screen, though if a program is opened it covers the
> entire screen.
> I have gone into the xorg.conf to look at the settings and do not know
> what to change if anything to take advantage of the wide screen.

First things first...

Install the proper driver, if applicable
$ sudo restricted-manager

Reconfigure Xorg:
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg

Then, CTRL+ALT+BACKSPACE.  Now, if the widscreen is still a problem,
look in the section for the resolutions like 1280x800 1024x768 or
800x600, etc.  Place "1440x900" before the other resolutions, if in
fact your laptop really does support that resolution...

> My second issue is that I have no sound. I have read in the forums that
> I possibly need to reconfigure the alsa drivers. I have attempted to do
> so based on the Ubuntu forum recommendation but no luck I get errors
> when attempting to compile and do a make install.

If you have a link, maybe I can give you some advice before I stop
coding and my girlfriend comes over :-P  After that though, I'll be
away from my laptop and the code writing for the remainder of the
weekend...heh

> Can anyone offer some direction to me.

This way --> ... no no wait, <--- that way! ^? How can I do a down arrow :-(
-- 
Kristian Erik Hermansen
"Know something about everything and everything about something."