Trisquel 8 install didn't detect my monitor, gave wrong resolution.

Double hmmm... just discovered I can't Reply to my own 1st entry! SO...

Thank you EVERYBODY WHO HAS HELPED & TRIED TO HELP! As just stated to Magic B...
THE PROBLEM I MENTIONED ABOVE MIGHT NOT MATTER NOW BECAUSE:

- I'm Now using a smaller/older monitor that seems to work fine
- there may or may not be a problem with my motherboard's built-in video, But...
- I'll at least read offered help, & if I can apply it easily, will give it a try. - I won't attempt complex solutions that are way over my head, but thank you anyway to those who offered some!

HOWEVER..I'm still wanting to know:

1. IS there a program which one can run, or re-run, after installing Trisquel (or probably any GNU/Linux distro) that will re-check one's computer system to detect something that is either newly added, or perhaps not detected - for whatever reason - during the installation? __________
2. Does the installation process create a LOG file of its own complete process?__
IF so, what is its filename?______ and where can one find it?______ and, if its not a plain text file, what program does one use to read it?______
The answers to those questions might help a LOT of us less skilled users to maybe answer some questions for ourselves, or at least help us provide YOU more skilled users with more useful info.

- I'll add a few comments to Replies below that are specific to those replies, &/or just to update or correct any info I've stated below. BUT I'll do so more for respect, and "interest", than any need for continued "Help" with this.

I really AM grateful that so many of YOU have HELPED, or at least tried to. Some of the more techy stuff that I can't use may still be helpful for someone with similar problems who reads replies here.

> Trisquel's
> default resolution setting (1024x768 & 76 Hz) - which I still can't change -

What is the output of

$ xrandr

I bought 2 1GB RAM modules yesterday, along with that new/used smaller monitor. Also belated realized that probably of the previous modules (a 512 & 1 !GB), only the 512 had been working! Bought them at a store that sells recycled computers etc.

Thank you too! Right after writing my previous reply, checked Wikepedia & found that out. I hadn't suspected it was just a simple cmd! Anyway, tried it. And a screenshot of the result is attached. Hope all above info enables someone to tell me how to get that monitor recognized & resolution fixed.

It's not just missing from Ubuntu but from Debian too starting with Debian 8 (Jessie.)

And that is why people using SIS graphics cannot upgrade to Debian Jessie, as reported for instance in this post:

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=133773

You can choose whichever directory/folder you wish. Cd means 'change directory'. ~/ is your home directory.

The yellow box has multiple commands which must be executed line by line.

#edit#
Spelling

1. As loldier wrote: paste every line, one by one, in the terminal and press [Enter] after each line to execute it; in that way, if an error is printed, we can know what command failed (show us the error!).
2. No, only the last command affects the system, installing the SiS driver that the previous commands build.
3. Those are the answers, indeed.
4. That 'cd' (which means "Change Directory") does not matter much: it is the folder where the 'wget' command will download http://xorg.freedesktop.org/releases/individual/driver/xf86-video-sis-0.10.9.tar.bz2 , where the 'tar' command will uncompress it and where the subsequent commands (but the last) will build the driver that 'sudo make install' will finally install.

If the terminal scares you (it should not), you can do the first steps graphically:
#graphically: install the packages "build-essential", "xorg-dev", "xutils-dev", "automake" and "libtool", for instance using the "Synaptic Package Manager";
#graphically: download http://xorg.freedesktop.org/releases/individual/driver/xf86-video-sis-0.10.9.tar.bz2 clicking on that link now;
#graphically: using your file browser, open the folder where the "xf86-video-sis-0.10.9.tar.bz2" archive was downloaded (a folder named "Download", I guess);
#graphically: right-click on that archive to open the contextual menu that should propose you to "uncompress" (or whatever it is called) the archive: do so;
#graphically: right-click on the newly created "xf86-video-sis-0.10.9" to open the contextual menu that should propose you to "open in a terminal" (or whatever it is called): do so and execute, one by one, the following commands in the terminal;
autoconf
automake
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make
sudo make install
#graphically (optional): you can close the terminal and, using the [Del] key in your file browser (for instance), you can remove the "xf86-video-sis-0.10.9.tar.bz2" archive and the "xf86-video-sis-0.10.9" folder: you will not need them anymore (if everything went well above).

Do you see why commands are better instructions? They are shorter, they do not include words like "I guess", "should" and "or whatever it is called", which are kind of mandatory in instructions involving graphical interfaces: the exact instruction depend on the exact version of your desktop environment of choice.

I understand that the terminal is intimidating at first, especially if you don't understand what the commands are doing. Magic Banana already covered some of this, but here's an explanation of what each command does. I'm also adding in a few extra lines to help you understand what's happening. Hopefully that will make you feel more comfortable running them.

sudo apt-get install build-essential xorg-dev xutils-dev automake libtool

This installs the packages build-essential, xorg-dev, xutils-dev, automake, and libtool. The graphical equivalent would be to search for each package individually in Synaptic and installing them. Since installing software requires more privileges than a regular user, we need to begin the command with 'sudo', which means "superuser do" (do this as superuser). The use of 'sudo' is why you need to type your password.

cd ~/ #or whatever directory you want to use for this build

"cd" means "change directory." It is the graphical equivalent of double clicking on a directory in your file manager.

echo ~/

"echo" prints back your command to the terminal. In this case, it will print not '~/' but '/home/[user]', revealing that '~' is just a shorter way to refer to your home directory. Therefore 'cd ~/' takes you to your home directory. Your home directory is where you begin when you open a new terminal, so you only need this line if you want to build somewhere else.

echo #comment

There output is blank, because a '#' and everything following it is a comment and gets ignored, so you actually don't have to delete aloniv's comment when you paste that line into the terminal.

ls

'ls' lists the contents of the current directory. If you are in your home folder you should see Documents, Downloads, Music, etc.

wget http://xorg.freedesktop.org/releases/individual/driver/xf86-video-sis-0.10.9.tar.bz2

"wget" followed by a URL downloads whatever is at that that URL. It is quite useful for large downloads or an unstable internet connection, because if your download is interrupted you can use 'wget -c [URL]' to continue the download where it left off. (The 'c' option means "continue.")

ls

This will print the contents of the current directory again. You'll see that the file we downloaded, xf86-video-sis-0.10.9.tar.bz2, is now listed.

tar -xjf xf86-video-sis-0.10.9.tar.bz2

A .tar.bz file is a compressed archive. The 'tar' command extracts it. the 'x' option means extract. The 'j' option means that the compression format is bzip2 (which we know from the .bz2 extension). The 'f' means that the next part of the command is the file we want to extract.

ls

This will list the contents of the current directory again. You'll see that the previous command create a directory called 'xf86-video-sis-0.10.9'

cd xf86-video-sis-0.10.9/

Change to the new directory.

autoconf
automake
./configure --prefix=/usr/local


These commands prepare to compile the program.

ls

Notice that the contents of this directory include a file called 'Makefile'

make

'make' compiles the program. 'make' gets its instructions for how to compile the program from the Makefile.

sudo make install

'make install' installs the program. 'make' also gets its instructions for how to install the program (which files go where?) from the Makefile. Since we are installing the program system-wide, we need to use 'sudo' again.