Ubuntu Screen Resolution on Mac Mini

PDD

Hi Folks,

Ive recently just setup a Ubuntu virtual machine using VirtualBox on my Mac Mini however I am having problems with the screen resolution - it is stuck at 800x640. From a little bit of googling Ive discovered that this is to do with X and a few links point to editing xorg.conf. However other posts mention that X under 8.04 does auto-configuration which has happened in my case and all the values just seem to be default. Is there anyone who can clear this up?

I was also unable to find anyone who posted their xorg.conf file so I would know what/how to edit xorg.conf for the appropriate resolution. The reason I have posted here is that Im hoping someone out there has a Mac Mini running Ubuntu or Xubuntu and could shed some light on the subject?

Regards,

Dave

duffman85

have you installed the virtualbox guest additions after installing ubuntu?Setting this up usually lets you go to the full screen/correct resolution for your monitor.
There should be an "Install Virtualbox Guest additions" option in one of the menus at the
top of the screen.

Start up the ubuntu virtual machine and login into ubuntu.

Click on the "Install Virtualbox Guest additions"
In the menu and ubuntu will show it as a mounted cd.

How to setup guest additions should be in the help file.

J-blk

I'm pretty sure Duffman85 has given you the answer you're looking for. I've used Ubuntu 8.04 on both my Mini and my MBP in a VM and X is auto-configured. The only difference is that I am using VMWare's Fusion to run the VM and to get anything graphics related to work, I have to install the "VMWare Tools" package - I've never played with VirtualBox, but the setting about the additions Duffman85 mentioned, seems to be the equivalent setting of the "VMWare Tools" additions.

ZENER

The above all makes sense when you think about it. The Virtual Machine doesn't have direct access to the Macs graphics chip. Instead a virtual display is used and a driver to tell the guest OS is required to let it understand this display.

On Parallels Desktop with windows installed a check in the Device Manager on Windows shows the Display Card as a Parallels Video Device. Installing the Parallels tools installs the driver necessary to get it working.

What the lads above are suggesting is that the VM tools installer provides the information Ubuntu needs to access the virtual display system.

The downside of this is that any 3D effects the Gnome Desktop uses may not work as expected and 3D games are almost certainly a no go.

ZEN

PDD

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the late reply but thanks for so much feedback. I had already installed the "Virtualbox Guest additions" but it seemed to make no change.

After you suggested it I tried again, it mounted a CD image on the desktop with different scripts for i86 and AMD64. When I ran the script for i86 it popped up a terminal with a few lines of txt and a .... line for progress, it gave the all clear of finished successfully and the terminal closed. Restarted with no change.

I also tried the suggestions found here:

http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/2007/10/13/installing-guest-additions-for-ubuntu-guests-in-virtualbox/

But alas no joy :-( Is anyone else using VirtualBox or does everyone use Parallels or VMWare's Fusion? I had hoped to use VirtualBox to avoid shelling out for either of them as I only really need it for one windows app but it seems unavoidable.

Ive put a post up on VirtualBox's forum but Im not too hopeful about a helpful reply soon as the forum seems kinda dead, the only consulation is that I found someone having exactly the same problem as me.

Dave

PDD

Hi Folks,

Just thought people might be interested in an update, a post to the VirtualBox forum gave me this link:

http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/05/23/install-virtualbox-additions-for-an-ubuntu-804-guest/

After I manually ran the gues additions via the command below it rebooted and I had up to 1280 res

sudo /media/cdrom/VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

Dave