[olug] Ubuntu 8.10 RC X.Org Resolution problems

[Amy Mason]

Hey,

 I have an X.Org issue.  I can't get the resolution to offer better than
800x600 no matter what I try.  Here are the stats of the box in question:

Compaq Presario 6029

AMD Athlon XP 2100 (1.73GHz)
512MB RAM (pc2100)
DVD -RW Drive
48x CD Drive
Nvidia GeForce2 (integrated)
56k Modem
NIC
Dell 19 inch widescreen monitor running through a Trendnet KVM swith.

X.Org is 7.4, I believe in this distro, and I read that the Legacy NVidia
drivers are not compatible with this version of X.

Yes, I know I shouldn't be playing with a RC version of anything until I
know more, but Ubuntu 8.04, and 7.10 did the same damn thing, and Mandriva
One 2009 won't even boot the LiveCD on this system. (I know my Mandriva disk
is fine, it works great on my other box.)  Any time I installed the legacy
drivers in the other distros X would crash and I would have to restore
xorg.conf from backup, or fix it using the tool in recovery mode. (Ubuntu
7.10, and 8.04, which was a network upgrade.)

When I installed 8.10, it appeared to use the NV driver on install and first
boot, but the proof of that seems to have disappeared on subsequent boots,
and I still can't get a decent resolution.  Any thoughts?

I would appreciate advice for either fixing this problem or finding a
differnt distro that meets a few criteria.

A. Works with this Video card
B. Fairly newb friendly. (I am happy to go to the terminal, but I tend to
still need step by step instructions, and will probably ask a lot about what
I am doing.)
C. Needs to run with gnome as the GUI (it has the accessibility framework I
need).
D. Prefer Debian based, though my attempts with Mandriva should say how
important this actually is.

Honestly, I am comfortable with either option. I would minimally prefer to
fix this install, but I don't mind distro-hopping either.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at this, and help me. I have
spent hours on the Ubuntu forums and Google, and my twitter is littered with
comments on my failed attempts to fix the issue.

Also, let me know if there is any more information you need.

Amy