Ubuntu, screen resolution and graphic cards, well....it is still kind of complicated

I have spent most of my life in front of computers. 20 years later, Things on Ubuntu still scare me. I can only imagine what it must be like for a complete novice computer user. That would be a sadistic joke, put an Ubuntu machine in front of them.

Anyway, I had some issues with screen resolution again. This time I just wanted to increase my dual monitor resolution from 1280x800 to 1600x1024. Somehow, between nvidia and xorg; it won't let me keep my settings. Not just that, one monitor is fine...the other is not so fine. The only difference between the dual monitors. I am using a Nvidia 5300 on one and a 5200 on another. Same monitors.

EPIC FAIL!!!

Here is my post on Ubuntu. Maybe, in 5-6 years this will get fixed.

hey should have Mensa/GRE/College entrance exams and have a question, "How do you set your screen resolution on Ubuntu"

Anyway, I am having trouble setting my screen resolution and I had it working fine, now I going nuts trying to increase it.

Dual Monitor My setup:
OS: Ubuntu 7.10
Cards: Nvidia 5300 and 5200.
Monitors: Acer 20inches max res at 1680x1050.

What I had orginally (this worked fine for several months)
Resolution in xorg.conf: 1280x800.

This resolution worked fine but then I decided to increase my resolution to the preferred LCD settings, closer to 1680x1050.

I open nvidia-settings.

sudo nvidia-settings.

It has the resolutions:

1600x1024. I click on both of those monitors and set the resolutions. Everything works fine. I say overwrite my xorg.conf. So far, everything looks good.

But, when I logout or reboot, it doesn't keep the setting? It sets one monitor to 1280x800 and the other to 1600x1024? Where would it keep that setting?

A bug?

-----

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard0"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce PCX 5300"
BusID "PCI:2:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Videocard1"
Driver "nvidia"
VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation"
BoardName "GeForce FX 5200"
BusID "PCI:5:9:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Videocard0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "metamodes" "1600x1024 +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen1"
Device "Videocard1"
Monitor "Monitor1"
DefaultDepth 24
Option "TwinView" "0"
Option "metamodes" "1600x1024 +0+0"
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
EndSubSection

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Edited: Ok, I think I figured out my screen resolution issues. Apparently there are 15,000 ways to configure the resolution: 1. nvidia-settings. 2. xorg.conf. 3. gnome resolution screen settings 4. the graphics and screen settings? wtf?

But I still don't know which one is the default. Also, which one setting has priority.