How to set 32 bit display in guest Ubuntu?

[kchung]

Host OS: Windows XP
Guest OS: Ubuntu 8.04
Guest addtion installed.

When starting on ubuntu, there is a warning from VirtualBox:

"This virtual machine windown is optimized to work in 32 bit color mode, but the color quality of the virtual display is currently set to 16 bit."

How do I set the display to 32 bit in ubuntu?

Thanks.

[JshWright]

Are you using the vboxvideo video driver? You may need to manually configure your xorg.conf to use it.

Note that "32 bit" is really a misnomer. It's 24 bit + an 8 bit alpha layer (which is implied), so in linux you're looking for 24 bit video.

~JW

[kchung]

I have the following xorg.conf. Guess it was generated and I haven't modify it. Should I add a "driver vboxvideo" to screen section? Guess I'll need to read up on xorg.conf man page. Thanks.

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Generic Keyboard"
Driver "kbd"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Configured Mouse"
Driver "vboxmouse"
Option "CorePointer"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Configured Monitor"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Default Screen"
Monitor "Configured Monitor"
Device "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Default Layout"
Screen "Default Screen"
EndSection

[Sasquatch]

Should I add a "driver vboxvideo" to screen section?

No, you need to set it to the Device Section where it mentions the video card. Screen is a section for your display.

[kchung]

Adding a "driver vboxvideo" to the device section didn't seem to help. I'll live with the warning for now, and figure out how to fix it later. Thanks.

[JesseT77]

I had essentially the same problem.

After reading through endless flamewars on the ubuntu forums of people being incensed about the "marketing hype" of 32 bit color, and noone addressing the true issue of "what to do when app X (in this case a vbox host system) complains about wanting 32 bit color", I found this thread.

So, my xorg.conf exactly matched kchungs. reading man docs, the directive:
Driver "vboxvideo"

should be added to the Device section. Note: Capitol D in driver and double quotes around vboxvideo.

I tried exactly this, using "24" as my bit depth (for some reason my install wanted to default to 16 *shrug*) and now Vbox no longer complains about my video mode. *win!*

I hope this data helps out more folk.

- - Jesse

[jvuz]

And how did you add that to the device section (where do I find the device section)?

Jvuz

[Sasquatch]

And how did you add that to the device section (where do I find the device section)?

Jvuz

This should be in your Xorg.conf file in /etc/X11. However, later versions of Ubuntu, like 8.10 and the new 9.04, no longer use that file for initial settings. You can still use it to change a few settings, but most is done by HAL. There are plenty of example xorg.conf settings here on the forum. Just tweak that a bit until you're satisfied.