NX Client screen resolution issue (from Mac OS X to Ubuntu)

Question

I have an Ubuntu machine that I'm connecting to using the NOMACHINE NX Client. I would to increase the screen resolution (ideally to 1600 x 1200), but I can't seem to do so using the client settings. Is there some sort of limitation or some configuration file I need to edit on the Ubuntu box to increase it?

Answer 1

I faced the exact same problem when connecting from Mac 10.8 to Ubuntu 10.04 via NX, and I used xrandr to fix it.

Xrandr, or X Resize, Rotate and Reflect Extension (RandR)[2] is an X Window System extension, which allows clients to dynamically change X screens, so as to resize, rotate and reflect the root window of a screen.

Follow these steps:

1. On your Ubuntu machine, run xrandr:

   $ xrandr

   ~$ xrandr SZ: Pixels Physical Refresh 0 1024 x 768 ( 347mm x 260mm ) 60
1 160 x 120 ( 54mm x 41mm ) 60
2 320 x 240 ( 108mm x 81mm ) 60
3 640 x 480 ( 217mm x 163mm ) 60
4 800 x 600 ( 271mm x 203mm ) 60
Current rotation - normal
Current reflection - none
Rotations possible - normal
Reflections possible - none

   This gives you a list of all the available resolutions supported by your Ubuntu computer.

2. If you want to add a new resolution, say 1680 X 1050, add it:
   $ $ cvt 1680 1050
   This outputs:
   ~$ cvt 1680 1050
1680x1050 59.95 Hz (CVT 1.76MA) hsync: 65.29 kHz; pclk: 146.25 MHz
Modeline "1680x1050_60.00" 146.25 1680 1784 1960 2240 1050 1053 1059 1089 -hsync +vsync

3. Now you need to create a modeline

   $ xrandr --newmode <Modeline>
   Replace <Modeline> with the modeline of the previous output:
   $ xrandr --newmode "1680x1050_60.00" 146.25 1680 1784 1960 2240 1050 1053 1059 1089 -hsync +vsync

4. That's it. Now when you run xrandr again, you would see that the newly added resolution in the list:
   ~$ xrandr SZ: Pixels Physical Refresh 0 1024 x 768 ( 347mm x 260mm ) 60
1 160 x 120 ( 54mm x 41mm ) 60
2 320 x 240 ( 108mm x 81mm ) 60
3 640 x 480 ( 217mm x 163mm ) 60
4 800 x 600 ( 271mm x 203mm ) 60
5 1680 x 1050 ( 569mm x 356mm ) 60
Current rotation - normal
Current reflection - none
Rotations possible - normal
Reflections possible - none

5. Establish a new NX connection to your Ubuntu--use the KDE/Gnome and it picks up the highest available resolution from that list supported by your client.

Answer 2

If you're using the NX Player version 4, you're supposed to be able to do this by changing the resolution in the server's OS settings, but in Ubuntu 12.04 the Displays panel is blank during an NX session.

You could try using xrandr to change the resolution that way, but I haven't figured out how to make that work with NX yet. http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-change-display-resolution-settings-using-xrandr.html