How can I get 1280x720 screen resolution?

I am very new to Linux, so please excuse me if I seem to be missing something obvious. I got Zorin because it seemed like a great way to get into Linux and still be able to actually find things, since I can make the menus look like windows menus.

I am having great difficulty changing my screen resolution to 1280x720. In my screen settings I have only options for 640x480 and 800x600. I have been searching the web for a solution to this.. and most of the solutions say to edit \etc\x11\xorg.conf but I do not have an xorg.conf in this folder. So I did a search on missing Xorg.cong, and appearantly it is no longer there by default, and there are solutions for creating the file, however with Zorin, I am unable to follow these directions. They say to switch to a virtual console by pressing CTRL-ALT-F1 and when I try that in Zorin, absolulty nothing happens. I try entering the commands in just a terminal window and things do not work as expected. the first command stops the graphical environment, which worked, but then I am left with a black screen I can type on, but no prompt and no reaction to any commands.

I really like Zorin, but this screen resolution thing is really annoying.. everything is just SO Gigantic, I cannot see hardly anything at all.. I can't even look at most websites without scrolling left and right constantly to read them.

I would not even mind 800x600 if I could get the screen to look right.. why are all the icons so LARGE? Just for fun I set my windows XP computer to 800x600 and it is actually almost acceptable at this resolution, The icons and everything are nowhere near as huge as they are in Zorin. Is there some way to shrink all the icons and fonts and things to they are more in the proportion of a windows computer? Even if I get the 1280x720 resolution to work, things will still be WAY too big. I don't need my computer icon to take up 1/6 of the screen

Any Help with this would be much appreciated!

Hi Zaaphod, Welcome to the Zorn Forums. I'm not an expert on Zorn but I have been working with Linux a while. I would help if you could give us some info on you system especially what video card you are running. It sounds like to me that when Zorn installed it could not load the proper driver for you system. If you are running a Nivida card go to additional drivers in the control panel let it load then pick the (Recommended one) click on Activate and then you should be able to adjust your resolution.

I ran into the same problem as I use my Toshiba 720P 42" LCD TV to play movies for my son while I work from an extended monitor. This may not apply but it should prove to be useful for a few people. The reason Zorin only offered 1920 x 1080 is because my HDMI ran into my audio/video receiver and from the receiver to the TV. Once I connected the HDMI directly to the TV I was offered a 1280 x 720 resolution. Apparently my a/v receiver shows the OS 1080p and then down converts to the TV. One note, Windows 7 worked OK through the receiver, but I had to manually adjust the screen a little, and I would have to randomly re-adjust it from time to time. I can now rid my life of Windows once and for all without paying $1200 for a Mac!!!