This summer, I got a new Gateway MX3230. Cheapest laptop I could find! I put Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake on it, and had several fairly large issues to figure out. It’s working like a charm now, upgraded to Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft, so here are some of the fixes I’ve found.
Setting Screen Resolution to Widescreen
Modify the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:
sudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Scroll down to the portion entitle Section “Screen“, and change all instances of this:
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
to this:
Modes "1280x768" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
Save the file.
Restart the X server (Press Ctrl-Alt-Backspace)
Getting Sound Working
Open Volume Control, go to Preferences, and select all tracks to be visible. Then go to the Switches tab, and UNCHECK External Amplifier.
Thanks to AlainM for that! Link on Ubuntu Forums