Resize VNC screen

Question

I would like to be able to resize a VNC session, where the Ubuntu 12.10 server is running with the default VNC server by selecting "Allow other users to view your desktop" and "Allow other users to control your desktop" under Desktop Sharing Preferences.

I access this from UltraVNCviewer on Windows, and under 12.04, I was able to use xrandr -fb 1550x800 to resize the screen but the behaviour seems to have changed in 12.10 which changes the scaling to be incorrect. I would like to try the suggestion here however I need to know where the vnc4server is started in the Ubuntu 12.10 boot sequence to add the required switches to the vncserver start-up. Where is this started up, and is it safe to make changes to that start-up script, or is it better left alone to avoid breaking other stuff?

Many thanks.

Answer 1

Since default desktop sharing in ubuntu is facilitated by vino-server, you should likely disable or remove this first, then install your vnc4server.

If you launch vnc4server as a daemon you can edit the script in /etc/init.d OR you can just put a line in rc.local to launch it with whatever commandline options you wish at boot.