So, the "real" resolution of my monitor is 1024x768. That's what I'd use on my docked Windows laptop, and what I'd use on my Xubuntu desktop connected directly. When I connect a switch, to switch between the two, however, the ubuntu machine's resolution changes. Everything's still proportional, and it still thinks it's doing 1024x768, but the icons and fonts appear larger. Not 800x600 larger, but still big. When I used Xubuntu Precise, I created an xorg.conf file to set a resolution of 1280x1024 which made it look the way it does without the switch ... as a workaround. When I upgraded to Trusty, I lost this. I tried to re-create it, but doesn't seem to load my file. Ideally, I'd like to correct the original problem, but I'd settle for being able to up the resolution. I searched for a while, and tried to do it, but I'm giving up ... please help me out.

Controller: Intel Corporation 82915G/P/GV/GL/PL/910GL Memory Controller Hub (rev 04)

Monitor: NEC MultiSync LCD 1850e http://www.necdisplay.com/documents/UserManuals/LCD1850E_manual.pdf

OS: Xubuntu 14.04 Trusty

/etc/X11/xorg.conf:

# YOU CREATED THIS FILE
# sudo leafpad /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "Device"
    Identifier    "Configured Video Device"
EndSection

Section "Monitor" 
    Identifier    "NEC LCD1850E" 
    # I found Synchronization Range at:
    # http://www.necdisplay.com/documents/UserManuals/LCD1850E_manual.pdf
    HorizSync    31.0-82.0 
    VertRefresh  55.0-85.0
EndSection 

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Default Screen"
    Monitor        "NEC LCD1850E"
    Device        "Configured Video Device"
    SubSection "Display" 
        Depth    24 
        Modes    "1280x1024" "1280x960" "1024x768" "800x600" "848x480" "640x480"       
    EndSubSection 
EndSection