X woes mean I can only use 640x480. The control center is off the screen in all directions for this. I am only able to use it because I am not a new user and know how to drag windows around when I can't reach the titlebar. Either I can see the left-hand selection stuff, in which case I can't see all the right-hand options, or vice versa. If I move so I can use the options on the right, then I can either see the options and heading at the top, or the save, try, revert etc stuff. It took me an hour to set the preferences I like, and they are not complicated and I know where to find them first time. Sorry, this is unusable :(
GNOME 1.2 was specifically not designed with 640x480 as it's minimum resolution (800x600 is.) Using a smaller font may help some, here, but I think you're somewhat out of luck here.