[2211] in Release_7.7_team
Re: GX110 looks good.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Greg Hudson)
Thu Apr 13 13:25:38 2000
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 13:25:29 -0400
Message-Id: <200004131725.NAA01354@egyptian-gods.mit.edu>
From: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>
To: Karl Ramm <kcr@1ts.org>
Cc: Bill Cattey <wdc@MIT.EDU>, owls@MIT.EDU, release-team@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "13 Apr 2000 02:54:11 EDT."
<uusya6io5ik.fsf@ORTHANC.MIT.EDU>
>> Greg is investigating bigger default fonts.
Well, I can imagine a couple of options:
1. We could install a server resource like "*font" to some
carefully selected font dependent upon the screen
resolution (or using point size, which might work). Then
we see how badly X applications break.
2. We could specify a command-line font argument to every X
application we start up by default or from a graphical
interface like dash or the mwm menus.
I'm not too sanguine about either option, but we could try the first
one. There may be other options I don't know about.
> Uh, the old systems could do 1600x1200x32, it was just nearly
> unreadable on those monitors. What's particularly relevant is the
> refresh rate, what the actual dot pitch of the monitor is, and, of
> course, what it ends up looking like.
So, the new machines come with Dell P991 monitors. The Dell web page
claims:
Dot pitch/Aperture grille pitch .24-.25mm
Horizontal scan range 30-170kHz
Vertical scan range 48-120Hz
Optimal resolution 1280x1024@85Hz
Maximum resolution 1600x1200@85Hz
(I can't find specs on the existing P990 monitors. Nice of Dell not
to provide specs for monitors they used to sell a few months ago. If
we knew what the monitor really was, presumably we could find specs
from the manufacturer.)
The X configuration came up a little differently from what the specs
say. From XF86Config:
HorizSync 30-96
VertRefresh 48-120
and from the startup messages, the 1600x1200@85Hz mode gets discarded:
(--) SVGA: Mode "1600x1200" needs hsync freq of 105.77 kHz. Deleted.
I really don't know how these values are picked, so I'm not sure if
the web page has inaccuracies or if the HorizSync range in the
XF86Config is coming out overly conservative. At any rate:
* Our current install gives us 1600x1200@75Hz on a GX110 with
a P991.
* The monitor's dot pitch is about .25mm.
* Dell claims the monitor has an "optimal resolution" of
1280x1024, whatever that means.
> In general, 1600x1200 is only rarely usable on 19" monitor.
When you make this statement, are you assuming that the font remains
the same size (in pixels) or that people will choose bigger fonts?
That is, if I could choose between X by Y and 2X by 2Y with fonts
twice as large, and the refresh rate for 2X by 2Y was acceptable,
would limited dot pitch or whatnot make 2X by 2Y would be less usable?
