[2213] in Release_7.7_team
Re: GX110 looks good.
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Karl Ramm)
Thu Apr 13 14:08:21 2000
To: Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU>
Cc: Bill Cattey <wdc@MIT.EDU>, owls@MIT.EDU, release-team@MIT.EDU
From: Karl Ramm <kcr@1ts.org>
Date: 13 Apr 2000 14:08:17 -0400
In-Reply-To: Greg Hudson's message of "Thu, 13 Apr 2000 13:25:29 -0400"
Message-Id: <uusk8i1oovi.fsf@ORTHANC.MIT.EDU>
Greg Hudson <ghudson@MIT.EDU> writes:
> >> 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.
Won't work for everything, and doesn't work for people with particularly
customized dotfiles. People will complain.
> 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.
Even less functional.
> 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.)
I think this is more or less identical to the P990s.
>
> * 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.
Then we should probably go with it.
> > 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?
I'm assuming 'fixed', so the font remains the same pixelsize, but it's
overstating things to a) just worry about fonts, and b) say 'we can
increase the font size' unless you can increase the font size *EVERYWHERE*
(such as in netscape displaying pages that specify point sizes explicitly)
In general, single pixel width things looks eyestrain-causingly funny, and
I think the dot pitch on the old monitors was about .24.
kcr
