Wide Screen distortion

[Derek Broughton]

Howard Coles Jr. wrote:

> On Thursday 09 August 2007 08:21:31 am Derek Broughton wrote:
>> Howard Coles Jr. wrote:
>> > On Tuesday 07 August 2007 09:52:28 pm Brendan wrote:
>> >> On Tuesday 07 August 2007, Derek Broughton wrote:
>> >> > Brendan wrote:
>> >> > > On Tuesday 07 August 2007, Tim Johnson wrote:
>> >> > >> On Tuesday 07 August 2007, Tim Johnson wrote:
>> >> > >> > Hi:
>> >> > >> > I have acquired a new widescreen monitor. Nice to have all the
>> >> > >> > viewing "real estate", but things a now a bit "stretched
>> >> > >> > horizontally". Is there any adjustments to be done from X or
>> >> > >> > KDE? Notes:
>> >> > >> > kubuntu 7.04 amd64, KDE 3.5.6. Acer X221W monitor.
>> >> > >>
>> >> > >>   Addendum: Resolution is set at 1680X1050, default depth=24
>> >> > >>                    xorg.conf
>> >> > >
>> >> > > same monitor and resolution here...
>> >> > > Everything looks dandy.
>> >> >
>> >> > I don't believe that it can actually be using that resolution.  If
>> >> > it's using a normal ratio resolution, you'll see stretching.  If
>> >> > it's really using 1680x1050, you won't.
>> >>
>> >> I am using 1680x1050, really. I swear.
>> >> Everything looks ok.
>> >>
>> >> Section "Device"
>> >>         Identifier      "NVIDIA"
>> >>         Driver          "nvidia"
>> >>         BusID           "PCI:4:0:0"
>> >> EndSection
>> >>
>> >> Section "Monitor"
>> >>         Identifier      "Generic Monitor"
>> >>         Option          "DPMS"
>> >> EndSection
>> >>
>> >> Section "Screen"
>> >>         Identifier      "Default Screen"
>> >>         Device          "NVIDIA"
>> >>         Monitor         "Generic Monitor"
>> >>         DefaultDepth    24
>> >>         SubSection "Display"
>> >>                 Depth           24
>> >>                 Modes           "1680x1050"
>> >>         EndSubSection
>> >> EndSection
>> >
>> > True this is what your xorg.conf file *says* but that doesn't mean that
>> > this is what your resolution actually *is*.
>>
>> Yes, it is.
> 
> No it isn't, well maybe in this case, but not always.  I've seen it scale
> down when the requested resolution doesn't suit it (yes, even though there
> was the
> only 1 resolution setting).  So, no, just because your xorg.conf says this
> or that it doesn't necessarily mean that's what your x session is running
> at. The problem here is that I replied to the wrong message so what I said
> was wrong for Brendan, but not wrong generally speaking.  :-D

LOL.  OK, I can see your point - if the hardware can't handle what's
specified in the xorg.conf, it can't possibly use that value.  I was
working from the empirical side - Brendan had a wide-screen monitor showing
undistorted images, so I think it had to be correct (because ime, the
fallbacks will never be 16:9 or 16:10 ratio displays).  That certainly
wouldn't be the case in a 4:3 ratio screen, where the fallback could look
normal (but oversized).

> 
> I meant the "Generic Monitor" section, I use Generic Monitor, but I have a
> few
> more entries than what he was showing.  Besides, I replied to the wrong
> message so this isn't going to get us anywhere.
> 
Yeah, I understand, but I'm still not seeing the problem with "Generic
Monitor".  You can call it anything you want, and if you only have one
resolution you care about, it can be a really simple definition (as
Brendan's is).  Probably most of us have something named Generic Monitor -
or something similar - because that's what we got the first time we
installed Ubuntu.
-- 
derek