Cold feet

[Eric Weir]

On 01/12/2008 Kevin Fishburne wrote:
> Trinitrons are good monitors. Other than Windows and Ubuntu using two 
> different screen resolutions (1280x1024 vs. 1024x768 for example), the 
> only remaining factor is the refresh rate. A higher refresh rate 
> results in a "crisper" looking display. To be absolutely safe, I'd 
> look up your monitor's ranges for horizontal and vertical sync and 
> modify //etc/X11/xorg.conf/ to reflect those values.
The monitor's running at the same resolution on both machines -- 
1024x768. I looked up the horizontal and vertical sync rates on the web. 
They are, respectively, 31.5 to 70 kHz and 50 to 120 Hz. Below is the 
monitor section of the /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:

Section "Monitor"
  identifier "Dell D825HT"
  vendorname "Dell"
  modelname "Dell D825HT"
  HorizSync 31.0-70.0
  VertRefresh 50.0-120.0
  modeline  "640x480 at 60" 25.2 640 656 752 800 480 490 492 525 -vsync -hsync
  modeline  "640x480 at 72" 31.5 640 664 704 832 480 489 491 520 -vsync -hsync
  modeline  "640x480 at 75" 31.5 640 656 720 840 480 481 484 500 -vsync -hsync
  modeline  "640x480 at 85" 36.0 640 696 752 832 480 481 484 509 -vsync -hsync
  modeline  "800x600 at 56" 36.0 800 824 896 1024 600 601 603 625 +hsync +vsync
  modeline  "800x600 at 72" 50.0 800 856 976 1040 600 637 643 666 +hsync +vsync
  modeline  "800x600 at 75" 49.5 800 816 896 1056 600 601 604 625 +hsync +vsync
  modeline  "800x600 at 85" 56.3 800 832 896 1048 600 601 604 631 +hsync +vsync
  modeline  "800x600 at 60" 40.0 800 840 968 1056 600 601 605 628 +hsync +vsync
  modeline  "832x624 at 75" 57.284 832 864 928 1152 624 625 628 667 -vsync 
-hsync
  modeline  "1024x768 at 85" 94.5 1024 1072 1168 1376 768 769 772 808 
+hsync +vsync
  modeline  "1024x768 at 75" 78.8 1024 1040 1136 1312 768 769 772 800 
+hsync +vsync
  modeline  "1024x768 at 70" 75.0 1024 1048 1184 1328 768 771 777 806 
-vsync -hsync
  modeline  "1024x768 at 60" 65.0 1024 1048 1184 1344 768 771 777 806 
-vsync -hsync
  modeline  "1024x768 at 43" 44.9 1024 1032 1208 1264 768 768 776 817 
+hsync interlace +vsync
  modeline  "1152x864 at 75" 108.0 1152 1216 1344 1600 864 865 868 900 
+hsync +vsync
  modeline  "1280x960 at 60" 102.1 1280 1360 1496 1712 960 961 964 994 
-hsync +vsync
  modeline  "1280x1024 at 60" 108.0 1280 1328 1440 1688 1024 1025 1028 1066 
+hsync +vsync
  modeline  "1400x1050 at 60" 122.61 1400 1488 1640 1880 1050 1051 1054 
1087 -hsync +vsync
  gamma 1.0
EndSection

I copied the "modeline" lines because the Dell specifications page for 
the monitor says the maximum resolution is 1280x1024. However, I don't 
see anyway to change it in the Monitor & Display section of KDE's 
Systems Settings.
> After you change those values and save the file, restart X by pressing 
> Ctrl-Alt-Backspace. Log back in and try to change your refresh rate to 
> at least 60 Hz, or higher if your monitor supports it.
The refresh rate is already at 85 Hz.
> I use Gnome and not KDE, but even so that seems to be excessive memory 
> use. It is probably paging the disk a lot which would explain 
> everything being slow. You can try selectively disabling various 
> services and startup items.
What I checked in my first response to you was KSysGuard. I started out 
as Ubuntu, so I have the Gnome applications. I checked a couple other 
applications available on the advanced tab of the KDE System Settings 
page, System Services and Service Manager. They don't seem to be 
providing the same information. The latter two showed only a few 
services running, and didn't provide any information on amount of memory 
being used. And I think they showed only services, no applications.

I don't know if it's significant, but System Services reported the 
system to be operating at "Run Level: Multiuser mode [2]."
> ...I live in Norcross, which isn't exactly close, but you're welcome 
> to stop by one weekend if you want to give the laptop a try. I have 
> one room set up as my "computer lab" where I build the PCs and do all 
> my work.
I may do that, but for now thanks very much.

Sincerely,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eric Weir
Decatur, GA  USA
eeweir at bellsouth.net