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One for the linux guys...
JackNco - 18/11/06 at 10:46 PM

Hey
Ive just made the jump to Linux (On a second system)

Though it was about time, anyway im confused by the monitor setting.....

Ive set it to a 19" Hansol 920D monitor running on 1600*1200 resolution.... well its whats sitting on my desk so it seemed like a good idea but the setting also ask for

Display Size in mm x&y Axis (409*256 currently)
Sync Frequencies Horisontal 30-96 currently
Vertical 50-160 Currently

But some how it still looks/feels like its running at a lower refresh rate than my Windows System des on this monitor.

Anyone got any ideas?

The OS is SuSE 10.1 Running XGL - Also has anyone else had no luck getting the wbble windows working?

Thanx in advance

John


britishtrident - 19/11/06 at 09:38 AM

It could be a few things, --- if fonts are displaying fuzzy it could be anti-aliasing settings.

However -- I would sugest you Ditch SUSE I have tried it a few times and ended up chucking it after a few hours ---- the techies will tell you it had "high latency" compared to other Linux distros ie it runs like treacle. I also found it had hardware detection problems that can cause very slow running. Mandriva is better but not much.

A debian based distro with Knoppix or even better Kanotix hardware detection, ---- Mepis or Kanotix, would be a good bet but some of the others that aren't Debian basesed are also pretty good PCLinuxOS, Yoper and Fedora Core 6.

I don't include Unbuntu because although it is an excellent Debian based distro it is a general purpose release which needs a lot of configuring to make a proper desktop system.

Mepis 6 is Ubuntu but pre-configured for typical desktop use. However I particularly recommend the last version Mepis 3.4 which was Debian rather than Ubuntu based as it makes setting up monitors very easy durring install. With Mepis 6 or Ubuntu you have less control of refresh rates.
Or for a home server rather than work station Mepis Soho is excellent.


Kanotix is an improve Knoppix, specially configured for a good hard install ---- hardware detection is the best of any distro.

PCLinuxOS looks superb and is an easy install.

If you want pure cutting edge speed Yoper is the one.

Fedora Core 6 works looks superb and version 6 actually works more or less bug free unlike some earlier versions, only reason I don't use it is it dosen't have enough admin/system GUI tools for me.



[Edited on 19/11/06 by britishtrident]


the_fbi - 19/11/06 at 10:57 AM

Its most likely its not running at 1600x1200 because it doesn't think you can support it.

You can toggle through the resolutions its setup to support by using CTRL ALT and numpad + and -.

It'll be worthwhile checking out the X logs in /var/log/ probably Xorg???.log, its a long file but in there near the bottom you'll find it detecting your screen and its capabilities. It'll also say if it couldn't use a specific resolution you'd told it to.

X's config is handled by /etc/X11/XF86Config (or XF86Config-4), towards the bottom of that you'll find a few sections listing display depth and the resolutions for those depths.
Check which the default display depth your setup is using (probably 32) by looking at the section heading where its listed.
Then just put "1600x1200" in front of whatever resolutions are listed in the subsection for that display depth.
This'll make it default to 1600x1200 and the other resolutions it'll fall back to if it can't do that. So worthwhile putting in 1280x1024 too.

When you've made the changes, logout and restart the X server (or just do CTRL ALT Backspace (NOT DELETE)) which will kill your X session and restart it.

With regards to which dist. I started with Slackware 3.1, which seems like moons ago. But what you do learn with the Slackware/Debian style dists is how to manage a system via the console.
I stuck with slackware till 6.1 then moved to Debian which is very similar in its structure/setup and not by default a GUI desktop OS, which the RH/FC's/Suse's all are.
That said, I'm running FC6 on my spare box and laptop currently as its an excellent install & go OS.