From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Dec 11 23:37:49 1997 Return-Path: Received: (from root@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) id XAA28172 for questions-outgoing; Thu, 11 Dec 1997 23:37:49 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions) Received: from Tandem.com (suntan.tandem.com [192.216.221.8]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.7/8.8.7) with ESMTP id XAA28156 for ; Thu, 11 Dec 1997 23:37:42 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from grog@lemis.com) Received: from papillon.lemis.com ([168.87.69.104]) by Tandem.com (8.8.8/2.0.1) with ESMTP id XAA13902; Thu, 11 Dec 1997 23:37:37 -0800 (PST) Received: (grog@localhost) by papillon.lemis.com (8.8.8/8.6.12) id PAA10313; Fri, 12 Dec 1997 15:35:53 +0800 (CST) Message-ID: <19971212153551.29026@lemis.com> Date: Fri, 12 Dec 1997 15:35:51 +0800 From: Greg Lehey To: Drifter Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Making the X-Display Sane References: <199712120425.XAA01566@stratos.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: Mutt 0.84e In-Reply-To: <199712120425.XAA01566@stratos.net>; from Drifter on Thu, Dec 11, 1997 at 11:25:57PM -0500 Organisation: LEMIS, PO Box 460, Echunga SA 5153, Australia Phone: +61-8-8388-8286 Fax: +61-8-8388-8725 Mobile: +61-41-739-7062 WWW-Home-Page: http://www.lemis.com/~grog Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk On Thu, Dec 11, 1997 at 11:25:57PM -0500, Drifter wrote: > > I recently posted this to comp.windows.x, but did not get a response. > I was hoping to get some advice on a non-critical, but very annoying > aspect of XFree86 (3.3.1.). running on FBSD-2.2.5 > My default resolution is set at 800x600, 16 bits, which I believe to > be pretty standard. Unfortunately, many applications in X-land seem to assume > resolutions of Hestonian proportions, as if every one has 1500x1500 video > displays. No, they're out of date. Nowadays it's 2048x1536. Seriously, 800x600 is rather small. I don't know of any board/monitor pair that can't be coaxed to do 1024x768x8, possibly in interlaced mode. I find it very difficult to work below that. I'm currently using such a display on a 14" monitor running off my laptop, and though it's nothing to my setup at home, it's much better than the Microsoft boxes around here which run 800x600 on the same monitors. > Many applications are too large to fit on the screen, and with the > virtual desktop disabled (I don't like it, personally), I have to do the > ol' right-click-move, resize, right-click move routine on at least half of > the applications. Yup, that's about the best you can do with 800x600. > Keep in mind, I *have* double-checked that I am in the right resolu- > tion (I know about CTRL-ALT-KeyPad+, etc), and while 1024x768 > with 8-bit color is theoretically possible on a NEC MultiSync XV14 monitor, > I am very uncomfortable with the weird oil-and-water pattern that warps > my display if I try this. In any case, even that resolution wouldn't be > enough with some apps. Hmmm. That's moiré. You shouldn't be getting that. Some kind of different root pattern should help get rid of it. > If I am lucky, the app. will remember my preferences when I resize > (not likely). Often, there are X-resources to set default geometries (often, > this works but is a major pain) Some applications, however, (usually > games like Xsoldier, Xboing, or xgolddig) refuse to be resized and don't > appear to have settable geometries). > In some cases, the window fits but the decorations are pushed off the > side (I use AfterStep) but, as I said, some would not come even close to > fitting on the screen. > This wouldn't be a big deal, if it weren't for the fact that it > seems that a disproportionately large number of applications do this. > > Is there any thing I can do to change this? (Short of buying a super- > high res, 19-inch monitor with 4megs of video ram). Am I doomed to set > *geometry resources all the time (if I'm "lucky")? Or will I have to > just deal with it? Sorry about the length of this letter, but this is > really getting to be aggravating. Basically, if your applications need more than 800x600, I don't know what alternatives you have. I'd seriously suggest trying 1024x768 for a while and using some kind of root screen pattern to get rid of the moiré. Greg