Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 21:21:09 -0800 From: Joseph Vella <satyam@sklinks.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: TFT monitors and Xorg Message-ID: <200603102121.09516.satyam@sklinks.com> In-Reply-To: <20060310185757.269deed0.dick@nagual.st> References: <20060310185757.269deed0.dick@nagual.st>
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On Friday 10 March 2006 09:57, dick hoogendijk wrote:
> Hello,
>
> Probably a stupid question, but I'll take my chances.
> For years now I only used "normal" monitors on windows, linux, FreeBSD
> but soon I'll get a Samsung 930BF TFT screen.
>
> What I'd like to know is, if Xorg is capable of "seeing" this monitor
> and sets the right options. I know it does a good job with other
> monitors, but as I understand TFT's are quite different in some
> aspects.
>
> Do TFT's use HorizSync and VertRefresh the same way as normal monitors?
>
> Maybe I worry about nothing, but I hope someone will explain things to
> me than.
No you don't have to worry, Xorg has no problems with them. I haven't even
had to specify Hsync and VertRefresh. But if you want to, Xorg has the
options to get very specific with the settings. Here's a section of
xorg.conf for one of my monitors. It ran just as well without all this
stuff, but since I had the info, why not set it.
Section "Monitor"
DisplaySize 430 270 # mm
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "DEL"
ModelName "DELL 2005FPW"
HorizSync 30.0 - 83.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0
Mode "1680x1050"
DotClock 119.0
HTimings 1680 1728 1760 1840
VTimings 1050 1053 1059 1080
Flags "-HSync" "+VSync"
EndMode
EndSection
This monitor has a non-standard resolution of 1680x1050 and Xorg has no
problem with it.
The sharpness of a TFT display (especially on text) makes CRTs look quite
blurry in comparison. After getting used to TFT I can't use CRTs anymore.
There is one difficulty. That very sharpness actually makes many fonts appear
horrible. You might have to play with font.conf to get them looking good. I
had to set antialiasing, hinting, sub pixel rendering. I had to get the right
combo and had to set them differently for different font sizes and weights
and even family for some of them.
I've had poor results connecting some models with analog. The same monitor
had a night and day quality upgrade by using a DVI connection. You can find
good video cards with DVI for $50 (even less).
Another thing to note is that it's best to run them at their native
resolution. The Samsung you mentioned is only 1280x1024 for a large 19"
screen. For me that would make everything too large. If I was looking for
19", I would want a higher native resolution. If I was happy with that
resolution I would be looking for a 17" monitor. Of course I know nothing of
your usage and preferences so YMMV (just a heads up).
I think the most significant hardware upgrade I've done in 15 years was the
widescreen display. Being able to have two windows open side by side is a
whole new world.
This is what I have, right now it's on sale. Normally I'm not particularily
fond of Dell, but this monitor rocks:
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=20053YR&category_id=4009
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