I'm not sure if this is a hardware or a software problem.

I have an Envision H193W monitor which is physically 16:10. I've used this monitor with Windows to display 16:9 widescreen resolutions like 1220x768. Now I'm trying to get this to display properly with Slackware and X.

Following the instructions found everywhwere online, I added a ModeLine "1440x900" with the timings retrieved from /var/log/Xorg.0.log where 1440x900 is listed as an additional Video Mode. Starting X with the x.org nv driver, I get a screen which claims to be 1440x900 but is squeezed horizontally to fit in a 4:3 shaped region on the monitor. I have limited ability to adjust the image size an I can't stretch it out to fill the whole screen. The monitor thinks it's in a 1440x900 mode at 60Hz refresh and 56KHz sync.

Is this a monitor issue, a issue with my NVidia GeForce FX 5200 or an X configuration issue?

Almost certainly software.

I expect your monitor doesn't like some aspect of that modeline.

The closed source nvidia driver usually works a lot better than the open source nv driver. That should be the first thing you try.

You can download it from nvidia.com
Maybe you can get it more cleanly from your distribution.

AFAICT, the driver gets this modeline from the monitor itself. I even tried recalculating a modeline from scratch using a document on the xorg website with similar results.

Yeah. I thought as much. I hate to be fiddling with external modules before I've even compiled a new kernel for myself.

Just to document the solution. The NVidia driver initially had the same problem with the image squashed on the screen. Removing the bad ModeLine allowed the NVidia driver to set 1440x900. No other drive could set that resolution.

The nvidia driver found or constructed a different modeline that the display liked. I assume it reported that modeline somewhere in the .log file. It would be interesting to compare that modeline to the one that caused the squashed display and get an idea what aspect matters to the display.