Video Options (Resolution, Zoom, etc.)
 

Hello again to all you Linux gurus. Sorry for posting so many different threads in a short period of time but quite a few questions are coming up and I didn't want to put them all in one thread.

Here is my question....

First let me just say that I don't know much about all the monitor jargon even for Windows, so that could be the problem here in the first place. I have searched around for information on this but nothing I found solved the problem.

I am running Slack 9 and Fluxbox. In my XF86Config file, my default resolution is set to 1024 by something. There are also two other settings available. When I go into Flux, everything is crisp and clear as it should be and very readable, but everything on the screen is tiny... way too small for me to be staring at on a regular basis :). I know on Windows you can simply change the resolution and it accomplishes exactly what I want to do.

I tried editing the file, getting rid of the higher resolutions and forcing it to use lower ones, inserting a line "Virtual 800 600" in that section, etc., and I did succeed in making everything bigger. However, under these new settings, my clarity is lost. General windows and lines on the screen are fine, but the font (in everything) seems to be messed up. Here are some areas I've noticed it in:

1. In my terminal, my prompt is set with colors that have the ;1 or bold option stuck on the end. In the default resolution this appears fine, but in the lower resolutions these seem to be big and the letters run into each other.

2. On menus and text in dialog boxes, its almost as if some areas of the letters are pixelated. Its hard to describe, but the letters are not crisp and sharp and are not displaying properly for some reason. I can still read them, but they are not as they were before.

3. Especially in gAIM, the font is still WAY too small (but I guess that's another issue I have to deal with), and its even harder to read. Some words I have to make larger just to see what they say.

4. In Mozilla, web pages display more or less properly, but again, the letters aren't appearing quite like they should.

I'm wondering if this is just a problem that comes along with decreasing the resolution, or if this is a known issue and there is something I can change to make it all display better. I know my descriptions aren't the best, but the situation is hard to explain. If no one has any idea what is going on, I can figure out how to take a screenshot, host it, and give you the URL to it. Any ideas?

Thanks,
JMagi

I'm pretty sure there is a way to increase the icon and font size on your desktop to make things easier on the eyes without changing down to a fugly resolution. I use gnome personally so i'm not 100% sure. Right now i'm on my sisters (shudder) windows box so i can't really find out for you. As soon as i do i'll post it here. Best of luck JMagi!

Yeah, that would make sense, but it would have to affect everything (all the Fluxbox menus and toolbars, all application windows and text, etc.), so I guess it would have to be in XF86Config somewhere. I didn't see anything like that, but if you can find anything out I'd appreciate if you'd let me know. Actually the biggest problem with the size issue (no matter what resolution) is gAIM... I just can't read the text that other people are typing to me, but I'll search around some of their stuff and see if there is any workaround for that.

Thanks,
JMagi