My display is quite distorted, the OS centre knows my monitor, but can't configure X to fit properly. Is there a MEPIS equivalent to SUSEs sax2?

Nope, you'll have to manually edit X your configuration file most likely. If you need help editing just post back.

Eerath,

I run SuSE 10 and in 9.3 it set my monitor perfectly but in 10.0 I had to resort to manual confuiguration of my xorg.conf. I used xmode to generate the modelines for the resolution/refresh rates I wanted (I usually run 1920x1440 on each monitor, and 2048x1538 when viewing really large layouts or doing HEAVY multitasking, but it wanted to force either 1600x1200 or 2048x1536 on me, and would not even let me select 1920x1440).

Here is what to do:

1. Create your xorg.conf for 1024x768 with the acceleration features, mouse selection, and everything else you want
2. Use xmode to generate modelines for the resolution/refresh rates you desire (example follows)

(please note: I abbreviated each section as this post would be EXTREMELY long if I include the entire sections)
where "-x" is followed by the width of the the screen in pixels, "-y" is followed by the height of the screen in pixels, and "-r" is followed by the desired refresh rate (ideally 72hz or higher)


Next, take that modeline and plug it into your xorg.conf file monitor configuration:

Next, define your valid "screen" modes:

Oh one more thing: you want your typefaces (well, fonts, once size and weight are applied) to render sanely so you need to modify your monitor definition a little more. See the following:

Note "DisplaySize" - you will want to measure the width and the height of the visible portion of your monitor in millimeters (unless xorgconf correctly detects this) and enter the width in millimeters (the first number) followed by the height in millimeters (the second number). If you do not set this your typefaces will render as really huge, chunky fonts or the aspect ratio may be off, causing the fonts to look squished in one direction or the other.

When you get xorg running, when you type "xdpyinfo" you will note a "dpi" setting, and it should be fairly close (if not an exact match to) the specifications your monitor manufacturer publishes for the given resolution. Example of my output:

kimp4:/etc/X11 # xdpyinfo | grep -i dots
resolution: 120x119 dots per inch
kimp4:/etc/X11 #

which is within 1dpi of what is expected for that resolution. (should be 120dpi x120dpi for 1920x1440, an acceptable rounding error)

A little more difficult than sax2? Perhaps, but:

1. You will know your WYSIWYG apps will actually render "print size" accurately since you KNOW the DPI setting is correct
2. You will have learned a little about how video cards and monitors and X interact
3. You can now claim to be a BOFH (okay, not quite )
4. You will KNOW it will work

Thanks for all your help, but the controls on the monitor did the trick

that is the funniest resolution I've ever read!

>Thanks for all your help, but the controls on the monitor did the trick

Always look into the simplest option first... thanks for the smile!

Nono, I didn't think that would work because I dual boot and I thought that straightening Linux would skew up Windows; it's clearly cleverer than that!