I installed Debian Sarge 3.1, and the gnome desktop manager welcome screen font is too small. Once I login, there isn't a problem with the font size. In other words, the resolution is 800x600 which is the setting needed. How is the font size increased on the welcome screen?

Thanks

There is an entry for configuring gdm in the start menu which I think will let you do this. I am replying from a Windows machine at the moment so I can't check this!

Thanks. I already checked that, but it doesn't have the configuation for the size. I checked the similar links concerning the screen fonts but I am not having much luck. In one post the file to edit the fonts is in /usr/share/gdm/themes, but it doesn't list the default welcome screen I am using.

There are two basic ways to make fonts appear bigger/smaller. The most obvious way is to individually configure font sizes.

The less obvious way is to change the DPI setting of the display. It's better to start here because it will affect all fonts (except for some applications, like Opera). However, the only way to change the DPI settings is indirectly. In the file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4, you want a line in the "Monitor" section like this:

DisplaySize 400 300

You'll need to edit this file as root superuser, and add this line (one might already exist, depending on whether the monitor you used during the install reports its physical size).

The DisplaySize setting tells the X server what the physical size of the display is in millimeters. Note that one inch is 25.4 millimeters. If you want fonts which are the "true" size, then you can measure the size of your display in millimeters. For example, you might be using a "17 inch" display which actually has only a 16 inch diagonal. That implies about a 400mm diagonal. Multiply 400 by 4/5 and 3/5, and this gives a display size of:

DisplaySize 320 240

However, if you want fonts which are larger than life, then you can "fool" the X server by providing a display size which is much smaller than the true physical size. For example, I have an HDTV which is 50 inches in diagonal. However, I use it sitting from across the room, which means real life sized fonts would be too tiny to read. In my XF86Config-4, I put in DisplaySize 400 300, less than half of the true size.

Anyway, while you're editing XF86Config-4, you'll probably also want to add in your desired resolution to the bottom section. Debian 3.1 defaults to either 800x600 or 640x480, but I usually prefer to run 1024x768 or larger. It should be pretty obvious where to add the "1024x768" resolution.

The resolution after login is 800x600, and this is where the user wants it. However, the GNOME login screen (or GNOME Desktop Manager or welcome screen) is at a font where the letters are smaller and the screen is blurry when compared to the 800x600 work space when logged in. How can this be corrected? I tried changing the resolution using the XF86Config-4 file, but it didn't work.

The resolution which is used during the first login will be whatever resolution is listed first in the default color depth. You can put "800x600" first, if you want.

I'm not familiar with configuring gdm's font since I use kdm instead. However, setting the "DisplaySize" in XF86Config-4 as I suggest will change the font sizes in gdm.