post nvidia install - small fonts / incorrect resolution HDMI
 

Hello All

First, I have researched this, but haven't found any satisfactory solved threads or google searches that I can understand, since I'm a bit of a newb.

After installing the nvidia driver, my fonts in KDE are really small (but the Dolphin folder icons are really big). Text files opened in KWrite are hard to read. Also, when I start up, the console fonts are huge - with the nouveau driver, there was a point on boot that the screen would have a much better resolution, but that doesn't happen now.

I'm not sure where to start, and appreciate any help.

I did read a post that there is a problem with monitor EDID's and graphic card communication - in setting the proper resolution. While the person who commented offered his xorg.conf as an example, I wasn't sure (confident) in using his additions to xorg.conf (since his monitor is a different monitor). But there was a technical link about the EDID problem given -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extende...ification_data


Some facts:

I don't use a Display Manager. I boot up, log in as user, and startx and KDE starts. Prior to installing nvidia, I didn't have an xorg.conf file, but resolutions seemed to look good (while video playback was a bit choppy with nouveau)

Here are some files that may help someone to help me.

Xorg.conf
Xorg.0.log

Well, I got KDE and apps and fonts to look right by starting x manually, which I always do anyway, with

Note: for anyone experiencing the same issue, and suffering with tiny fonts while reading this post: there is another dash after the first two and before "dpi"... so "-- -dpi 96" (just select and copy it).

So, although everything looks nice, I'm going to keep this as unsolved for a few days, just to make sure things work out, and I'll monitor my Xorg.0.log and try to figure out a few things there.

A question I still have is why does xdpyinfo show this:
I'm assuming 286mm is the physical height of my screen(?), but that works out to only 11 inches, and the height of my monitor screen is somewhere around 15 (no ruler on hand, measuring with old-school tactics :))

In KDE, you can set your fonts using System Settings -> Application Appearance -> Fonts
In Dolphin, the folder icon size is adjusted using the slider bar in the lower right corner.
This may be due to your antialiasing settings. A good place to start is your monitor manual, to find the pixel layout (probably RGB). Then in KDE, System Settings -> Application Appearance -> Fonts try Use anti-aliasing -> Enabled and Configure to try combinations of pixel layout and hinting. Once you know the settings you like, you may prefer to set KDE back to Use anti-aliasing -> System Settings, and make system wide settings by creating symlinks in /etc/fonts/conf.d/ to files in /etc/fonts/conf.avail/
Font size at startup initially depend on the setting for vga=<> in /etc/lilo.conf. You can use 'vga=ask' to get a list of modes available on your system. If you do this, remember that you will need to re-run lilo.
During boot, the kernel switches to using KMS. The resolution then depends on the kernel parameter 'video=<xres>x<yres>' which can be supplied as a parameter in the append line in lilo.conf. For additional information on the video= kernel parameter, look at /usr/src/linux/Documentation/fb/modedb.txt

Same thing here with an nVidia card connected to an HDTV via HDMI. I fixed it by adding this in the Monitor section of xorg.conf:

I did something similar just now to the xorg.conf file, because "startx -- -dpi 96" in the console is a bit cumbersome.

Per the Arch Wiki at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...g_DPI_manually I added both of the following, first one to the Monitor section and the second to the Device section:

Monitor
Device
But, it wasn't clear to me if I was supposed to add the DPI to one OR the other, or both.

After rebooting, KDE informs me that it detected that one or more devices were removed and asks me if I want KDE to permanently forget about these devices - which include my HD Webcam (USB Audio) and my onboard HDA Intel sound card (ALC882 Analog). I didn't get this problem when using "startx -- -dpi 96" from the command line. Xorg.0.log shows that Xorg finds the webcam

It's configuring it as a keyboard, which is strange to me, but it was doing that before, so it's at least consistent.


Is the "100 x 100" something specific for your monitor? Am I free to use whatever DPI I want?

@allend - thanks for the info, especially the startup settings in LILO. I'll work on these. Regarding font settings in KDE, I tried this on a previous Arch Linux installation, where I (apparently) had the same problem but hadn't yet discovered the DPI setting in xorg.conf (or passed to startx). I could never get the fonts to look quite right after fiddling with it for hours, installing extra fonts, etc.

With "folder icons" in Dolphin, I should have been more explicit. I was referring to the sidebar folders, or the "Places Panel". Right now, with 96 x 96 in xorg.conf, they appear as they did before nvidia installation.

Nope, I thought it looked better. You can use any DPI you like.

Both KDE and Xfce have an entry in their settings for correcting the DPI. Usually I have to set it to 96 with NVidia proprietary drivers.

I really don't like the idea of forcing the DPI to a false value. If it doesn't truly reflect your screen's physical DPI then any UI scaling that an application does will be based on false assumptions - not that many gui application developers give much consideration to such things as catering for different dpi values, so it may be a moot point.