On 2011/01/27 12:38 (GMT+0200) Hylton Conacher (ZR1HPC) composed:
Running OpenSuSe 11.2 and a 11.3 on separate hardware both with KDE and would like to find out which file I can edit using my trusty Kate or kwrite text editor that would control the screen resolution.
Which file(s) to edit, and how, may depend on which video driver you use, but generally, in 11.2 this is /etc/X11/xorg.conf. In 11.3, /etc/X11/xorg.conf may or may not produce expected results. If it doesn't, you'll need to try the files in /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/.
I currently need to use krandrtray to set the resolution from the system auto default of 1680x1050 to a more respectable/readable 1024x768. If I logoff or power down the machine, I need to visit krandrtray each time
Krandrtray is designed for temporary changes.
to set the screen resolution as it defaults to the auto setting of 1680x1050 when I logon again.
The auto default of 1680x1050 is your display's native 16:10 aspect ratio resolution. All lower resolutions it supports degrades output quality. "High resolution" is as its name implies - high quality. Choosing 1024x768, a traditional 4:3 aspect ratio, not only lowers resolution, it lowers it out of proportion, causing everything to be distorted by stretching more in the horizontal direction (64%) than in the vertical direction (37%), making everything fatter than it should be.
I have already Googled and looked at the mailing list archives and have not seen anything specific other than what I have tried already.
You missed using the keyword DPI in your search. DPI is a measure of pixel density. Bigger numbers equate to higher quality, finer (higher) resolution. Forcing DPI upward allows the quality inherent in your display's native resolution to be preserved. It operates functionally as a desktop-wide zoom, negating or reducing the need to change individual settings to make such objects as fonts and icons larger. Unless using a proprietary NVidia video driver, which provides to set DPI directly in xorg.conf, the traditional way to force DPI upward is via DisplaySize, basically lying to X about your displays height & width. If your 1680x1050 display is 21", its height is about 283mm and width 452mm, a DPI of 99[1]. Putting 'DisplaySize 301 188' in 'Section "Monitor"', which might possibly also need added 'Option "PreferredMode" "1680x1050"', will result in a DPI around 144, causing X to enlarge everything about 50%. http://fm.no-ip.com/Share/DisplaySize has some examples how this can be done to achieve particular DPI results, mostly with 4:3 displays. Note that various things, particularly many web pages, assume a DPI of 96, and work poorly at other values, more so at lower values, fonts especially so. Resolution independence would fix this, but so far it's little more than a pipe dream. As alternatives to /etc/X11/xorg.conf*, DPI can also be altered (system wide) via xrandr in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc (e.g. "xrandr -dpi 144" or "xrandr -fbmm 301x188" near the bottom where it says "# Add your own lines here"), and (for personal DTE only) via font settings in Gnome and KDE. The simplest way to change most, which does not work for all apps, is putting Xft.dpi: 144 (or some other multiple of 12 according to the zoom factor that best suits you) into ~/.Xdefaults. See also: http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/fonts-linux-about.html [1] http://fm.no-ip.com/PC/displays.html -- "How much better to get wisdom than gold, to choose understanding rather than silver." Proverbs 16:16 NKJV Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org