Getting the right mode for an LCD monitor (in GNU/Linux)

Published on Friday, 21 December 2007.

Usually, setting a new debian box with fluxbox as a desktop environment, is fast, easy, an uncomplicated (if you have done it 10 times already). What I didn't know, was that using a widescreen LCD monitor would mess things with my usual setup.

The first problem you notice, is that the fonts look awful. At first, I thought it was something to do with anti-aliasing, but changing resolutions with xrandr showed me the real problem.

After looking for about 1.5 hours without success, I decided to let it go for the day. The next day, refreshed, I was able to assess the problem in a more calm way. This post was the starting point on the road to monitor resolution bliss. Only problem was that all the links mentioned were not working. Information doesn't lie static for more than 1 year. So next step was to try pulling the results from google's cache. And there it is.

How to use the native resolution of your WideScreen Monitor in GNU/Linux

1. Find the specifications of your monitor, and generate a Modeline string
2. Backup your xorg.conf file and put something very similar to:

Section "Monitor"
    Identifier    "h193wk"
    Modeline      "1440x900_60.00"  106.47  1440 1520 1672 1904  900 901 904 932 -HSync +Vsync
EndSection

(...)

Section "Screen"
    Identifier    "Screen1"
    Device        "nvidia0"
    Monitor       "h193wk"
    Subsection "Display"
        Depth     24
        Modes     "1440x900_60.00"
        ViewPort  0 0
    EndSubsection
EndSection

3. Enjoy! (Obviously, you need the correct graphic driver already configured. Mine is an NVidia card, so I used envy)