Re: [gentoo-user] VGA-out & screen aspect ratio

[Grant]

>>>> I've only ever used my laptop's VGA-out into 4:3 screens and it always
>>>> works great.  I've now plugged it into a 16:9 screen for the first
>>>> time, and it still displays 4:3 on that screen and on my laptop.  Is
>>>> there a way for it to detect the proper aspect ratio?  Maybe it
>>>> depends on the monitor's EDID?  If not, can I manually change the
>>>> aspect ratio?
>>>>
>>>> - Grant
>>>
>>> Not sure about how well it will work automatically, but try running
>>>
>>> xrandr
>>>
>>> and reading the output. It should tell you what monitors you have
>>> hooked up and what resolutions and scan frequencies they support. I
>>> did this and then put the ones I wanted into my xorg.conf file and was
>>> good to go.
>>>
>>> Hope this helps,
>>> Mark
>>
>> Thanks Mark.  Is there a slick way to restart xorg without rebooting
>> so you can switch between VGA-out mode and non?  When I'm doing
>> VGA-out, my laptop's screen changes to match the aspect ratio of the
>> output so it's good to be able to switch.
>>
>> - Grant
>
> Not sure of the best way to do that, but is it really necessary?
>
> I suppose you could try (from the console)
>
> /etc/init.d/xdm restart
>
> and see if it does what you want.
>
> Note that you can set up your screens using xrandr itself. I'm not
> very good at it but I've played with it and it works. Duncan on the
> amd64 list posted a couple of commands he uses. They look like this:
>
> xrandr --verbose --fb 1920x2400 --output DVI-0 --mode 1280x800 --panning
> 1920x1200+0+0/1920x1200+0+0/20/20/20/20 --output DVI-1 --mode 1280x800 --
> panning 1920x1200+0+1200/1920x1200+0+1200/20/20/20/20
>
> Clearly that's a mouthful but I'm sure it makes sense once you get
> down to the basics. I think you can break it apart into something
> like:
>
> xrandr --verbose --fb 1920x2400
> --output DVI-0 --mode 1280x800 --panning
> 1920x1200+0+0/1920x1200+0+0/20/20/20/20
> --output DVI-1 --mode 1280x800 --panning
> 1920x1200+0+1200/1920x1200+0+1200/20/20/20/20
>
> where DVI-0 and DVI-1 are the monitors and everything else is info to
> xrandr is what to do. You would change the output names to whatever
> yours are called. The first line 1920x2400 sets up (I think) the
> overall screen size and then the next two lines set up the two
> monitors. I think in his case they sit vertically, not horizontally
> like mine and possibly yours do.
>
> In my case I run 1280x1024 on the left monitor and 1680x1050 on the
> right monitor. I can drag stuff left and right just fine. It gets
> messed up if I play a game though.
>
> Anyway, there's some stuff for you to look at and consider.
>
> Cheers,
> Mark

Thanks Mark and Neil.

- Grant