Resolution Madness

dwilson · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 115

I am having trouble getting my resolution at 1024x768 while in twinview mode (nvidia geforce 4 ti4600). It works fine when in I don't have the twinview stuff set up, but as soon as I throw it in there I get pushed back to a lower resolution (looks like 800x600 to me, but I can't be sure). Here is the relevant part of my xf86config.

*added to my monitor section*

FluffyDawg · n00b Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 43

Am I reading this right - you want to get 1024x768 on your TV?

If so, that's not possible. The full resolution of NTSC is 720x476, so it just wouldn't fit. I think TV out units pretty much universally use 640x480 - guess where those numbers came from in the first place? Can you say "Amiga"? Better yet, "C-64"! (OK, the C64 was really 320x240, but the principle was the same).

dwilson · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 115

No, sorry, I wasn't clear. I would like my CRT to display in 1024x768. My tv should display in the closest resolution to NTSC native (which 629x480, I guess). I know I have had this working under Windows before, and I would think it should be possible, right? You can have separate resolutions for your tv and monitor as I recall.

FluffyDawg · n00b Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 43

You should be able to, yes. However, the card or driver may not support this. I had an ATI All-in-Wonder 8500, and I found that if I had the video out line plugged into anything (even things with no power on) upon booting, I got my main screen in 640x480 resolution!

Oooh - wait! I read again, and see - twinview! This means (well, intuitively, anyway) that it will show the same thing on your TV and monitor, which I would expect to force the monitor into 640x480 mode to match the TV. The XF86Config snip tends to back this up, as it shows both screens being configured as a single monitor.

I've never done this before, so I'm doing a bit of interpretation and guessing on top of old memories, but I think the "MetaModes" line tells the driver to do 1024x768 as an oversized screen, so you should (?) be able to scroll the pointer over to the edge to push the visible screen over to reveal more desktop area.

Oooh - Amiga flashbacks. Beloved Amiga...

dwilson · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 115

Actually I've been reading the docs and the metamodes is supposed to describe the resolutions of the two monitors together, as in "1024x768,800x600" should put the main monitor in 1024x768, and the tv in 800x600. I am going to mess around with these as I think it may be that the card defaults to the 640x480 because it is the lowest that both can support. Maybe if I tell it to do 640x480 in the tv no matter what, it will let the crt do what it wants... hopefully.

FluffyDawg · n00b Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 43

You mean...?:

dwilson · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 10 Feb 2003 Posts: 115

Woohoo. Ok, I was right about how the meta-modes work. And, *sheepishly* I was actually running my monitor at 1024x768 earlier. It just seemed huge to me because I had been running at 1280x1024. Sorry, i'm an idiot. Anyways, I get it all working now, so I am going to throw Princiess Mononoke up on the ole' tv and pass out on the bed. I'm beat.

Thanks for the help FluffyDawg.