[clug] testing monitor resolutions

[Martin Pool]

On  9 Feb 2005, Tony and Robyn Lewis <beakysnugger at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Feeling a bit splurgy, I'm thinking of upgrading my ageing monitor, with
> a second-hand one from auction this weekend, but I want to test the
> quality of the image first, of course.
> 
> Is there a linux tool that can easily cycle through different video
> resolutions and display an image so I can check for blurry picture tubes
> and the like?

xrandr.  On modern hardware the card should discover the monitor's
capabilities, and then xrandr will show you all the resolutions and
refresh rates:

 SZ:    Pixels          Physical       Refresh
*0   1400 x 1050   ( 404mm x 303mm )  *75   60  
 1   1280 x 1024   ( 404mm x 303mm )   85   75   60  
 2   1024 x 768    ( 404mm x 303mm )   85   75   70   60   87  
 3    800 x 600    ( 404mm x 303mm )   85   75   72   60   56  
 4    640 x 480    ( 404mm x 303mm )   85   75   73   60  
 5   1280 x 960    ( 404mm x 303mm )   85   60  
....

You can then try different ones and see how it works.

Personally I think a screenful of text is a better test of monitor
resolution than an image, because of the sharper lines, but it depends
what you use your computer for I suppose.  You can also try displaying
an image with off-white tones to see how good the color registration
is (if you care).

--
Martin