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    dpi and resolution and fonts oh my!

    So I bought a Dell D830 off Ebay for 50 bucks. It is identical in specs to my D630, except for having stereo speakers, and a 15.4 1280x800 inch screen as opposed to a 14.1 at the same resolution. Being a 50 dollar laptop, I was not expecting a lot, other than the opportunity to eventually build up a working machine. Unfortunately, the durned thing was fully functional outside of a dying backlight and/or inverter

    I quickly discovered that a refurbished lcd screen was not much different in price than getting just a bulb and inverter. Heck, I could even get a super high res screen for that price. I found and ordered a WSXGA+ 1680x1050 glossy screen, thinking it would be a good compromise between resolution and being able to see text without too much tweaking. My 50 buck project laptop is now an 80 dollar fully functional system (both and )

    Sooo what I got was a nice glossy screen........WUXGA 1900x1200. Beautiful and crisp an all that real estate...wow! And of course sooper teensy text.

    So now my question is:

    What are opinions on how to adjust things so that I can read the currently fine print lol!
    I could set the resolution to 1680x1050....meh I think I'd like to keep the higher res. What are the differences, plusses and minuses of changing the dpi, or simply making the fonts bigger? Which would be better on eyestrain, if there is a difference? I guess I am slightly confused by this part. I don't think I care about icon sizes.

    And don't tell me I need glasses - bifocals may be in my future.

    #2
    ctrl++ will increase the text size in most apps

    VINNY
    i7 4core HT 8MB L3 2.9GHz
    16GB RAM
    Nvidia GTX 860M 4GB RAM 1152 cuda cores

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      #3
      The new screen was installed after the installation of Kubuntu with the 'smaller' screen? Won't xrandr let you choose/set the resolution for the new LCD?
      Last edited by Snowhog; Nov 01, 2014, 02:27 PM.
      Windows no longer obstructs my view.
      Using Kubuntu Linux since March 23, 2007.
      "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data." - Sherlock Holmes

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        #4
        What I am looking for is what method of adjusting the desktop (not the resolution) is perhaps the preferred way - adjusting the dpi, increasing the font size? I am not concerned with screen size - I want to keep the high resolution, but want to make the overall text somewhat larger.

        What is the difference in changing DPI as compared to just changing the system font sizes?

        So far, I have simply changed the dpi to 120 from the default, and that seems to be nice - I'll need some more time to see how I like it, then try other things. I have already tried lower screen resolutions, and no, I do not want that. It looks duller and less crisp. I can almost live with the super tiny fonts, it is so clear

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          #5
          Well, I would change the fonts in the System Settings, Application Appearance to larger sizes. That should do what you want.
          Desktop PC: Intel Core-i5-4670 3.40Ghz, 16Gb Crucial ram, Asus H97-Plus MB, 128Gb Crucial SSD + 2Tb Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 HDD running Kubuntu 18.04 LTS and Kubuntu 14.04 LTS (on SSD).
          Laptop: HP EliteBook 8460p Core-i5-2540M, 4Gb ram, Transcend 120Gb SSD, currently running Deepin 15.8 and Manjaro KDE 18.

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            #6
            LCD monitors (not like the old CRTs) rarely look good if they are not at native settings. I would recommend keeping your DPI and resolution at normal and doing what Rod suggests - go into System Settings and enlarge your fonts. The results will be much clearer.

            Since we're on the topic of DPI, let's discuss:

            To calculate your correct DPI, you must measure your screen dimensions (in inches) and divide the resolution (in dots-per-inch) to get the "correct" number. I'll use mine as an example - a 24" Samsung at 1920x1080.

            The two easiest ways to get size are either of these two commands;
            xdpyinfo |grep dim
            xrandr -q |grep -w connected

            Interestingly, @here I get two slightly different answers:
            stuart@office:~$ xdpyinfo |grep dim
            dimensions: 1920x1080 pixels (519x292 millimeters)

            stuart@office:~$ xrandr -q |grep -w connected
            DVI-D-0 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 521mm x 293mm

            I don't know why. However, they're so close as to not matter much.

            Now we divide those numbers by 25.4 to get inches:

            521 = 20.511811 293 = 11.535433
            519 = 20.433071 292 = 11.496063

            Now divide resolution by the above:
            1920/20.51 = 93.61 1080/11.53 = 93.69
            1920/20.43 = 93.79 1080/11.49 = 93.99

            So. my correct DPI with either set of numbers is 94x94. Lets check it:

            stuart@office:~$ xdpyinfo |grep resolution
            resolution: 94x94 dots per inch

            and I'm good!

            Please Read Me

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              #7
              Intersting!
              When I check my Acer:
              Code:
              $ xdpyinfo | grep resolution
                resolution:    96x96 dots per inch
              $ xdpyinfo | grep dim
                dimensions:    1600x900 pixels ([B]423x238[/B] millimeters)
              $ xrandr -q | grep -w connected
              LVDS1 connected primary 1600x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) [B]382mm x 215mm[/B]
              A ruler gives my screen size as 382.6mm x 215.9mm

              Using the 423x238 my dpi calculates out to 96, but using the 382x215 it gives me 106.

              I tested the 106 dpi but the characters were too skinny for my liking.
              "A nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people.”
              – John F. Kennedy, February 26, 1962.

              Comment


                #8
                Originally posted by GreyGeek View Post
                Intersting!
                When I check my Acer:
                Code:
                $ xdpyinfo | grep resolution
                  resolution:    96x96 dots per inch
                $ xdpyinfo | grep dim
                  dimensions:    1600x900 pixels ([B]423x238[/B] millimeters)
                $ xrandr -q | grep -w connected
                LVDS1 connected primary 1600x900+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) [B]382mm x 215mm[/B]
                A ruler gives my screen size as 382.6mm x 215.9mm

                Using the 423x238 my dpi calculates out to 96, but using the 382x215 it gives me 106.

                I tested the 106 dpi but the characters were too skinny for my liking.
                Similar here:
                Code:
                lark@lark-Latitude-D630:~$ xdpyinfo |grep dim
                  dimensions:    1920x1200 pixels (508x317 millimeters)
                lark@lark-Latitude-D630:~$ xrandr -q |grep -w connected
                LVDS1 connected primary 1920x1200+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 331mm x 207mm
                The xrandr is what my screen physically measures, so
                331 is 13.03, which makes 147.35
                207 is 8.15 which makes 147.24

                The xpdyinfo dimensions would make it 96 dpi, and is the initial choice when selecting Force DPI in System Settings what the settings seemed to be set at in System Settings
                and also:
                Code:
                xdpyinfo |grep resolution
                  resolution:    96x96 dots per inch
                But i'd changed it in System Settings to 120. The next "step" up there is 144.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Originally posted by oshunluvr View Post
                  LCD monitors (not like the old CRTs) rarely look good if they are not at native settings. I would recommend keeping your DPI and resolution at normal and doing what Rod suggests - go into System Settings and enlarge your fonts. The results will be much clearer.

                  Since we're on the topic of DPI, let's discuss:

                  To calculate your correct DPI, you must measure your screen dimensions (in inches) and divide the resolution (in dots-per-inch) to get the "correct" number. I'll use mine as an example - a 24" Samsung at 1920x1080.

                  The two easiest ways to get size are either of these two commands;
                  xdpyinfo |grep dim
                  xrandr -q |grep -w connected

                  Interestingly, @here I get two slightly different answers:
                  stuart@office:~$ xdpyinfo |grep dim
                  dimensions: 1920x1080 pixels (519x292 millimeters)

                  stuart@office:~$ xrandr -q |grep -w connected
                  DVI-D-0 connected primary 1920x1080+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 521mm x 293mm

                  I don't know why. However, they're so close as to not matter much.

                  Now we divide those numbers by 25.4 to get inches:

                  521 = 20.511811 293 = 11.535433
                  519 = 20.433071 292 = 11.496063

                  Now divide resolution by the above:
                  1920/20.51 = 93.61 1080/11.53 = 93.69
                  1920/20.43 = 93.79 1080/11.49 = 93.99

                  So. my correct DPI with either set of numbers is 94x94. Lets check it:

                  stuart@office:~$ xdpyinfo |grep resolution
                  resolution: 94x94 dots per inch

                  and I'm good!
                  Thank you!

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Interesting & Neat. (On my Samsung 17" LCD, both commands gave same answer, 1280x1024 pixels (338x270 millimeters), and it all rolled out to 96x96.)
                    An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way. Charles Bukowski

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Good stuff -- thanks oshunluvr!

                      Originally posted by oshunluvr View Post
                      ... you must measure your screen dimensions (in inches) ...
                      Or, look up the specs for your monitor, and use the "viewable size" figure. (for those of us who don't have our yardstick handy)

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Thanks for the detailed instructions.

                        For my laptop with a 17' 1920x1200 lcd, the default DPI Kubuntu gave me was wrong at 96, which resulted in tiny text. Interestingly enough because I often work with documents and like my page size and font sizes onscreen to look as they would on actual paper I used a more rudimentary route using a regular metric ruler held up to an onscreen ruler, adjusted the DPI so they matched, which resulted with me setting the DPI at 133 and today using your method the results suggests the DPI should be approx 132.

                        As for the suggestions of just increasing font sizes or using ctrl ++, that is what originally did, but found setting the DPI provided an overall better experience.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          oshunlvr gets cookies and beer

                          Click image for larger version

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                            #14
                            Sweet! Flying Dog Beer and Girl Scout Cookies! Breakfast of Champions!!!

                            Please Read Me

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