dpi and resolution and fonts oh my!

[claydoh]

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.

[vinnywright]

ctrl++ will increase the text size in most apps

VINNY

[Snowhog]

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?

[claydoh]

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

[Rod J]

Well, I would change the fonts in the System Settings, Application Appearance to larger sizes. That should do what you want.

[oshunluvr]

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!

[GreyGeek]

Intersting!
When I check my Acer:

$ 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.

[claydoh]

Intersting!
When I check my Acer:

$ 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:

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:

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.

[claydoh]

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!

[Qqmike]

Interesting & Neat. (On my Samsung 17" LCD, both commands gave same answer, 1280x1024 pixels (338x270 millimeters), and it all rolled out to 96x96.)

[dibl]

Good stuff -- thanks oshunluvr!

... 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)

[dtr]

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.

[claydoh]

oshunlvr gets cookies and beer

[oshunluvr]

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