Re: Linux of the 701

[Frank Sheeran <Frank.Sheeran@ska.com>]

Hi Stan,
 
When you say "too big", what do you mean?  I see two possible problems.
 
#1) The resolution is actually 320x240.  Every "pixel" is actually taking
up four dots on your screen - a 2x2 square.  I know alot more about Unix
and X (worked in the X consortium) than PC's, but I DONT KNOW why these
apparently stupid resolutions even exist...  Maybe its for compatability
back to the early 80's or something.
 
Try typing "xclock -geometry 320x240" into an xterm.  If that fills the
entire screen, then you are in this super low-res mode.  Take advantage
of the fact that the server is commercial, and that you are paying for
support - get on the phone and tell them to give you instructions on
fixing it.  If they claim they don't support your chipset at anything
higher, ask if they have an alpha or beta you could test for them.

#2) You are really in 640x480.  You are used to seeing workstations or
high-res PC's running X, where a 100x100 xclock is the size of a postage
stamp, and now its taking up 10% of your screen.

If this is the case, then the problem is simply that you are used to
seeing smaller things.  Bad news: X programs almost never pick good
sizes across different screens.  The best some do is use device-independent
units, where sizes of things are specified in inches, etc., and this
is even worse when text 1" on the 21" monitor is suddenly is also 1"
on your tiny laptop...  Good news: X programs almost always are co
mpletely configurable via their "resource file" and take the same
command line options.  So, you can easily come up with more reasonable
sizes (colors, fonts, control layouts, etc.).

Bad news is that this will take a bit of reading.  Try the O'Reilly and
Associates' X series volume 3 for a good introduction to being an X end-user.

Or if there are other X programming books around, the first few chapters
usually run through this end-use stuff too.  Or just ask someone for
some explanations...

Good luck!

Frank Sheeran