Same physical 27-in monitor, but different sharpness after setting to1920 x 1080 on two different computers

Issues related to hardware problems
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centguy
Posts: 271
Joined: 2008/08/11 16:03:29

Same physical 27-in monitor, but different sharpness after setting to1920 x 1080 on two different computers

Post by centguy » 2017/10/17 02:07:14

I connect a 27-inch monitor with a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 to two computers, both with CentOS 6.9 on separate occasions.
One is an old laptop
with a basic graphic card and the other a new desktop computer. I have installed the nvidia graphic card drivers kmod from ELrepo.
Everything is okay (stability).

After setting the desired resolution in System -> Preferences -> Display -> Resolution to 1920x1080, I get a good
screen on both computer systems (tested one at a time, of course).
But what intrigue me is that the laptop's monitor (after turning off the
laptop screen in the Display Preferences) has fonts that are bigger, meaning that it packs less stuff on
the same physical area. A Terminal will take about half the screen. But on the laptop powered
monitor, a terminal will take a reasonable size without losing
the sharpness. But both say they are on 1920x1080 res. Because of this I find the monitor powered by the laptop
slightly harder to use since I prefer to see a smaller area for reading and coding.

Is the basic graphic card that is the culprit because it cannot handle too many pixels whereas the new more powerful graphic
card driver handles it well? Anything that I can tweak?

Thanks!

tunk
Posts: 1205
Joined: 2017/02/22 15:08:17

Re: Same physical 27-in monitor, but different sharpness after setting to1920 x 1080 on two different computers

Post by tunk » 2017/10/17 19:37:25

Could it be that is uses the DPI of the built-in screen on your 27"?

centguy
Posts: 271
Joined: 2008/08/11 16:03:29

Re: Same physical 27-in monitor, but different sharpness after setting to1920 x 1080 on two different computers

Post by centguy » 2017/10/21 00:57:23

I have no idea how to tweak DPI.

Now, I have installed CentOS 7 and I can boot up the same new computer using the same physical screen.

I am now using 27" from CentOS 7.

The resolution says 1920x1080, but the fonts are huge. May it the resolution is indeed 1920x1080 but
the Terminal fonts are huge..

The default font in CentOS 6.9 is just nice.

I really want how to optimize this..

centguy
Posts: 271
Joined: 2008/08/11 16:03:29

Re: Same physical 27-in monitor, but different sharpness after setting to1920 x 1080 on two different computers

Post by centguy » 2017/10/21 01:15:02

Okay.. I think I have been relying on CentOS 6.9 default font for too long.

In CentOS 6.9, Terminal -> Edit -> Profile Preferences -> General has a box that says "Use the system fixed width font" with a grey out Font of
"Monospace 12" This default setting is comfortable for me.

But on CentOS 7.3 the default is not that good.. I have to set the fonts to Monospace 10 to get a good size font for coding.

Where is the system wide font setting in CentOS 7? I do not want to optimize Firefox, Google chrome, and other apps one by one..

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