From: larry@tsd.arlut.utexas.edu (Larry Maturo)
Subject: Re: Going beyond VGA
Organization: Applied Research Labs, The University of Texas at Austin
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 21:08:30 GMT

In article <1993Jan19.104350.2870@dct.ac.uk> mcsbc4lrm@dct.ac.uk (Liam Myron) writes:
>In article <1993Jan18.154850.18115@walter.cray.com>, roa@cray.com (Richard O. Ayres) writes:
>> I am currently running Windows 3.1 with a standard (i.e. old) VGA board 
>> (640 x 480 pixels).  I am thinking about buying a new board and monitor 
>> that will support super VGA (800 x 600) and 1024 x 768.
>> 
>> My question is this:  As the number of pixels goes up, will I see more 
>> of a document with the same resolution, or the same amount of a document 
>> with more resolution?
>
>What you are effectively doing when you move from VGA to SVGA is increasing
>the area of your desktop.  Because the desktop is larger, everything on it
>(by this I mean icons and windows) appears slightly smaller than before so
>that it can still fit on the same size monitor screen.
>
>Later in your posting you give an example using Write and ask if you
>would see more text in SVGA mode.  If you are using a fixed system font
>then yes, you will.  If you are using TrueType fonts then the chances are
>you won't. Windows, doing it's best to be WYSIWYG, adjusts its display
>so that text looks as close as possible to what will print out.
>
>If you were to use notepad or play solitaire, you would notice a
>difference.  In notepad (which uses a fixed size font) you would see more
>text per full screen window and in solitaire the cards would look smaller.
>The same is true for most of the other Windows apps: you will be able to
>get more apps on a screen at one time in higher resolution modes.
>
>Incidently if you are planning to buy a 14" monitor and want to run in
>1024*768 mode then, if at all possible, try the monitor/card combination
>at this resolution before you buy.  While lots of monitors can produce
>1024*768 SVGA most of them aren't very good at it.  Unless your monitor
>and card give a very crisp image (and your eyesight is good) you'll
>probably find this resolution will become uncomfortable to work in after
>a while.
>
>Hope I've been of some help,
>Liam. 
>-- 
>|                I've walked upon stranger roads than this one                 |
>|                       In a world I used to know before             - Genesis |
>|______________________________________________________________________________|
>|           Liam R. Myron (Phoenix)  |  MCSBC4LRM @                            |
>|    Dundee Institute of Technology  |    dct.ac.uk (InterNet)                 |
>|                      Scotland, UK  |    uk.ac.dundee-tech (JANET)            |




The above is generally true.  The exception is that some programs allow you to
adjust the size of things.  Ami'Pro, for example, allows you to scale the size
of the document on screen so in super VGA mode I see the same width as in VGA
mode but the characters are larger and easier to read.  As pointed out above,
this is not true of solitaire and notepad.  At first it was hard to get use to
but now I have adjusted so that I hardly notice it.

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|                                   |                                        |
| Larry Maturo                      | Opinions expressed herein must be      |
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Newsgroups: comp.os.ms-windows.setup