• Registered: 2009-09-13
  • Posts: 1

Topic: Better display settings

Hello!

I just downloaded Crunchbang after a recommendation from Linux Format. I like optimized software, and optimized OSes even more so. Crunchbang seems to be a nice combination of optimization and functionality.

But one thing that annoys me about most minimal distributions (as well as regular distributions) is that no matter how little memory, or CPU required it still seems to be require a fairly high resolution. I have installed Crunchbang in a VirtualBox and it seems that the VirtualBox indicates that the screen has a maximum display of 800x600, which to me shouldn't be too bad. But this means that even a terminal takes up most of the display.

This is the same of course for most operating systems. In some e.g. Mandriva I have been able to change the settings for some software, in this case especially the terminal (since I use terminals a lot in Linux), but why isn't there any distribution out there that supports small displays? I assume it's better on netbooks, but based on what I've seen it's not much better.

A few years ago 800x600 wasn't an uncommon displaysize, and 1024x768 was more or less standard. In spite of this now I don't know how to make a distribution to work with that type of display. On my work laptop I am using a webbased GUI which doesn't fit in a 1280x1024 display, so I need to scroll a lot. I know I can zoom out in Firefox, but should I have to zoom out on such a relatively large display?

So in conclusion, my suggestion/request for you is to setup Crunchbang, maybe not to be set to work in 800x600 by default, but to have some sort of choic e.g. at installation to set the configuration so that you can choose e.g. "Large icons" vs "Small icons" or "Adjust settings to a small display". Maybe I will still use a larger display, but why should the terminal take up the same percentage of the space on my 1280x1024 display as it used to do on my 800x600 display?

With that said, based on my initial tests in VirtualBox Crunchbang seems to be a nice minimalistic distribution.

Best regards,

Zarniwoop AKA David Sjölin (or maybe the other way around smile

  • omns
  • #! Die-hard
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  • From: non-local
  • Registered: 2008-11-25
  • Posts: 4,406

Re: Better display settings

Crunchbang doesn't have a default display size. The display size is set by the video card (xorg) setup. In your case the virtual machine needs to have the Virtual Box Guest Additions installed on the guest (i.e Crunchbang) to achieve a higher resolution.

http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/virt … ddons.html

A Creative Commoner | My images at Google+ | A Waldorf Review

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  • From: Brownwood, Texas
  • Registered: 2009-07-31
  • Posts: 52

Re: Better display settings

+ 1 omns

Registered Linux user 456511
Life's fun when your sick and psychotic!
  • Registered: 2008-12-13
  • Posts: 1,480

Re: Better display settings

This is an issue that was recently brought up by the popularity of netbooks. I know a lot of core programs are being patched to have smaller windows by default, I can do most things on my netbook now where a release ago it was more difficult. There are still a few games and random dialogs that don't work well, for most of those you can alt+ right click to drag them around to get to the parts you can't see. This isn't really an issue that could be resolved by #!, it's more up to the individual applications.

I say never be complete, I say stop being perfect, I say lets evolve, let the chips fall where they may.
  • soley
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  • Registered: 2009-09-09
  • Posts: 5

Re: Better display settings

Yep. My computer displays #! at 1440x900 which is my monitors max resolution. But my wife's monitor, which also has 1440x900 as the max res, only displays at 1024x768 on the live discs.