Monday, July 11, 2005
Monitor specifications and common sense
So I'm trying to find the model name/number on the el cheapo 15" monitor I'm using right now. It says "Mag Innovision" on the front, and the back of the monitor is completely blank. Nothing about FCC compliance, no manufacture date, nothing. They decided to, in a moment of brilliance, put the serial numbers and whatnot on the bottom of the monitor. So to see the model number, you have to turn the monitor around, and tilt it at about a 45 degree angle to read it. Turns out it's a "DX15F". Great, I google for it, find the specs no problem, enter them into xorg.conf, and away I go.
Then it hit me. Why didn't they just print the horizontal and vertical sync ranges on the back? Heck, why not the front? Didn't anybody think of this? Did somebody say "Hey, you know what would be good? If we printed the specs right on the monitor!" and then they didn't do it? This isn't rocket science.
I realize this is a non-issue with modern monitors, as they have some magic way to tell the video card what they support. Come to think of it, I don't even know what that standard is called. It's invisible. It just works. In my experience, anyway. I'm sure lots of people have horror stories to tell. But it's a lot better than having to plug in the numbers yourself, or else use some flickering VESA mode.
