High Aspect Ratio Monitors with WinNT 4.0

[Porschedude]

How can I get my new Sony 24" Monitor (16:10 ratio) to work with NT 4.0. If I stretch the screen out to meet the side of the CRT, the image distorts. I use the monitor for a CAD Program and need the geometry to show correctly during my drafting.

I can't find anything on the MS web site and Sony hadn't anything in the way of drivers for NT 4.0, they concluded, during my telephone call, that NT doesn't work with NT in its present configuration.

How does Win2K or XP handle different ratio monitors?

Tks, KW

 

[ProviaFan]

I'm guessing that the problem is in your video drivers. Some don't support "non-standard" resolutions (or standard ones, for that matter). For example, my ATI Radeon VE is not capable of running 1600x1024 (a nonstandard res - 16:10) in Windows XP (although it has no problem doing that in Linux w/ XFree86). It also can not do 1280x960 (a standard, 4:3, res) in WinXP, while, again, this resolution works great in Linux.
As for solutions, I don't know if Powerstrip will work with Windows NT, but it's worth a try, since it can set nonstandard resolutions that aren't normally supported by the drivers for your video card. Also, if you have an ATI or possibly nVidia card, be sure to check out some of the small, free, utilities that will do the same thing as powerstrip, while not costing any money.

 

[Porschedude]

jliechty -

Thanks, you jogged my reality as far as aspect ratios. We have been so entrenched with 4:3 monitors that we didn't see the significance to the numbers. I needlessly loaded Win2K and I?m currently suffering a bad upgrade and then needed to do a clean install. I did the math and found that pixel resolution must match a close as possible the physical dimension of the monitor. Duh!? Anyway, all of this was poorly documented by Sony. I called them and spent almost an hour with three different product reps before the light came on in my head and I verbalized to them and then their light came on. Duh!? I also installed a new video card. From a Matrox G200 to a G550. Even though 1600x1024 isn?t listed in their documentation, it can be selected on either of the cards. I asked Sony if they could recommend a Video Card and they said that they couldn?t. I wonder how may current cards support 1600x1024 needed to support this 16:10 ratio?

Well, I now have a new Sony 24" GDM-FW900 16:10 ratio, a new Matrox G550 Dual Head, and a fresh install of Win2K, and life is good....

Thanks for your help!