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eMac + widescreen external monitor

I

ickystay

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 3, 2006
123
0
The CRT on my eMac went wonky. Both edges have a nasty red cloud that seems to be permanent. Now I'm going to just let the computer sit on the floor and use an external monitor.

I bought a cheap (ish) 1440 X 900 LCD and the picture is fine, except for one thing- everything seems to be stretched a little from side to side.

I post here wondering if any other eMac users have run into the same problem and would love to hear any solutions.

Thanks.
 
Have you tried changing the resolution to a widescreen resolution under the "Displays" prefpane?
 
Yaris said:
Have you tried changing the resolution to a widescreen resolution under the "Displays" prefpane?
Click to expand...

Yes, it shows the new monitor as "HF199H 1440 X 900 60 Hertz".

Still, for instance, a cd in the drive will look a little oval shaped on my desktop.
 
you probably have "screen synchronization" truned on, wich meens both screens show the same. you will have to turn it off I think. you can make your external screen the main screen by dragging the menubar to the other screen in the arrangement settings for your screens.
 
Arne said:
you probably have "screen synchronization" truned on, wich meens both screens show the same. you will have to turn it off I think. you can make your external screen the main screen by dragging the menubar to the other screen in the arrangement settings for your screens.
Click to expand...

Yeah its mirror displays that you might have on. To do this on an eMac you will need a piece of software called screen spanning doctor.
 
The eMacs came from the factory with screen mirroring as the only option allowed by the system firmware. As notes, special software is required to unlock it.
 
Ah. That's a cool little app. The thing is, the bad monitor is going on the floor out of sight. I just need mirroring. I'm just trying to get good geometry.

At 1360 X 768 circles are stretched a little top to bottom, so I'm going to try switchresX and try to find some numbers that will make me happy.

Thanks for the suggestions. Damn, I wish the original monitor worked because window spanning is awsome!
 
maybe this helps you to find what you need: typical widescreens have the ratio 16:10. that means you need a resolution, where width divided by height is 1.6, such as in 1280x800 (1280/800=1.6) or 1920x1200 (again 1920/1200=1.6).
 
No go with switchresX, although it did give me a lovely kernel panic.

I guess I'm just going to have to learn to accept my computer world a little squished. Crap.
 
O.K., you guys were right. Screen spanning doctor is the fix.

I turned off mirroring and dragged the eMac menu bar onto the new monitor. The new monitor quit stretching out trying to imitate the eMac. I just ignore the monitor on the floor. In fact, the child in me tells me to use it as a secret compartment!

I'm a little embarrassed about how long it took for your advice to sink in. Thanks very much for your help!
 
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