This is basically a repost from the KDE forum, since this is mainly a “KDE thing”, but I want answers faster, so I am reposting it here too.
I remember back in the days when CRT monitors were in, that there were times when the monitor got blown by setting the config incorrectly. AFAIK no CRT monitors were capable of anything even as high as 720p resolution (4x3 aspect ratio). If they did that seems to have been only in the most expensive models.
Today, since almost every monitor in use is digital. The monitor tells the system what resolutions and refresh rates it supports (the EDID data) and gets configured accordingly.
Monitors that do not report the EDID data properly require the user to manually set the display resolutions, etc.
VGA is not capable of passing all the same data that is available with DVI-D, HDMI, and DP interfaces. Many GPUs on the market still have a VGA interface though.
DisplayPort ➛ VGA – that connection won’t work for auto-detection. DisplayPort only supports DDC signals with a DVI or HDMI connection.
Not all VGA monitors and not all Windows editions support DDC. And for Windows editions that do support DDC, it requires an INF file from the display manufacturer, otherwise if Windows cannot find a suitable match, it’ll default to some common safe modes (e.g. 640x480@60, 800x600@60, 1024x768@60).
In F44, Wayland replaced X11, and with it went X11’s cvt and xrandr utilities for generating modelines of custom display resolution + frequency combinations. I’m not aware of an equivalent for Wayland, and it’s probably fair to say that Wayland is designed for hardware much more modern than the 40-year-old NEC MultiSync FE770/FE771.
You’ll have to downgrade to an earlier Fedora version, or another distro that still supports X11. Then using the monitor specifications from your PDF manual, generate the required modelines to add to your xorg.conf file (NEC’s INF file effectively contained the equivalent info for Windows).
Hopefully it’s enough to get you pointed in the right direction.
(Note that it’s “cathode” ray tube rather than “cathodic”. They’re related, but not interchangeable.)
In italian, my motherlanguage, it’s “tubo a raggi catodici”, so I translated the adjective as it was.
With that said, and to not repeat myself (OG post) Nvidia could just recognise the monitors, regardless of the adapters I used to convert a digital signal to analog, and gave them names.
Also:
The NEC Multisync that was referred to supports up to 1280x1024 according to the specs. But for CRTs it is probably better to get a higher refresh rate at a lower resolution because of the possible flicker. Also the GUI adapter in the computer also sets limits for the configuration.
[1]
“Dumb PC CRTs” like what Jeff_V described were still produced even around the 2000’s, but not even for the servers, they were made for those setups which should have been as cheap and expendable as possible, like cash registers.
33:29 - 34:53
CRT TVs have stayed “dumb” until the 90’s, while PC CRTs have been capable of much more for way longer, having true menus instead of just circuits.
I am saying this just to clarify that all LCDs, Oleds and CRTs have the same “skill issue” on Linux, be it on Xorg or Wayland, because when compared to W10 they are not capable of displaying all which a monitor should be able to.
[Edit: altho Fedora KDE still doesn’t show all the resolutions and refresh rates which it should, now it shows some more of them… but still not all.]
THE
problem here is that Fedora KDE is lacking clear and easy ways to add custom resolutions.
The “CRT not being properly detected” is a secondary problem (the Windows 10 screenshot shows that the same computer can’t detect its info, but that may just be an AMD skill issue).
WHY
I need and want to be able to set them is because, as you can see[2], full 1024x768p can run 85hz, and I want to be able to run 800x600p at 110hz and 640x480p (I’ve just now re-checked because before I wasn’t even able to select it on Fkde, but now it magically appeared…) at 120hz.
Also (and this is more of a P.S.A. than anything), contrary to Windows, games on Linux can’t just commandeer the resolution to change whenever they want, so the “lower resolutions” are smeared, like if subject to a STRONG FXAA effect:
[EDIT!!!: open the link for the longer version, but tl;dr it still does this, but much less.]
To negate this, the desktop’s resolution itself has to be changed prior to launching the game, and the game won’t be able to see resolutions higher than the Desktop’s.
