TechRepublic: Linux 101: Configure your video display

“Configuring a Linux display offers a different challenge than
configuring a Windows display. In philosophical discordance
with the Microsoft way of thinking, to properly (the key here
being properly) set up a Linux video display, it is
imperative that you know a few details about both your monitor and
your video card.”

“When setting up a Linux display, you have two choices: Choose
your monitor from a list or choose custom. The custom configuration
is the best suited for any situation and can be refined much
farther than a standard installation. There are only a few bits of
information that you will need in order to set up your video
display with the custom configuration. The critical configurations
are the vertical refresh rate (the rate at which the whole screen
is refreshed) and, most importantly, the vertical sync range (the
rate at which the scan lines are displayed).”

“The higher refresh rate chosen, the less likely your monitor
will experience “flicker.” When choosing the refresh rate, try not
to drop below 65 Mhz. New monitors will easily accept refresh rates
of 65 Mhz or better. … Vertical Sync Range: Again, the higher the
number, the clearer the picture. In Red Hat’s distribution, the
vertical sync range is given in increments of: 50-70, 50-90,
50-100, and 40-150 and measures the number of times per second the
monitor can traverse its beam vertically. Typically, newer monitors
should be set at the 50-100 range.

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