Linux Is the Only OS To Support Diagonal PC Monitor Mode (tomshardware.com) 170
Melbourne-based developer xssfox has championed a unique "diagonal mode" for monitors by utilizing Linux's xrandr (x resize and rotate) tool, finding a 22-degree tilt to the left to be the ideal angle for software development on her 32:9 aspect ratio monitor. As Tom's Hardware notes, Linux is the "only OS to support a diagonal monitor mode, which you can customize to any tilt of your liking." It begs the question, could 2024 be the year of the Linux diagonal desktop? From the report: Xssfox devised a consistent method to appraise various screen rotations, working through the staid old landscape and portrait modes, before deploying xrandr to test rotations like the slightly skewed 1 degree and an indecisive 45 degrees. These produced mixed results of questionable benefits, so the search for the Goldilocks solution continued. It turns out that a 22-degree tilt to the left was the sweet spot for xssfox. This rotation delivered the best working screen space on what looks like a 32:9 aspect ratio monitor from Dell. "So this here, I think, is the best monitor orientation for software development," the developer commented. "It provides the longest line lengths and no longer need to worry about that pesky 80-column limit."
If you have a monitor with the same aspect ratio, the 22-degree angle might work well for you, too. However, people with other non-conventional monitor rotation needs can use xssfox's javascript calculator to generate the xrandr command for given inputs. People who own the almost perfectly square LG DualUp 28MQ780 might be tempted to try 'diamond mode,' for example. We note that Windows users with AMD and Nvidia drivers are currently shackled to applying screen rotations using 90-degree steps. MacOS users apparently face the same restrictions.
If you have a monitor with the same aspect ratio, the 22-degree angle might work well for you, too. However, people with other non-conventional monitor rotation needs can use xssfox's javascript calculator to generate the xrandr command for given inputs. People who own the almost perfectly square LG DualUp 28MQ780 might be tempted to try 'diamond mode,' for example. We note that Windows users with AMD and Nvidia drivers are currently shackled to applying screen rotations using 90-degree steps. MacOS users apparently face the same restrictions.
checking calendar (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:checking calendar (Score:4, Funny)
No it's true! Many users like to set up their monitor in an unusual way with xrandr! Myself, I rotate all my displays by 180 degrees so the power and control buttons are on top! It makes me much more productive that way.
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I recommend rotating it 180 degrees about the vertical axis.
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Re:checking calendar (Score:5, Funny)
I rotate mine i degrees, which stops spies from reading my screen. Then I use prism glasses that essentially squares that, and then stand on my head remove the sign from the result. Works perfectly.
Tried the same thing with my speakers but it just ended up sounding like Merzbow.
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I'm all for security, but the lengths some people go to really make me feel small.
Re: checking calendar (Score:2)
Well I also use i rotation, but that only because my screen is an imaginary one, in a VR headset.
I put fan blades and motor in mine (Score:2)
The screen goes round and round keeping me cool but the text stays level . Brilliant
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My cables are too long so I go for 720.
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Could be useful on a ship in heavy seas - keep the displayed text horizontal as the ship rolls. Just need a /dev/plumbline or something.
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Back when Macbook Pros had spinning rust drives, they were equipped with the "sudden motion sensor" which would monitor accelerations in an effort to protect the drive by detecting when the unit might be in freefall or parking the heads so they don't crash.
Someone managed to hack their sensor to get data so they could keep a window level despite how you tilted the laptop. O
Re: checking calendar (Score:2)
This is some of the dumbest shit I have seen on /. and I have been around since the beginning.
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Agreed, I still keep my lines at 78 chars wide.
Re: checking calendar (Score:3)
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You can't say that! Not in public! They might realize you know JCL and Cobol and then they will make you do it!
Erh... I mean... huh? No idea what that is supposed to mean! None, none at all!
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That wasn't Cobol, that was FORTRAN, I think both FORTRAN II and FORTRAN IV. The columns past 72 being for sequence numbers was to allow binary decks to be put back in order if you dropped them. Column 6 was for continuation, and 1-5 were numeric only for goto labels. (The bit about column 72 was also because the main card reader for the 7090 only read the first 72 columns, and when reading binary preferred row binary at two words per card.)
Gee. It's been a long time.
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That format was used all the way through Fortran 77, and goes by a variety of names: standard fixed form, fixed format, fixed source form, etc. Fixed form also uses column 1 to indicate comment lines with a 'C' character. "Free form" was introduced in Fortran 90, and supports lines of length 132 characters (with a compiler option for more) in addition to not having the other constraints.
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Very similar to how JCL works... if I remember right.
It's been a while.
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LOC actually stands for Length of Column. You get paid for your longest columns of code.
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I wrote the entire program in one epic line. Good luck debugging it.
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Well I went for Libraries of Congress and let me tell you I feel silly and my fingers are sore.
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80x25 if your graphics card is in text mode.
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That anyone worries about? The linux kernel code style guidelines proscribes an 80 char limit strongly. We have one at work too, and just about every place I've worked at (games, commercially with the big players) generally has guidelines. If you won't do it, .editorconfig will for you.
Yay, linux!... I guess? (Score:3)
After looking at the image in the tweet, it seems like an odd curiosity, but I don't really get the use case for it... but the electronics gear under the monitor does help their nerd cred. Mine are Rigol...
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I had a hard time figuring out what it might actually be good for, too. The only thing I came up was building simulators, with monitors outside of weird shaped vehicle windows.
Re: Yay, linux!... I guess? (Score:2, Insightful)
The article on tomshardware shows how the guy uses it, he's a fucking retard.
that's not what "begs the question" means (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean "raises the question"
Begs the question is when you assume something true without showing that it is in order to come to a conclusion based on that assumption.
Re:that's not what "begs the question" means (Score:4, Interesting)
You mean "raises the question"
Begs the question is when you assume something true without showing that it is in order to come to a conclusion based on that assumption.
Personally, I have thrown in the towel on this one, and consider the phase to have officially evolved. I'm generally a rigid traditionalist when it comes to language, and resist most evolutionary changes (One exception would be "y'all"; English needs a second-person plural.), but let's face it: the "incorrect" use of the phrase is commonly assumed to be correct because it simply makes more sense. Some old turns of phrase just don't age well, and using the verb "beg" to mean "disingenuously presuppose without evidence" is a little obtuse in today's usage, don'tcha think?
I have not yet, however, given up on "whom," and I will absolutely die on the hill that "instantaneously" does not mean "instantly," no matter what contemporary dictionaries have conceded.
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English also has a second person singular which is 'thou'. Try using that when appropriate.
Re: that's not what "begs the question" means (Score:3)
You can use Apostrophe (ASCII 39) all you want. What you can't use is Right Single Quote (Unicode 8217).
Re: that's not what "begs the question" means (Score:2)
The question of why remainsâ¦
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It doesn't, though.
If the question is why can't I use the wrong symbol for an apostrophe, the answer is that you should use apostrophe for apostrophe.
If the question is why can't I use unicode on Slashdot, it's that this place is on critical life support, and even when it was popular and produced substantial revenue there was no appetite for doing the work to support unicode.
Probably there is some "clever" perl involved that would have to be 1) understood and then 2) rewritten which makes it a PITA. Perl ca
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If the question is why can't I use the wrong symbol for an apostrophe, the answer is that you should use apostrophe for apostrophe.
Straight quotes were invented for computers and programming. Before that they were always curved. We already have <pre> tags for preserving what was typed but really browsers should be offering typographical assist automatically unless the input field has an attribute that says otherwise.
A straight single quote is not an apostrophe - and never was. Microsoft Word was actually very late in adding typographical assist but they do it as well. I also won't paste computer code into a Word document unle
Re: that's not what "begs the question" means (Score:3)
ASCII 39 is an apostrophe, regardless of how your computer renders it. There's nothing wrong with rendering ASCII 39 either straight or curved.
Regardless, if you MEAN apostrophe, you should use ASCII 39. How it appears on the screen for the other user isn't your concern.
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Slashcode is very overly protective. Don't want any pesky Unicode getting through. It's 7-bit ASCII and you'll like it. Unless you know some HTML entities and even then you can only use a handful.
And you can definitely “quote all you want” that way.
I think whoever maintains the code loves pointing out the iOS/macOS users and their typographically correct autocorrect. Really, it was always the job of software. Word does it and so should browsers. Straight quotes were invented to make simpl
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Why canâ(TM)t I use my countryâ(TM)s currency symbol (£) on a website in 2023?
Which symbol would that be?
Most common ones are supported: €, £, ¥ and even $.
And, if you are a cheapstake, even is supported :-)
But, for God's sake, please stop drooling on your keyboard when you type, it makes you look sloppy.
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Unofficially devolved, more like.
Recently I saw a summary for a Roman gladiator movie on Amazon's streaming service that stated the legion had been "decimated" (and yes, they were trying to say it had been mostly destroyed.) A Roman legion. For fucks sake, lol.
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You mean they should have used "Ximated"?
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In the time of ancient Rome, decimated was a punishment where every tenth soldier was killed. I think the soldiers of that unit had to do the killing of their own troops.
The 'nearly wiped out in a battle" (with the implication that 9 out of 10 soldiers were casualties) is a more modern interpretation.
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OK do you have a cake then eat it?
That's my 'hill'...
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I have not yet, however, given up on "whom," and I will absolutely die on the hill that "instantaneously" does not mean "instantly," no matter what contemporary dictionaries have conceded.
When you answer the phone, and the person asks for you, how do you reply? Do you reply with the grammatically correct: "This is he"?
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Incorrect: the technical sense which some people insist to be the one true meaning isn't a contraction from another English phrase but a bad translation from Latin of a bad translation from Greek which should instead be translated literally as "postulating the original point" or idiomatically as "assuming the conclusion".
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Actually it is exactly what "begs the question" means. There is no English czar (despite Slashdotters thinking they were appointed as one). No standard workbook that defines all meaning. English as a language evolves over time meaning the "common" use of English phrases ultimately become the "correct" use of English.
It is after all nothing more than a medium used to convey meaning. And let's face it, you knew the old historical use case for "begs the question", but did that suddenly make you confused or una
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It is after all nothing more than a medium used to convey meaning.
Agreed
you knew the old historical use case for "begs the question"
Not the person you replied to, but I don't/didn't, it reads like you want to plead to a question to make it do something, which is pretty nonsensical. Even with people who think they know what "begs the question" means there seems to be debate about it in this thread.
There may be no English czar, but we should try to gravitate towards the greater ability to convey meaning. Etymology and knowing roots/history etc helps with this usually, but not with idioms, which this usage seems to come under.
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Many idioms are nonsensical. I mean how can a dead person kick a bucket? They are dead. A lot of meaning is established from common understanding, and that's the key there: "Common" It doesn't need to make sense as long as it is common.
The only one I can't get behind is when the incorrect adaptation of an idiom reverses its actual meaning, i.e. "I could care less". No you couldn't, the correct phrase is
"I couldn't care less" and in this case reading the incorrect words literally is not nonsense, but activel
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If language is to "convey meaning", then some mutual understanding of meaning must pre-exist, language has mutual understanding built into it in order to function. You cannot simply declare, case by case, what previous meaning applies as it suits you. You are literally the one destroying the language when you do. ...and if all we care about is "conveying meaning", then why ignore the elephant in the room? To use a phrase you don't understand is to project sophistication that you don't possess. Is that w
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If language is to "convey meaning", then some mutual understanding of meaning must pre-exist
No it doesn't, understanding evolves and spreads into common usage. If it didn't, language wouldn't exist at all. This is why some of the lesser educated youth of America have no problem understanding what someone means when they say "I could care less", even when they mean "I couldn't care less".
You cannot simply declare, case by case, what previous meaning applies as it suits you.
I didn't. The english speaking world came together and agreed it. Which is why "begs the question" is commonly used in the way it is in TFS. You can either jump on board the bandwagon or be forever remembered as th
My Momma (Score:2)
was not a native speaker of English who developed new words out of stock phrases of strung-together-words.
One of them is that she would say "Francis" when she meant "for instance."
Another was "funnymcgee." The origin of that one was, of course, the radio program Fibber McGee and Molly. Molly's stock line critizing Fibber was, "That's not funny, McGee!" I believe the time Mom came to the U.S. was well after the heyday of that radio program, but "That's not funny, McGee!" was solidly part of the 50's
People smurficate language (Score:2)
This is a trigger that halts my reading of text for a moment as well, but my reason for stopping reading books by even well-established authors is the use of get, got, gotten instead of the correct terms. I'm always automatically substituting or rewriting sentences in my head while reading, and I wonder why editors (the people checking text, not software) don't flag those instances.
I get the feeling like everyone can only get across or get down words by getting forms of get because they get confused at offi
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I am just happy to see people use cromulent words like "smurficate."
Jesus, just stop (Score:2)
You mean "raises the question"
Begs the question is when you assume something true without showing that it is in order to come to a conclusion based on that assumption.
Jesus, just stop already. That rendition of "begs the question" comes from a...ahem...questionable 16th century translation of Aristotle's use of the phrase 'petitio principii', which is far better translated as that which "assumes a conclusion". The original translation was a tortuous use of the plain meaning of the words, even in the 16th century.
The phrase is today used far more often in the form of "raises the question", or, more specifically, really is now taken to mean "to a reasonable person it sho
Isn't there enough screen orientation controversy (Score:2)
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there is no controversy whatsoever, just a mannerism fight and in this particular instance just someone desperately seeking attention by being weird.
this is not like traditional flames like vi/emacs or atari/amiga where under all the nonsense and jokes some actual interesting points could be made.
just ignore this one, or relax and watch the kids fight it out, shake your head, have a laugh.
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Vertical isn't as irrational as you think. With an UHD monitor in vertical 2160x3840, the effective width is still greater than the old effective width of a normal monitor say 1920x1080. So you don't lose anything from an older monitor landscape configuration. The vast majority of the work I do (e-mail, most websites (and particularly financial stock websites where I utilize graphing) aren't particularly wide. Many websites even throw away most of the available horizontal with wide bands of white on either
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The year of linux on the desktop.... (Score:2)
It has finally come! the missing feature! Now i can have triangular toolbars in my word processor!
Re: The year of linux on the desktop.... (Score:2)
If you also use it for Zoom, you can chat with aliens with big foreheads and learn how to build alien tech.
Talk about problems (Score:3)
This rotation delivered the best working screen space on what looks like a 32:9 aspect ratio monitor [...] no longer need to worry about that pesky 80-column limit."
If a 32:9 aspact ratio monitor (which is probably not a 17" with VGA resolution) gives you worries about an 80-column limit, then I think you need to look somewhere else to solve your problems then tilting your monitor.
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This rotation delivered the best working screen space on what looks like a 32:9 aspect ratio monitor [...] no longer need to worry about that pesky 80-column limit."
If a 32:9 aspact ratio monitor (which is probably not a 17" with VGA resolution) gives you worries about an 80-column limit, then I think you need to look somewhere else to solve your problems then tilting your monitor.
The problem with a 32:9 monitor isn't the 80-column limit, it's that you can only fit a handful of lines on the screen -- unless you rotate it 90 degrees to portrait mode, and then you have a problem with the 80-column limit. The 22 degree rotation is clearly intended to provide more lines than in landscape mode, while still providing plenty of columns.
I think a better solution is not to buy 32:9 aspect ratio monitors. 4:3 is and always will be the ideal, IMO, but 16:10 or 16:9 are okay.
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Pointless (Score:3)
It's bad enough this is an article which links to an article which links to a tweet - but even the source is pointless drivel. Thanks for wasting 5 minutes of my time.
Since the 90's the linux desktop has supported tricks like compositing windows on a 3D cube. That is way cooler than this garbage and you don't end up with most of your window controls cut off.
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The cube is the coolest gimmick but I gave up on multiple desktops because when new windows pop up they could pop up anywhere.
When someone successfully solves that, virtual desktops will be much more useful.
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The cube is the coolest gimmick but I gave up on multiple desktops because when new windows pop up they could pop up anywhere.
When someone successfully solves that, virtual desktops will be much more useful.
Umm, that's pretty much up to your window manager. I've been using KDE/Plasma since, well, 3.x days, and "Window rules" have been available at least since then. It's really easy to set up. For me, Firefox always starts on desktop 2, Dolphin browser on desktop 5, some default SSH Konsole sessions on deskt
Yet they still won't fix thumbnails (Score:2)
Tell me you code java without telling you code jav (Score:2)
Hilarious. And cool. Sort of. (Score:2)
Nice one. I like this sort of FOSS foolery.
To save you some time, decent link (Score:5, Informative)
https://sprocketfox.io/xssfox/... [sprocketfox.io]
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"First off, I could only get this to work in xorg - no wayland support yet. xrandr --output HDMI-3 --transform lots of numbers here takes a transformation matrix thats used to position the screen. We can use that to rotate the display."
Wasted space (Score:4, Insightful)
So they can have a few really long code lines - in the middle of the screen. Meanwhile, there are all sorts of useless triangles, lots of wasted space.
It's a curiosity, an attention grabber, but not particularly useful.
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What it really means is that when round monitors come out, you can rotate your round monitor any way you like. Windows and Mac won't be able to! ;)
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Now I wonder (Score:2)
I am using a 40" 1080p Sony Bravia TV as a monitor, because I do mostly gaming on my PC and I am cheap, and it was $50. It works fairly well, but I can count pixels. I wonder how text would look if I rotated to another angle, as it looks pretty terrible now... are there angles where it would be smoother? Conversely, would using another angle confuse the font renderer?
nothing new (Score:3)
In 2021 I saw https://sprocketfox.io/xssfox/... [sprocketfox.io] looking to explore the Ideal monitor rotation for programmers.
Not sure why TomsHardware comes up with this old post now, or why anyone cares. Apart from that it's fun to be on Linux.
but why? (Score:2)
Seriously ? (Score:2)
but... remember Compiz?
You could shrink
best use case was just to see the look on some slack jawed Apple dummy 's face.
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remember Compiz? You could shrink /grow and zoom/rotate windows.... Cool looking but it was useless/ unusable.
What? It was neither of those things. Some applications are just too big or too small. Being able to scale windows was very helpful.
Messes with fonts? (Score:2)
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Even the "display scaling" feature of Windows throws out all those assumptions, but that is still widely used to make 4K displays pretend to be 1080p displays, or make 1080p displays pretend to be 720p displays.
Re: Messes with fonts? (Score:2)
I am so shackled (Score:2)
Although i remember an aquarium screen saver for my MacBook that rotated as you rotated the MacBook with the water moving accordingly:-)
Maybe there is a use case (Score:2)
Shark Tank (Score:2)
You need to pitch your idea of a motion-stabilized laptop screen to Kevin O'Leary on the TV program Shark Tank.
Just until ... (Score:2)
Finally! The year of the Linux desktop! (Score:2)
With this kind of innovation, surely 2024 will be THE YEAR!
bizarre (Score:2)
First, 32:9 is pretty niche - generally people only get such boutique monitors for a SPECIFIC purpose, not get the monitor and "then wonder how I'm going to use it"?
Second, I tend to belong to the 'curved screens are just another gimmick' school, recognizing that
- 'peripheral vision immersion' might be a thing in games, not so much in coding.
- is having to scan 28"/45 degrees to the right down a single line of code REALLY going to be that much quicker/more productive than parsing wrapped (80 column) code li
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It has nothing to do with peripheral vision.
I used to have a three-monitor setup for coding, which I replaced with a single 38" 32:9 to remove the borders. I bet that if you have three monitors on a desk, you will not have them arranged flat, but each monitor will be pointed to face you (evidence: google image search on multi-monitor setups). The curved ultra-wide does exactly the same thing but seamless. A flat monitor would distort the windows.
My monitor came with a full color calibration report for the
Are we really discussing this? (Score:2)
My screen freezes (Score:4, Funny)
Hypotenuse (Score:2)
That's making the hypotenuse of the given display horizontal.
Various screen ratios will have different angles.
I am glad we have nerds who keep experimenting like this.
Time to go beyond the rectangle! (Score:2)
Sympton of a larger Systemic Problem (Score:2)