tutorial for upgrading a monitor ?

[lionstorm]

Hi all,
what is the easiest way to change my CGX setup from a 17'' inch monitor to a 21'' monitor ? I had a lot of trouble to go from a 15'' to a 17'' because of sync ranges so I thought I 'd better ask before.
Lio

[Iggy_Drougge]

Well, the sync ranges shouldn't case you any trouble, if your new monitor isn't older than your current one, since 21-inchers are expensive kit, usually with good specs (older ones, though, are often very limited in their resolution ranges, since they tended to be used with a particular card or machine).

Your safest bet, though, if it's a semi-normal VGA monitor, is to either see if it has already got a profile in the admittedly small CGX monitor database (there are also additional profiles on Aminet and the CGX homepage). If not, use the VESA modes (assuming it's CGX 4 you're using), since these tend to be both well-supported and well-aligned on most monitors.

[chris]

I don't know anything about CGX, but surely you can just change the screenmode to one which works on the new monitor (and preferably on the old monitor as well), save, switch off and switch the monitors?

Chris

[lionstorm]

ok but the problem is when should I change the prefs ? before, and install the new driver with the 17'' monitor, then switch off everything and plug the 21'' one ? (it would make sense though, but how knows if I dont crash my 17'' monitor with settings for a 21'' one).
21'' monitors are not only expensive, they are very heavy thats why at work they try to get rid of them, replacing with brand new flat screens.
Thanks anyway
Lio

[Iggy_Drougge]

Well, if you've got any of them still connected at work, just go into the screenmode selector and make notes of the screenmode settings. Windows will list the suitable ranges for your monitor.
The most failsafe bet (if this is a VGA monitor and not some SUN or SGI thing) if you want your monitor to display a proper picture when you first plug it into your Amiga, is to set the screenmode you're using on your WB to a plain VGA 60 Hz/31 KHz, since it's the basic VGA resolution used at boot-up time by all PCs and in Windows fail-safe mode. Then run CGXMode and edit the prefs to something nicer.