Screen resolution, font size and refresh rate

This article has been retained as a historical document. It is not up-to-date and the formatting may be lacking. Use the information herein with caution.

These instructions tell you how to configure screen resolution, font size and refresh rate to obtain good output to a computer projector.

Screen resolution, refresh rate and the default text size Firefox uses all factor into the how the video output to a computer projector looks and performs.

The default refresh rate for Ubuntu is 85 Hz which might be too high for some projectors. If 85 Hz doesn't work, try 60 Hz.

Reset Refresh Rate

To reset the refresh rate, click in succession System/Preferences/Monitors. Then click on Refresh rate.

Reset Screen Resolution

Also on the System/Preferences/Monitors page, you can set the screen resolution. If 1500

X 568
doesn't work, try a lower resolution.

A fast way to change the resolution (but not not the refresh rate) is to click the Monitor icon on the top applet bar on the screen.

Default Text Size for Firefox

To change the default text size for Firefox (so that the content of most slides just fills the screen), in Firefox, click Edit/Preferences/Content. Then under Fonts & Colors, change the size.

Switch Video Output

To switch the video output on your laptop between the screen, video projector or both, hit an the appropriate Fn key which should be labeled (often F8 or F1).