§ ¶Custom zoom

A slight annoyance with my new laptop is that, without a docking station, it doesn't have a DVI input. That means I have to use the analog VGA output instead. Not a huge problem, since my 24" LCD is surprisingly crisp with analog video even at 1920x1200, but occasionally I do have to give its auto-adjust a hand as the desktop in my current Vista 64 partition is both fairly empty and black. The way I do this is to launch Paint, set it to black-and-white mode, and fill the screen with a 50% checkerboard.

While going through the menus to switch to black-and-white mode, I noticed that the Vista version seems to have a new Custom item. Cool, I thought, finally I can set a zoom factor higher than 8x. Well, not quite:

Apparently I can choose a custom zoom level from one of seven predefined zoom factors....

Comments

Comments posted:

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I used to keep a pre-made 50% checkerboard image for doing this (great minds think alike :)) but in more recent years I have used a free tool called Nokia Monitor Tester which has buttons to generate several test patterns, including a 50% dither.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/..

Since it auto-generates a pattern to fill the monitor, and is just one exe file that doesn't require installation, it's more convenient than a bitmap, IMO. Plus it can show you images that help you test a bunch of other things.

It hasn't been updated since 2004 but it doesn't seem to need an update as it works fine on my dual 1920x1200 monitor Vista machine. (For multiple monitors drag the full-screen test window from one monitor to the other.)

Leo Davidson (link) - 26 05 08 - 05:28

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I made a checkerboard pattern for adjusting LCDs a long time ago, and since I thought it might be useful to others, I put it online. You can always access it here:

http://deeperthought.ena.si/raster.html

Load the page, press F11, adjust.

ender (link) - 26 05 08 - 11:25

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Rumor has it that Paint is getting a complete overhaul in Windows 7. Just another thing to look forward to in the next version of Windows.

Trimbo (link) - 26 05 08 - 11:35

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"it doesn't have a DVI input" - input?

Simon - 26 05 08 - 17:17

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You know what I mean... although, technically, it's true that it doesn't have a DVI input either.

Phaeron - 26 05 08 - 17:56

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"seven predefined zoom factors"?
this is an upgrade!
XP's Paint only has five (100,200,400,600,800) ...

Targumon - 31 05 08 - 11:42

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