AGA Mk3 and wrong sized icons

Beauvais · Dec 20th 2021

For some time I have had an AGA Mk3 and I am really happy with it. One thing though, is that I probably don't fully understand it and how to get the best picture, as it seems my desktop icons are too heigh.

I have a 1920x1080 monitor, and I probably need the text larger than typical. I could of course also just get glasses, but this is another topic However I am using the "Pre 800x600 Super72 SHiRes" and it gives me thjis:

A little more zoomed on the icons, then they seem stretched on the height:

I have tried a lot of other resolutions, but I cannot get it any better than this, in terms of how the icon looks.

Is this just normal, or would it actually be possible to have the text the same size but the height of the icons smaller?

I am using the newest firmware, "20210108" and the newest application version, 3.1.10

Any help or hints would be appreciated

Jens · Dec 21st 2021

The Amiga WB will pretty much alwaqys assume that the pixels it's working with are "near square". However, your monitor will not show them like that, as the screen is much wider than it's high. Further, choosing a resolution on the Amiga that's way wider than high, you will always end up with this result. I'd choose an interlaced resolution, as that will double the number of pixels on the Y-axis, shrinking the icons. For further correction of the aspec ratio, I'd use the live config or the adjustments in the config tool. The test picture shows a circle that is probably more an "oval" right now.

The compromise you'll end up with is to either have the wrong aspect ratio, or you'll have black bars left and right. That's because the Amiga was made way before wide screens were invented.

Beauvais · Dec 21st 2021

I don't think that my monitor auto-stretches width and height? Or does it? My monitor is detected when I run the "auto-detect VGA" as "EDID 1920x1080@60", so when I set the resolution to 800x600, then why doesn't it display like that? I don't understand that?

As I already have a C128 with black borders, then I would prefer that, compared to a stretched picture.

Jens · Dec 22nd 2021

Quote from Beauvais

I don't think that my monitor auto-stretches width and height? Or does it?

Yes - it has to.

Quote from Beauvais

so when I set the resolution to 800x600, then why doesn't it display like that? I don't understand that?

Look for a setting within the monitor that says "PC" or "1:1" - there are lots of monitors that do picture processing, and it's not always for the benefit of the result...