Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!spool.mu.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!bloom-beacon!eru!hagbard!sunic!news.funet.fi!funic!santra!nntp!iisakkil From: iisakkil@vipunen.hut.fi (Mika R Iisakkila) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: Re: QUESTION: Using a VGA monitor on its side? Message-ID: Date: 29 Mar 91 20:03:41 GMT References: <91087.155337REIDMP@MAINE.BITNET> Sender: news@santra.uucp (Cnews - USENET news system) Organization: Otaniemi Underground Broadcasting System Lines: 27 In-Reply-To: REIDMP@MAINE.BITNET's message of 28 Mar 91 20:53:37 GMT REIDMP@MAINE.BITNET (Reid M. Pinchback) writes: > When I set the VGA monitor on its side, there is a strange distortion of > colour. > 1. What causes the colour distortion? It's the magnetic field of the Earth. The VGA pixels are so close to each other, that this weak magnetic field is enough to make electron beams to land on wrong pixels (=phosphor dots of wrong colour). The monitor contains numerous magnets, which are adjusted to compensate for the magnetic field. The calibration has of course been made to work in the normal position of the monitor. Actually, if you took your monitor to somewhere on the southern hemiglobe (sp?), say Australia, the colours would be distorted while the monitor is standing normally on the table! > 2. Is there a way to fix it? You might recalibrate the monitor to work correctly while on its side, but then the picture would be equally distorted when you turn the monitor standing upright. Hardly useful... > 3. Is it harmful to the monitor to use it on its side? I don't think so. There are no moving parts inside it. The ventilation of the monitor may not work at its best, though. Don't let it get abnormally warm.