Difference in Apparent Resolution Depending on WM in Vector 5.9 Light (solved)

[never_stop_learning]

This is weird..... The apparent resolution is different in 5.9 Light on my IBM TP240 depending on WM. The TP240 has a maximum resolution of 800x600. In LXDE, everything looks good, the desktop icons are a certain size, the folders on the Firefox Bookmarks Toolbar are a certain size, etc.....

When I switch to any of the other WMs (JWM, Openbox, Fluxbox) it looks like the resolution drops to 600x480. The desktop icons on JWM are larger and the folders on the Firefox Bookmarks Toolbar are larger, etc.....

i tried re-running my xwindow set-up in VASM just to make sure but the differences still exist.....

Any ideas?

Thank you.....

[caitlyn]

I don't think your resolution is actually changing.  Things like icon size and folder size are programmable and can be set to anything you want from extra large to tiny.  Now... if you told me you opened AbiWord, for example, and everything was bigger, then I'd agree.  Window managers don't control the resolution.  That's handled by the xorg server.

[newt]

You can try running:

xrandr | grep '*'

from within each WM to determine the actual resolution that's being used; although I suspect cait is correct in that it's simply an icon/toolbar size issue.  It worked for me.

edit:
BTW, I found this bit of info here: http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/how-do-i-find-out-screen-resolution-of-my-linux-desktop/
I tried the xpdyinfo command first but I guess I'm missing a shared dependency :rolleyes:

[never_stop_learning]

caitlyn: I verified that xorg.conf is the same so it must be the icon/font/toolbar differences you described.....

Newtor: Thank you for the method of checking resolution from within each WM.....Pretty neat.