[Discuss] Weird issue with my Sony Trinitron CRT monitor in console mode

[Alan W. Irwin]

My Sony Trinitron monitor has recently developed a strange symptom. I use
the startx command to start X so it is straightforward for me to switch from
X to the Linux console and back with the ctrl-alt-F1/alt-F7 sequence. The
weird symptom is that in console mode the screen is beginning to bounce
around with an amplitude of roughly a tenth of a character size with a
frequency of roughly 3 Hz or so, while in X it remains rock solid. I have
the following questions/comments:

* What kind of monitor hardware problems would only show up for the Linux
console (I think that is a VGA mode), but not for X (at least not yet)?
Could this be a software problem or video chipset (Intel G33 in this case)
problem instead?

* I guess I can live with a "moving" console for a while, but if it is a
hardware problem then I assume it will eventually affect X, and that brings
up the repair or replace issue. Trinitron monitors are pretty high quality
so we opted for repair when Barbara's Trinitron monitor crapped out about 5
years ago.  That was a good choice. PangCo Electronic services charged us a
minimum charge (less than $100 at the time), and that monitor is still going
strong in its 12th (!) year. However, it looks like repairing my own 7-yr
old Trinitron would not be a good choice in this era. For example, I just
talked with John Pang of PangCo. He gets little call any more to repair CRT
monitors so his labour/parts costs are higher. Thus, because the LCD
alternatives are so cheap he could not recommend repairing even high-quality
monitors any more.  I really appreciated that advice, and I have to admire
the integrity of a businessmen willing to give such advice when it means he
is turning down repeat business.

* When I do need to replace, what LCD monitor company has a good reputation
for long-term reliability?  I doubt I will get 12 (or even 7) years out of
an LCD monitor, but I prefer to minimize wasting my time taking things back
to the shop so long-term reliability is important to me.  Also, in the old
days I heard that LCD screens were sometimes sold even when they had up to 5
bad pixels.  Are a small number of bad pixels still the norm or are most
LCD's that are sold now free of such defects?

Alan
__________________________
Alan W. Irwin

Astronomical research affiliation with Department of Physics and Astronomy,
University of Victoria (astrowww.phys.uvic.ca).

Programming affiliations with the FreeEOS equation-of-state implementation
for stellar interiors (freeeos.sf.net); PLplot scientific plotting software
package (plplot.org); the libLASi project (unifont.org/lasi); the Loads of
Linux Links project (loll.sf.net); and the Linux Brochure Project
(lbproject.sf.net).
__________________________

Linux-powered Science
__________________________