Using Display Preferences

Documentation / CyMonitor

• Overview of Display Preferences
  • What It Does
  • What It Is Not
• Using Display Preferences
  • DPI And Readability
  • Dry Run Before You Commit
  • Identify Heads
  • First-Run Dense Framebuffers
• Command Line
  • Probe And Identify
  • Apply And Dry Run
  • First-Run Scale
• Copyright

Using Display Preferences

Open cymonitor-prefs from the Applications page or the settings path that points at Display Preferences. The window is a singleton per screen: a second launch replaces the first.

DPI And Readability

The number that matters for type size is the Xft DPI (and, when you use it, font_scale in readability prefs). The panel lets you try a candidate DPI, see how the desk feels, then Apply. Session start can replay the saved set with:

cymonitor-prefs --apply

or the alias --startup. That replays DPI / font-scale, resolution, rotation, and multi-head layout for the monitors that are plugged in now.

Dry Run Before You Commit

cymonitor-prefs --dryrun
cymonitor-prefs --dpi 144 --dryrun

Prints the xrdb/xrandr commands an apply would run and changes nothing. Add --server-dpi when you also want to see (or later run) xrandr --dpi.

Identify Heads

cymonitor-prefs --identify

Flashes a short CyOSD label on each connected display (connector + model). Useful when cables and names do not match what you think they are.

First-Run Dense Framebuffers

startcyanotype may call:

cymonitor-prefs --apply-first-run-scale

If the framebuffer is denser than HD and no readability prefs exist yet, that writes readability_mode=font_scale and font_scale=150, shows a one-shot CyOSD, and exits. It does not override prefs you already set.

Probe

cymonitor-prefs --probe

Prints what the monitor probe found and exits. No window.

See Also

• Overview of Display Preferences
• Command Line