gemini://shit.cx/tech/devenv/2021-12-19-using-a-19-lcd-monitor-from-2005/

I like small monitors. For too long I've been tolerating monitors that are way bigger than I'd prefer just because it is what is supplied by my job. Usually they've been 24" Apple or Dell monitors at 1920 x 1200.

While using such large monitors, I arrange my windows into the centre two thirds with the remaining space unused. Having just one thing in front of me keeps me focused. The extra horizontal space I get from a widescreen isn't that useful to me. A fullscreen browser often makes Web Pages too wide. I will sometimes fullscreen my Terminal Emulator, but I don't really need to. While I agree that there are certainly applications that would benefit from extra pixels — Photoshop, IDEs, DAWs, etc. — I don't use them. 95% of the time I'm in one of three apps; iTerm, Firefox or Slack which I dedicate to one each to my four virtual displays. The forth virtual display is reserved for any random app that I need to occasionally run. I switch between the virtual displays using Command with numbers 1-4.

Recently, I've been thinking about making a monitor to match my keyboard¹ that has the style of a 70s terminal. I can't make that with a modern widescreen. It will break the aesthetic I'm going for. Since I try to avoid using the edges of a wide screen, I wondered whether I can make do with an old display running at 1280 x 1024. I wasn't worried that a narrow screen would get in the way of my normal work-flow; I was mostly concerned about remote pairing with someone using a wider screen that my own.

I sourced an old 19" monitor for $20. It is some medical grade Philips display for which I can't find much information. I've been using it full time for for the past month or two, now. The TFT display is slow (probably around 20ms) which makes text hard to read while scrolling. The back-light takes 30 seconds to warm up before it stops being dim. The viewing angle is poor. But despite these problems it has been completely manageable. I don't hate it. I don't even think about it. It's just my monitor. Plenty of people have sworn off low PPI screens. I'm not one of them. Overall, I agree that high PPI is better but I still prefer Terminus on a low PPI screen over anything else. Since I probably spend 75% of my time in a terminal, I'm fine with a sub-optimal experience elsewhere.

Initially the difference to my 24" Dell was stark. Apart from the display looking so narrow, It felt as though I was sitting next to my computer again rather than in its shadow. I just have a little window to peer into the machine rather than being totally immersed in it. For my work, I prefer being less immersed.

As I expected, my terminal is fine. My browser has been mostly fine. Occasionally, websites aren't optimised for the narrow screen. I was surprised to find that remote pairing is fine, too. I mostly use Slack to share a desktop. There have been no complaints when I share my screen. When someone else uses a bigger screen, I can resize the slack window to be wider than the margins of my screen which reduces the letterboxing effect. I can then move the window horizontally so that the interesting section of their screen is visible. We have the roughly the same amount of vertical pixels and I've noticed that most of the time, 1280 pixels is enough. When it isn't, I ask if they can kindly make their window a little narrower but that is almost never needed.

I'm satisfied that a 1280 x 1024 monitor is still perfectly usable for me in 2021. When I can find time for it, I'm going to build a custom display with a salvaged panel.

Using a 19" LCD monitor from 2005