MA2.06 Does not detect widescreen iMac G5?
 

I have a shiny new iMac 20", which has a widescreen display running at 1680x1050. Based on the FAQ at:

http://www.serenescreen.com/product/...q.php#faq3_650

...it seems like it is supposed to automatically detect a widescreen display, but mine does not seem to. I cannot access the 8th fish, as one dead giveaway...

:(

Help?

When you say that you "cannot access the 8th fish", what exactly do you mean by that? There should always be eight fish "slots" in the Fish Tank list in the Fish tab in the Preferences, no matter what the configuration of the system (the text at the bottom of the list, "8th Fish Widescreen Only", is always there as a reminder that you will only see the eighth fish in your tank if the tank is "wide").

A better way to judge if you are running the "wide" version of the tank is check on which side of the tank the bubbles column appears. If it's on the left, then the "normal" version of the tank is being displayed. If the bubbles column is on the right, then the "wide" version of the tank is being displayed.

You can run the application with the tank running in a window to view both versions of the tank. Just resize the window to approximate the aspect ratio of both tanks to see the difference (the window will maintain the proper dimensions for the normal/wide aspect ratio, so you don't have to worry about being too exact).

- Michael

Interesting. I did not know you could resize the windowed screensaver and have it change proportions like that.

The bubbles are indeed on the right. Compared to the left side column on my standard 4:3 screen on my PC.

The 8th fish is not selectable, however, or assisgnable. It says "8th fish widescreen only".

So you are indeed getting the widescreen display.

Count the fish in the list again. There should be eight slots available. The "8th Fish Widescreen Only" message appears below the eighth slot, not in place of it.

- Michael

Yeesh. I'm a shlub. All 8 are accounted for... I saw the "8th Fish widescreen only" message and assumed it was there in place of the 8th fish. And counting them onscreen, I now see that 8th fish hiding behind the coral, showing his face or tail on occasion.

Thank you for your patience. :-)

No problem KMan.

You aren't the first to be confused by this part of the UI. We are eager to improve this, but haven't had an idea that is clearly superior, but there HAS to be one.

Thanks for your post.

Why not grey out the 8th fish if widescreen is not detected?

The eighth fish is always available because it may be displayed, depending on the aspect ratio of the view in which the tank is being displayed. For example, when running the application in window mode, you can resize the window to either aspect ratio (normal or wide). When running in full-screen mode (as the application or as the screensaver), you may have multiple monitors available with different aspect ratios. For the application, the monitor that the window is on (or most on, in the case of overlap) is the one that would be used when the window is expanded to full-screen. Of course, the window can be moved, which may change monitor to be used. Even when using the screensaver and having only one monitor (or having "Use multiple monitors" disabled, so only the main monitor is used), the preview pane in System Preferences can have one orientation (in my case, wide), while the monitor may have another orientation (in my case, normal).

In short, it's hard to determine with any degree of certainty that the eighth fish should be disabled/unavailable when setting the preferences. Additionally, if the user is allowed to specify all eight fish and we start a tank that is limited to seven, then we display the first seven. If the user is allowed to specify only seven fish and we somehow encounter a situation where an eighth fish is allowed, what do we display? Only seven? A random eighth fish? Probably the latter (since Random is the default choice), but it might disturb someone's carefully restricted fish selection.

- Michael

Then word it, ..... '8th fish visible in wide mode only' ;)