Can virtual screen resolution exceed actual display resolution?

[smeyer52]

I want my computer to think the screen resolution is 2500x2500 or higher. For example, SONY makes a higher "screen" resolution than the actual pixel display on some of its notebooks (1280x1024 on an XGA display). Sony displays 1024x768 but then scrolls the additional screen when the mouse is moved to the edge of the screen. High screen resolution will allow me to capture radiology images exceeding 3000x3000 at full resolution, whereas now I suffer image compression and data loss.

Is there a screen or display utility or is there a video card that allows such high resolution settings on a lower resolution monitor? I already have a 21 inch CRT at 2048x1536, but I am still losing 50% of the image data on large x-rays.

 

[MackTheKnife]

I'm sure you can do it pretty easily on Linux, but I'm not sure your video card is capable of such a high resolution, and you need to have a card capable of it in order to use it, even virtually. I remember using a virtual display resolution on windows, but I don't remember how I got it... I don't recall having to use any third-party software. What are the specs on your video card?

 

[smeyer52]

Your comment is helpful. My card is 2048 x 1536 (ATI tech), but perhaps I need to shop for a higher resolution card. I am running Windows 2000, but I'll check out a friend's Linux setup.

 

[MackTheKnife]

As far as I know, 2048x1536 is as far as it gets on end-user video cards... You can try using an image viewer software such as ACDSee to view the images as in a virtual display (full resolution, scrollable screen). Don't know if that's what you want, though.

Athlon XP 1900+
MoBo Soyo Dragon Plus!
512MB 266Mhz DDR RAM
GeForce4 MX420
Samsung 60Gb 7200RPM HDD

 

[ShadowWalker11]

I run into this all the time with my Radeon 9700 and my flat panel monitor - if i set it higher than the native resolution then the rest of my desktop is "out there beyond the edge" and i have to move the cursor to any given edge of the screen to get it to scroll so i can see what's "out there"
To answer your question, in a word - no.
This sort of thing simply isnt possible, if your hardware is incabable of making it all fit into a viewable area at the higher resolution, then that is what you have - it is not even possible to take control of a monitor in such a fashion as to force it to do something it is not physically capable of doing.