widescreen monitors and resolutions

[Panix]

I'm trying to figure out or confirm if today's/recent distros can deal with the various widescreen resolutions. Mainly 1440 x 900. I was wondering if it needs tweaking or can work 'out of the box.' Can anyone let me know or confirm?

I'm looking for a monitor for somebody and Ubuntu/XP will be dual booted. But, I don't know if I can choose 'any' monitor or whether I should look for a particular resolution. Imho, there are so many issues when it comes to graphics/video drivers and resolutions when initially booting up the distro although I guess there are workarounds.

I suppose it also depends on the graphics chipset of the integrated video card chip or the video card (in the video card slot, be it PCI or PCI-e, one is using).

It will be an LCD widescreen monitor used for all-purpose computing and in particuar, videos/movies etc.

I thought there might be a problem or issue trying to get the distro (for e.g., Ubuntu) choosing the correct mode line if I want to use the native resolution (in this case, 1440 x 900). If I got a lcd monitor with a native res of 1680 x 1050, it might be easier but they are more expensive.
Thanks for any answers.

[Kano]

Usually when the monitor has a correct EDID it should be working without any special config.

[deanjo]

Usually when the monitor has a correct EDID it should be working without any special config.

That being said there are a few monitors out there with broken EDID's.

[TheIcebreaker]

I am on a viewsonic 1912wb on G33 intel chip
works fine on 14440*900.

[Panix]

Thanks, I am trying to decide between a 19" LCD with 1440 x 900 res v.s. a 20" LCD monitor that would have 1680 x 1050 resolution. I was under the impression that there can be issues when initially installing a distro and/or trying to use the native resolution of 1440 x 900 monitors in Linux. I googled but couldn't confirm either way. I just found people discussing mode lines and how to set it in the xorg.conf file? Something like that, anyway.

It's nice to know that a 19" monitor won't cause extra issues and that it's just a matter of whether I'd want to spend more on a larger screen.

Does it matter when watching video/movies on the various resolutions? I thought NOT having a widescreen is best but one can't find these anymore unless it's used. As for the current widescreen monitors, I thought a 20" is better for watching a video (than the other resolution) but that it also depends on the size of monitor as well.