>>105924592thinking about it, the feeling is probably not that much different to the guys older than us who look at things like reel to reel audio tape in a similar way.
the analogue nature of crts allow for that kind of flexibility in how you drive them. this monitor was never designed for the mode i mentioned, it was a "1024x768p75" kind of monitor, but those standard modes are really just suggestions. you can take the actual limits in terms of vertical and horizontal sync signals it can lock onto and do any weird mode you want within those limits. like the "1064" width for example is entirely arbitrary, that can be absolutely anything i want because that's just driving the beam strength as it's moving, the 800i160 part is near the limit of the monitor, but it doesn't know what 1064 even is, that part's completely analog. i only chose 1064 for the sake of square pixels.
when i trying to make an interlaced mode work on it i initially did a 1064x400p160 mode with my X server set to 1064x800 scaled down so games looked right. i could make it 3840x800i160 if i wanted to, though of course beam focus and dot pitch physically limits how much information a line can really show. it's fun to play with