The March 1988 issue of RUN contains the following tip from a reader on page 20:
Attention: C-128/1902A Owners!
If you use a Commodore 1902A video monitor with your C-128, here's a way to get a clearer and cleaner screen image by increasing the resolution of 80-Column mode:
POKE 54784,9:POKE54785,232
Since I'm a confirmed RUN Script 128 user, I found the default resolution a little hard on my eyes after an hour or so. So now I include the above Pokes within the boot programs of all my 80-column programs.
—John Ryan, Biloxi, MS
I tried typing these commands in the 80-column mode of a C128 emulated with VICE, but the only thing that seems to happen is that the text area shifts a bit. What do these POKEs do on a real Commodore 128 and Commodore 1902A monitor? Do they really "increase the resolution" of the screen, making it "clearer and cleaner", and if so, how exactly does this work and why didn't Commodore configure the computer this way by default?