Kubuntu Desktop resolution....

[jondecker76]

I have my hybrid/core running. Most things are working ok now, but when i go to the kubuntu desktop, I can't see the whole thing.. I can barely see the menu to browse the applications.. Its like its zoomed in and I'm missing about 100 pixels around the whole border of the screen..

Can I correct this?

[dopey]

You need to use the AVWizard to select a better resolution. A very thorough guide is in the wiki.

[totallymaxed]

I have my hybrid/core running. Most things are working ok now, but when i go to the kubuntu desktop, I can't see the whole thing.. I can barely see the menu to browse the applications.. Its like its zoomed in and I'm missing about 100 pixels around the whole border of the screen..

Can I correct this?

This is a bug that has been reported... see http://mantis.linuxmce.org/view_all_bug_page.php

Andrew

[geoffrey]

I have the exact same issue  (it effects the MythTV setup as well); although I wonder if it is LinuxMCE related as when I boot up the Asus graphic is also slightly outside the display area of my TV.  Is there anyway to get in and adjust the output of the Video Card itself? 

[dopey]

It sounds like you're having overscan issues. It's not LinuxMCE that overscans, it's the TV. Most TV's do this, but many video cards can correct this. The AVWizard does have a page that allows you to "zoom out" and move the display a bit. Of course that working is very dependent on the video card and the TV.

[geoffrey]

The zoom feature on the AVwizard seems to only effect the linuxmce interface, unfortunately not the KDE desktop....

[jondecker76]

so is there any way to correct the overscan from within LMCE/Kubuntu?

[dopey]

The zoom feature on the AVwizard seems to only effect the linuxmce interface, unfortunately not the KDE desktop....

If it's working that way for you then that would be a bug. The zoom feature is supposed to zoom X itself by selecting the correct modeline and resolution. At least that's what it did for me... though I only had to use that once...

so is there any way to correct the overscan from within LMCE/Kubuntu?

You would have to manually find and select the modeline and edit the xorg.conf file. There are tools out there that will help with this, but I can't remember off the top of my head what the X tool is. I usually just use fbset in the console and run fbset -X to get the X modeline. I only do that when I'm in a bind and that's not really the recommended method though. Do a google search on X modeline overscan. There are actually a lot of Blogs, Wiki's, etc. that explain this. This Wiki entry would be a good start: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Working_with_Modelines.

I honestly wish you the best of luck as I know doing this manually is in no way fun...

[totallymaxed]

The zoom feature on the AVwizard seems to only effect the linuxmce interface, unfortunately not the KDE desktop....

If it's working that way for you then that would be a bug. The zoom feature is supposed to zoom X itself by selecting the correct modeline and resolution. At least that's what it did for me... though I only had to use that once...

so is there any way to correct the overscan from within LMCE/Kubuntu?

You would have to manually find and select the modeline and edit the xorg.conf file. There are tools out there that will help with this, but I can't remember off the top of my head what the X tool is. I usually just use fbset in the console and run fbset -X to get the X modeline. I only do that when I'm in a bind and that's not really the recommended method though. Do a google search on X modeline overscan. There are actually a lot of Blogs, Wiki's, etc. that explain this. This Wiki entry would be a good start: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Working_with_Modelines.

I honestly wish you the best of luck as I know doing this manually is in no way fun...

The AVwizard feature that allows you to scale the UI is purely for scaling the UI components not the whole X coordinate system. It applies a scaling factor to the UI components when a regen is done. You can see this scaling factor from Web Admin -> Wizards -> Devices -> Orbiters and look at the "Reduce image by" field. Using the Avwizard allows you to scale the UI so that the top bottom menu bars and other dialogs/windows that the Orbiter displays are drawn inside of the screen extents. We usually set our Orbiters to between 5-8% so that there is a good sense of the screen saver running at all times.

However.... the AVwizard does not adjust the KDE desktop. I agree I think this problem is related to overscan at the video level as it is particularly apparent on screens we have that are attached using Component in.

[geoffrey]

So I could adjust manually for the KDE and then set use the AV wizard again to set the UI?  Or will I be overwriting the manual adjustments by using the wizard? 

[geoffrey]

I answered my own question by experimenting.  The AV wizard does rewrite the xorg.conf based on the resolution and refresh rates.  so that part will effect the KDE desktop as well, but not the zoom in and out feature.  I have succeeded in getting it to run in 1080i which wasn't an option during the AVwizard.  (My TV doesn't support 1080p)  Of course that made the overscan worse, but the picture much better.  now to see if I can tweak the modeline to solve that problem.....

[dopey]

I guess I was wrong. I assumed (incorrectly) that the AVWizard would adjust the ModeLine. Adjusting just the UI would prove more compatible and be much easier to program, so I understand why it was done that way. However, since LinuxMCE is moving more to the Desktop arena it should be changed, which is what the mantis bug is about no doubt... I'll have to actually read it now 

In order to do this you'll have to first, back up your xorg.conf, re-run the AVWizard and select any resolution that works (it's unimportant which one) and be sure when it ask about the zoom stuff do not change anything (just leave it zoomed in). Now go to the admin page and change the MD and Onscreen Orbiter devices to the 1080i resolution, reload router, regen the Orbiter and adjust the xorg.conf to your 1080i resolution from the xorg.conf that you backed up, and reboot. Now you can tweak the Modeline using the guide in my previous post (again, I do not envy this process). Once you got that set back up that modeline! Then change the MD and Onscreen Orbiter devices to the true resolution you selected after all the modeline tweaking (only if it really changed and keep the tv standard setting), reload, regen, then edit your Xorg.conf to use that Modeline and reboot.

GOOD LUCK!

[geoffrey]

I guess I was wrong. I assumed (incorrectly) that the AVWizard would adjust the ModeLine.

No, Sir, you were not wrong.  The AV wizard does change the modeline.  As a matter of fact, I had inserted three modelines so I could switch back and forth while I was playing around and running the AV wizard erased them all and replaced them with the wizard-configured modeline.

My next try, when I get home from work that is, will be to be more specific in the 'monitor' section of the xorg.conf.  Right now it is set to 'Generic Monitor.'  I will insert the correct info for my TV including the horz and vert rates and screen size and see if that makes a difference. 

jondecker-

I found the tech info on my TV by googling "<Model #> (which in my case is a Samsung tx-r3079wh) and modeline"  I hope you can find something.

[Zaerc]

See: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Display_Drivers for more info, especially the section "LinuxMCE keeps reconfiguring my display settings".

[geoffrey]

thanks guys, with a proper tweaking of the modeline, some fine-tuning on the TV itself and then following the wiki instructions to keep the thing from reconfiguing itself, I have eliminated about 99% of the overscan....thanks for your advice!