KDE desktop is too big for screen

[w00dr0w]

As the subject says, my KDE desktop is too large for my screen
I think it's best described in a picture (sorry about the quality, i took this picture in a hurry)

As you can see all four corners are extended off the screen, so I can't see my full desktop. AFAIK MCE fits perfectly on the screen, just KDE that doesn't.

While I'm at it, I might as well ask a networking question
Is it possible to connect MCE to the net via my wifi. I've tried configuring it but it only gives me WEP encryption and won't even list any SSID's for me to connect to.

[Zaerc]

Sure dude, don't ever search to see if anyone ever solved anything similar, just ask!  We're all here only to serve you anyway. 

[w00dr0w]

I don't post issues without first searching to see if it's covered in another topic. I know forum etiquette and I know it's bothersome if someone asks a question that's covered elsewhere. You know, forum etiquette also states if you really can't add anything to the conversation you shouldn't post, else ye be flagged as a troll/flamer
I did search for the desktop issue but apparently I didn't use the correct search terms. I'm sorry to have bothered you're uber eliteness/guruism with my newbish question and obviously instead of posting a link to the topic where it was covered elsewhere someone of your stature has to post telling me to search for it (which i had done but found no results)

I bow to your greatness and applaud your unwillingness to help with this issue (though I did appreciate your help in my other topic)

[Zaerc]

Oh yawn.

[jthodges]

I think your lack of hits is probably because you are looking for information on "overscan" specifically.  Here are a couple threads that might be helpful:

http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5376.0
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=4148.0

The short version is that most tvs will have overscan and there isn't an easy workaround.  You may have some luck with custom modelines, but this is very technical and depends on your tv. 

When I was running gnome (before Linux MCE) I had a pretty effective workaround involving panels placed around the screen to cover the undisplayed areas.  This stopped new windows from being created outside of the viewable area and also made the menus more usable.  I haven't looked at this since moving to Linux MCE and KDE, but there might be a suitable workaround using KDE's panels as well. 

[colinjones]

Check the "Reduce image by" field that totallymaxed mentions in the second link jt posted above. If it is reducing your image because you zoomed out in the AV Wizard, then this might explain why it is ok in LMCE but not in KDE (which would be strange otherwise) - you are compensating for the TV's overscan only in LMCE using that zoom. If you switch this back to 0% and regen/reload, you should get overscan in both.

If so, then you need to research modeline options you can customise your xorg.conf file with to eliminate overscan completely. You might want to start by looking in the mythtv.org (I think, google it) wiki for the "Modeline Database" which may list a valid modeline for your TV model. BTW, many TVs have various modes/options that will effectively disable this overscan and allow the TV to display the image as the card intended. eg my Samsung has a "Just Scan" mode when setting the screen aspect, I choose that instead of 16:9 because it eliminates the overscan in 1080p50.

[w00dr0w]

Oh yawn.

Once again I appreciate your effort in adding useful information to this subject

As far as everything else goes, I got it working by switching the input to VGA instead of component (vertical size was fine after that) and changing the screens size and position within the TV itself (never occurred to me to try that till Colin posted)

[Zaerc]

Oh yawn.

Once again I appreciate your effort in adding useful information to this subject

As far as everything else goes, I got it working by switching the input to VGA instead of component (vertical size was fine after that) and changing the screens size and position within the TV itself (never occurred to me to try that till Colin posted)

As we appreciate your effort to look into your own problems before asking.  People getting upset at pointing this out usually haven't bothered at all.

[w00dr0w]

Zaerc,  perhaps we got off on the wrong foot in this subject...
For what it's worth I apologize for being a bit cantankerous in my posts towards you.
I know it's frustrating answering the same questions over and over again, and TBH I'd never even heard of overscan till it was brought up in this topic.

As I said before I don't just go asking questions without at least doing a couple searches using different terms and sources. I searched the forums for "desktop too big", "left side off screen", and a couple other variations that returned no useful information. I checked the wiki under "known issues", "desktop issues", "desktop too big" and other variations of those terms also to no avail. I tried asking in the IRC channel but got no response for the entire time I was logged on (I wasn't logged on for too long as I had to reboot into windows for something else)

I guess I could have waited a couple more hours in IRC to see if someone would have come off idle and tried to help me, but I needed a file off my windows drive and I had told MCE to not even bother with that drive and I had been warned elsewhere to not mount drives manually.

To sum it up I'm sorry for being argumentative. From what I've heard from other people you're a great guy who likes to help people, I just felt at the time that you could have been a little more helpful and a little less coarse in your responses.

From now on I'll try even harder to not post any issues I may have unless absolutely necessary. And perhaps if you're getting a little stressed about the same questions being asked over and over again you could let someone else post instead?

I have no hard feelings against you man, I've been there and I know you feel like a broken record sometimes. Hopefully you can forgive my ignorance and we can just put this behind us...

[Zaerc]

Sure, no hard feelings, in fact I had already forgotten about it. 

It's nothing personal and you're definately not the only one about whom I feel could put a little more effort looking into their own problems (and whether this feeling is actually justified or not is another thing of course) but from time to time I just feel like bitching about it. 

At least you searched before you asked, what (by far) not everyone here can say, and I can imagine that the discussions on this issue aren't very easy to find, so don't worry to much about it.

[Skateboss3]

have had the overscan problem on my Sharp Aquos tv when in KDE.
I solved this with the remote for the tv.... there is a button that looks kinda like this |<>|
Just press it twice then use the setup wizard to alter the zoom for the UI and hey presto problem solved.

Regards Chris   

[totallymaxed]

have had the overscan problem on my Sharp Aquos tv when in KDE.
I solved this with the remote for the tv.... there is a button that looks kinda like this |<>|
Just press it twice then use the setup wizard to alter the zoom for the UI and hey presto problem solved.

Regards Chris   

Chris,

Thats usually possible on most TV's when connected via VGA. But with HDMI is, as far as I know, is never a possibility. When we use HDMI and set an HD resolution like 720p or 1080p the TV assumes this is a TV signal and these by convention are overscanned - hence what we see at the desktop.

Andrew

[colinjones]

have had the overscan problem on my Sharp Aquos tv when in KDE.
I solved this with the remote for the tv.... there is a button that looks kinda like this |<>|
Just press it twice then use the setup wizard to alter the zoom for the UI and hey presto problem solved.

Regards Chris   

Chris,

Thats usually possible on most TV's when connected via VGA. But with HDMI is, as far as I know, is never a possibility. When we use HDMI and set an HD resolution like 720p or 1080p the TV assumes this is a TV signal and these by convention are overscanned - hence what we see at the desktop.

Andrew

Andrew

Not sure I understand this... for me I am connected via HDMI at 1080p and I don't see any overscan. The image is perfectly aligned with the native resolution of the LCD and always has been.

Its a Samsung... and I can say for sure that Samsung definitely have some issues adapting to the non-US market... I am using 1080p60, and this works perfectly with no intervention. I would prefer to use 1080p50 being the native refresh rate of TV for most locations, including Australia, and for most of the media I play... but when I select this, the Samsung immediately overscans even though the modeline timings should be fine. There is a menu option in the Samsung, in the Aspect Ratio settings, that you can select instead of 16:9 etc, called Just Scan. And this seems to switch the TV back into deriving its timing from the HDMI signal and immediately goes back to perfect image alignment, no overscan. However, the TV does not remember this setting thru reboots, switches of input, etc and it gets very annoying having to reset that option everytime.