XBMCbuntu display/resolution issues (laptop w/ vga out)

I have a laptop with an Intel 945GM GPU and VGA out on it. I was running windows with xbmc outputting on the secondary display, but as I've enjoyed my testing with XBMCbuntu on my two other htpc's, I figured I'd give the laptop a go too.

Unfortunately, it seems to have some resolution/display issues with multiple displays (and perhaps due to the intel GPU/driver?).

The HDTV is 720p, and I've tried 1360x768 as the specified resolution without much luck. On a fresh install it defaults to 1024x768, but when I change it to 1360x768 I end up getting ~3/4 of the display showing ~3/4's of XBMC, and the right hand ~1/4 of the display showing the openbox wallpaper. If that makes any sense...

The openbox shell itself seems to be running @ 1024x768 on the laptop display, and mirroring / stretching that to fit the HDTV. This made me wonder if it was driver/config related, something specific to intel gpu's / settings (as it was not present on my acer revo / ion machine with nvidia drivers)... but as the openbox shell doesn't have any display / resolution configuration tools preinstalled, i'm at a loss as to what to try in order to play with resolutions manually, or disable the primary/laptop display in favor of only using the VGA/HDTV one.

There's also no /etc/X11/xorg.conf on that machine, whereas the acer revo generated a xorg.conf on install. I'm not really fancying having to roll my own xorg.conf for the laptop unless absolutely necessary.

Any thoughts/advice?

edit - I have confirmed that openbox is running @ 1024x768 by connecting to it remotely via VNC. When I ran xrandr -s 1360x768 it did successfully change the resolution of the VNC session, so I'm going to try adding that to ~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh to see if I can get it setting that resolution on boot. It's a bit of a shot in the dark, but it's all I've got to go on for now.

edit 2 - no luck there, same result when running @ 1360x768. Part of the XBMC menu is cut off, and replaced by the openbox / xbmcbuntu wallpaper.

Ok, I got it resolved manually for the time being.

Created ~/.xprofile and added the following to it;

xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1360x768 --rate 60

sets the appropriate resolution on boot for that display now.

signed up just for this post. Installed XBMCubuntu yesterday on my not so old Lenovo G530.

I'm getting the screen off by a few inches, and can't correct it. Will try the OP's way, my *nix aint my forte. It's just sooooo smooth compared to running XBMC on windows... I really don't want to go back !

If I can get this resolution thing going, I'm in heaven.

suscribed.

Lukano Wrote:Ok, I got it resolved manually for the time being.

Created ~/.xprofile and added the following to it;

xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1360x768 --rate 60

sets the appropriate resolution on boot for that display now.

that doesn't work for me...

I'm still missing an inch off the left side of the screen. I don't see the background, just a black bar. Like it was off to the right ( right is cut off ). tried all settings in xbmc, btw.

you can also run xrandr -q from a command line to see what interfaces you have, and what resolutions they support, then tailor your .xprofile line to match.

Yours may not be VGA1, or may not support 1360x768 specifically (may be 1280x720, or 1366x768 perhaps?).

I also had the black bar show instead of the XBMCbuntu wallpaper after switching resolutions back and forth a few times, so it does sound like you're experiencing the same issue as me.

(pro-tip if you're not already familiar with it, ctrl-alt-f1(through f6) will drop you to a shell and save you having to exit XBMC and log back into openbox. ctrl-alt-f7 to get back to the X session with XBMC again).

This is interesting because I have this issue in vmware.
However, when I have the issue on my HTPC I just use nvidia-settings to adjust overscan. You may want to take a look in what ever native config tool you have available.

I also reported this problem and others here
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=123436

The installation for XBMCbuntu is not friendly for non HD resolution devices in my point of view.

Edit: Found a bugg report from igitur about the issue here
http://trac.xbmc.org/ticket/12622

Hope this will get fixed.

Not meaning to nitpick, but I saw your thread and while it was tangentially related - figured it was worth a seperate thread for troubleshooting my issue (which I then happened to resolved on my own, and then posted my workaround for).

Your thread and that ticket are specifically regarding resolution/dpi issues in the installer, not scan/sizing/resolution issues once installed. Very well related to the same root issue though, I just figured that as there was no specific verbiage for post-install issues, less linux savvy folks may not make the connection - thus making this thread.

Also, 1280x720 and 1360x768 (1366x768) are HD resolutions too - for 720p

(ok sorry, so maybe I was nitpicking a little, but it's all in good fun)

vikjon0 Wrote:This is interesting because I have this issue in vmware.
However, when I have the issue on my HTPC I just use nvidia-settings to adjust overscan. You may want to take a look in what ever native config tool you have available.

Yeah that's originally where I was heading when posting the thread to start, looking for suggestions on what tool to use for intel gpu's to acheive the same results as nvidia-settings would for an nvidia setup. I just stumbled across the .xprofile / xrandr way of going about it manually via some google diving instead.

The next releases will include an xrandr frontend, ie an easy way of setting screen resolution.

lcapriotti Wrote:The next releases will include an xrandr frontend, ie an easy way of setting screen resolution.

Great news. I'll hang tight for the next release then !