Enabling lower screen resolutions?

[Juergen Botz]

I have a T61 running Fedora 12, but this would seem to be a general
laptop issue...

When I run certain lower resolution games that have a fullscreen
mode (i.e. freedoom) they just come up at as a small centered area
with the rest of the screen black instead of taking over the screen.

I'm guessing that's because the X server doesn't know about any
other modes than the one with the native screen res.  My system
doesn't have an xorg.conf file... do I need to create one and actually
put in modelines (like in the bad old days?)

Thanks,

:j

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[Chris Schumann]

You want to turn on the HVExpansion option in the BIOS... or try Fn+F8,
but I don't think that works on newer machines.

Chris

Juergen Botz wrote:

> I have a T61 running Fedora 12, but this would seem to be a general
> laptop issue...
>
> When I run certain lower resolution games that have a fullscreen
> mode (i.e. freedoom) they just come up at as a small centered area
> with the rest of the screen black instead of taking over the screen.
>
> I'm guessing that's because the X server doesn't know about any
> other modes than the one with the native screen res.  My system
> doesn't have an xorg.conf file... do I need to create one and actually
> put in modelines (like in the bad old days?)
>
> Thanks,
>
> :j
>
>  

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[Richard Neill]

Juergen Botz wrote:
> I have a T61 running Fedora 12, but this would seem to be a general
> laptop issue...
>
> When I run certain lower resolution games that have a fullscreen
> mode (i.e. freedoom) they just come up at as a small centered area
> with the rest of the screen black instead of taking over the screen.

That's actually a BIOS config option. Your BIOS lets you choose whether
a non-native resolution should be scaled up (for fullscreen), or shown 1
pixel-per-pixel (to avoid distortion).
I believe that this is the "HV Expansion" option in the BIOS.

HTH,

Richard
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[Martin Schuster (IFKL IT OS DSM CD)]

Juergen Botz wrote:

> I have a T61 running Fedora 12, but this would seem to be a general
> laptop issue...
>
> When I run certain lower resolution games that have a fullscreen
> mode (i.e. freedoom) they just come up at as a small centered area
> with the rest of the screen black instead of taking over the screen.
>
> I'm guessing that's because the X server doesn't know about any
> other modes than the one with the native screen res.  My system
> doesn't have an xorg.conf file... do I need to create one and actually
> put in modelines (like in the bad old days?)
>

The problem is afaik that the EDID only specifies a handful of modes.

You might want to have a look at
http://myricci.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36

Feel free to mail me directly (in german if you prefer) if you need more help.

hth,
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Infineon Technologies IT-Services GmbH   Martin.Schuster1@...
Lakeside B05, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria   Martin Schuster
         FB: LG Klagenfurt, FN 246787y   [phone]
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[Juergen Botz]

On 10/13/2009 07:18 PM, Chris Schumann wrote:
> You want to turn on the HVExpansion option in the BIOS... or try Fn+F8,
> but I don't think that works on newer machines.

Nor does my machine seem to have an "HVExpansion" option
in the BIOS.  The "display" section of the "config" section of
the BIOS has only settings for "primary display", "boot display",
and "brightness".

:j

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[Juergen Botz]

On 10/14/2009 04:43 AM, Martin Schuster (IFKL IT OS DSM CD) wrote:
> The problem is afaik that the EDID only specifies a handful of modes.
> You might want to have a look at
> http://myricci.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36

Sounds like this may be the issue, although it'll be a little while before
I'll have time to try it.  You mention NVidia in your instructions... my
thinkpad has Intel graphics.  Is that likely to make a difference?

Great work on your solution, btw!

:j

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[Martin Schuster (IFKL IT OS DSM CD)]

Juergen Botz wrote:
> On 10/14/2009 04:43 AM, Martin Schuster (IFKL IT OS DSM CD) wrote:
>> The problem is afaik that the EDID only specifies a handful of modes.
>> You might want to have a look at
>> http://myricci.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=36
>
> Sounds like this may be the issue, although it'll be a little while before
> I'll have time to try it.  You mention NVidia in your instructions... my
> thinkpad has Intel graphics.  Is that likely to make a difference?
>
Don't remember, iirc the EDID info is somewhere in the BIOS, so it might
be a problem regardless of the graphic chipset.
Maybe someone else can shed some light?

> Great work on your solution, btw!
>
Not my solution at all, I didn't even find that link myself; Martin
Aumueller postet it to this list 2009-03-05, you might want to check
the archives.

cheers,
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Infineon Technologies IT-Services GmbH   Martin.Schuster1@...
Lakeside B05, 9020 Klagenfurt, Austria   Martin Schuster
         FB: LG Klagenfurt, FN 246787y   [phone]
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[Marius Gedminas-4]

On Tue, Oct 13, 2009 at 07:07:40PM -0300, Juergen Botz wrote:
> I have a T61 running Fedora 12, but this would seem to be a general
> laptop issue...
>
> When I run certain lower resolution games that have a fullscreen
> mode (i.e. freedoom) they just come up at as a small centered area
> with the rest of the screen black instead of taking over the screen.

This depends on the X video driver.

For example, with an Intel video card (and recent enough driver; mine is
2.7.1), you can switch between three settings with the xrandr tool:

  $ xrandr --prop
  ...
          PANEL_FITTING:  full_aspect
                  supported: center       full_aspect  full
  ...
  $ xrandr --output LVDS --set PANEL_FITTING center
  $ xrandr --output LVDS --set PANEL_FITTING full
  $ xrandr --output LVDS --set PANEL_FITTING full_aspect

BIOS settings and hot keys (such as Fn+F8) usually have no effect, since
the Linux kernel takes over and doesn't let the BIOS do its thing, and
for good reasons (changing the hardware state behind the X.org driver's
back may lead to problems and crashes).

Marius Gedminas
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