Scaling issues for 1440p screens - installing xorg-server 1.20.x

[vincitus]

tl;dr:
how do i get to work/compile/install xorg-server 1.20.x under mint 19.1 cinnamon and is it a good idea to do so
Or: Has anybody got a better idea?

Hey folks,

I am currently trying to resolve the scaling issues on my Thinkpad T480s with 1440p screen.
It's really ridiculous that the scaling issue has still not been universally and enduser-friendlily resolved under linux while windows 10 does an amazing job in this respect.

However, the solution I came up with is:

- use the HiDPI (x2) native cinnamon scaling factor setting
- downscale this by doing a simple:

Code: Select all

xrandr --output eDP-1 --scale 1.3x1.3

(looks much nicer than upscaling the normal dpi mode UI)

Only problem: Now the cursor is trapped within an invisible rectangle on the upper left representing the screen before the xrandr command.
After frantic googling I found out that this is a xorg-server bug that has been fixed in version 1.20 and at least one user reported that he got cinnamon to work with this version of the xorg-server. So it sould be possible.

I am not unused to compilig small programs or even lame or something, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the dependencies and stuff that comes with installig or even compiling xorg-server plus its entourage.

So - has anybody gotten it to work? How did you go about to do so? Does it break anything important?

Thanks in advance,

vin

[trytip]

Does it break anything important?
only the whole framework of what you see on the screen. don't even try doing it if you need to ask. when arch linux went to xorg 1.20 i almost left arch since my system wasn't compatible with the nvidia drivers that we're built to support the new xorg. took arch about a month to get all the nvidia drivers to accent xorg 1.20

[vincitus]

Thanks trytip!

Just found my own post while googling for answers, somehow the linux mint forum didnt mail that someone answered me :-/
So now I am even more discouraged.
F***, what do I do?
Well, one possibility would be to try arch, since you report it works with xorg 1.20 now.
Another possibility would be to hack the current mint xorg source (some 1.19.x i think) to not limit the cursor and compile that. I know a bit of coding, so I might just find the lines that do it.

Or install debian testing with cinnamon and hope it's not completely broken.

Come on, linux community, we can't not provide a simple solution to the scaling problem while windows 10 does!

Any help or hint is still very appreciated...

Cheers,

vin

[smurphos]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnabl ... nic_Beaver

Recently announced for Bionic the full HWE enablement stack I'm pretty sure will bring XORG 1.20 to a Bionic base.

Completely untested by me.....

Edit briefly tested in a 19.1 virtual box 5.2.26 install. Cinnamon defaults to Software Rendering mode and then crashes in that environment....make sure you have a timeshift backup before trying this.

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steve@steve-VirtualBox:~$ inxi -SGz
System:
  Host: steve-VirtualBox Kernel: 4.18.0-15-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.9 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa 
Graphics:
  Device-1: InnoTek Systemberatung VirtualBox Graphics Adapter 
  driver: vboxvideo v: 5.2.26 r128414 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.1 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1360x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 7.0 256 bits) v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.2 

[trytip]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnabl ... nic_Beaver

Recently announced for Bionic the full HWE enablement stack I'm pretty sure will bring XORG 1.20 to a Bionic base.

Completely untested by me.....

Edit briefly tested in a 19.1 virtual box 5.2.26 install. Cinnamon defaults to Software Rendering mode and then crashes in that environment....make sure you have a timeshift backup before trying this.

Code: Select all

steve@steve-VirtualBox:~$ inxi -SGz
System:
  Host: steve-VirtualBox Kernel: 4.18.0-15-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.9 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa 
Graphics:
  Device-1: InnoTek Systemberatung VirtualBox Graphics Adapter 
  driver: vboxvideo v: 5.2.26 r128414 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.1 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1360x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 7.0 256 bits) v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.2 

i just did this upgrade in my mint19.1 with nvidia-340 ppa graphics, went flawlessly. my main desktop is XFCE had no issues there. the first time i logged into cinnamon my nvidia-settings resolution were restored to default and noticed my /etc/x11/xorg.conf was gone so that needs to be re-created sudo nvidia-xconfig

EDIT: the new sudo nvidia-xconfig had some issues rendering my xfce panel. using an old xorg.conf restores the issue but haven't troubleshoot what causes it

[vincitus]

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/LTSEnabl ... nic_Beaver

Recently announced for Bionic the full HWE enablement stack I'm pretty sure will bring XORG 1.20 to a Bionic base.

Completely untested by me.....

Edit briefly tested in a 19.1 virtual box 5.2.26 install. Cinnamon defaults to Software Rendering mode and then crashes in that environment....make sure you have a timeshift backup before trying this.

Code: Select all

steve@steve-VirtualBox:~$ inxi -SGz
System:
  Host: steve-VirtualBox Kernel: 4.18.0-15-generic x86_64 bits: 64 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 4.0.9 Distro: Linux Mint 19.1 Tessa 
Graphics:
  Device-1: InnoTek Systemberatung VirtualBox Graphics Adapter 
  driver: vboxvideo v: 5.2.26 r128414 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.1 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1360x768~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: llvmpipe (LLVM 7.0 256 bits) v: 3.3 Mesa 18.2.2 

Thanks, that's a good start!

I've tried the stuff in your link, and it actually worked, i can now use xrandr without the limiting bounds - except that my box just freezes when I try to reboot or shutdown. I have to kill it using the power button. But that doesn't seem to break anything, mint boots up just fine afterwards. So - not "flawless" but kind of... usable?

Another issue that I noticed is that opening really hi res jpgs doesn't work properly when using any scaling (also the simple "HiDPI" option in mint without any xrandr).

[AndyMH]

I have to kill it using the power button

Alt+PrtScn+REISUO is a kinder way of shutting down without causing problems, or Alt+PrtScn+REISUB for reboot. If it works of course.