Display stretched out of proportion

[jedevnull]

I'm setting up a KVM connected to a widescreen 38" Dell monitor. In addition to a Mac Mini, I have two laptops connected, A Windows 10 and a Linux Mint (a repurposed macbook). Both laptops have a max resolution of 1920x1080.

The Windows 10 laptop presents on the widescreen monitor pillarboxed; It has a great 1920x1080 display in the center of the monitor with two black bars on each side. Everything is proportional.

The Linux Mint's laptop's 1920x1080 is stretched across the entire widescreen.

sudo lshw -C video:
*-display
description: VGA compatible controller
product: 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:00:02.0
version: 09
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: msi pm vga_controller bus_master cap_list rom
configuration: driver=i915 latency=0
resources: irq:45 memory:a0000000-a03fffff memory:90000000-9fffffff ioport:2000(size=64) memory:c0000-dffff

How can I force the Linux laptop to pillarbox as Windows does? Other than the display, this macbook makes an excellent linux box.

[SMG]

The Linux Mint's laptop's 1920x1080 is stretched across the entire widescreen.

Welcome to the forum, jedevnull.

You have not indicated which desktop you are using, but if you have Cinnamon, do you see any options in the Displays app to adjust what is sent to the monitor?

Please give us information about your install by entering this command in a terminal: inxi -Fxxxrz
Click </> from the mini toolbar above the textbox where you type your reply and then place your cursor between the code markers and paste the results of the command between the code markers [code]Results[/code]. This will let us know how Mint sees your hardware.

[jedevnull]

Thanks so much for the reply. I'm using Mint 20.2 & Cinnamon.

After posting my query here (and waiting for it to be approved) I stumbled upon an answer using xrandr:

Code: Select all

xrandr --output HDMI-1 --mode 1920x1080 --scale 1.33333333x1 --transform 1.33333333,0,0,0,1,0,0,0,1

If there's a better way I'd love to try it out!

[SMG]

Did you check to see what options were available in the Displays app? Have you attempted to independently adjust what is on each screen?

[jedevnull]

Yes.

Resolution of 1920x1080 or below is available.
Refresh rate 60 or below
Rotation normal
Fractional scaling: 85% 2240x1260 after my xrandr script, greyed out otherwise.
User interface scale: Automatic (1x)
Mirror displays (off/on)

[SMG]

Resolution of 1920x1080 or below is available.
Refresh rate 60 or below
Rotation normal

You have both the laptop screen and the external monitor showing up in the Displays app and both are each showing that same resolution? Or do you only have the external monitor as an active display?

Fractional scaling: 85% 2240x1260 after my xrandr script, greyed out otherwise.
User interface scale: Automatic (1x)

In LM20.2 fractional scaling is turned off by default. The slider to enable it is in the Settings tab. I was thinking perhaps fractional scaling might help you achieve your goal.

Mirror displays (off/on)

That would apply if you have both screens active. I'm not sure at this point if you only want the external monitor or both screens.

[jedevnull]

The laptop is closed, in a stand, and connected to a KVM. The external monitor is the primary display; the native display will be used only very rarely.

[jedevnull]

Forgot this, sorry ...

Code: Select all

System:
  Kernel: 5.4.0-74-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 9.3.0 
  Desktop: Cinnamon 5.0.4 wm: muffin 5.0.1 dm: LightDM 1.30.0 
  Distro: Linux Mint 20.2 Uma base: Ubuntu 20.04 focal 
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Apple product: MacBookPro9,2 v: 1.0 serial: <filter> 
  Chassis: type: 10 v: Mac-6F01561E16C75D06 serial: <filter> 
  Mobo: Apple model: Mac-6F01561E16C75D06 v: MacBookPro9,2 serial: <filter> 
  UEFI: Apple v: 421.0.0.0.0 date: 12/17/2020 
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 58.9 Wh condition: 60.3/62.9 Wh (96%) volts: 12.4/10.9 
  model: DP bq20z451 type: Li-ion serial: N/A status: Full cycles: 341 
CPU:
  Topology: Dual Core model: Intel Core i5-3210M bits: 64 type: MT MCP 
  arch: Ivy Bridge rev: 9 L2 cache: 3072 KiB 
  flags: avx lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 19953 
  Speed: 1197 MHz min/max: 1200/3100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1197 2: 1198 
  3: 1199 4: 1210 
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics vendor: Apple driver: i915 
  v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:0166 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.9 driver: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa 
  resolution: 1920x1080~60Hz 
  OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel HD Graphics 4000 (IVB GT2) 
  v: 4.2 Mesa 20.2.6 compat-v: 3.0 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 7 Series/C216 Family High Definition Audio 
  driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:1e20 
  Sound Server: ALSA v: k5.4.0-74-generic 
Network:
  Device-1: Broadcom and subsidiaries NetXtreme BCM57765 Gigabit Ethernet 
  PCIe 
  driver: tg3 v: 3.137 port: efa0 bus ID: 01:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:16b4 
  IF: enp1s0f0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM4331 802.11a/b/g/n 
  vendor: Apple AirPort Extreme driver: wl v: kernel port: efa0 
  bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4331 
  IF: wlp2s0 state: dormant mac: <filter> 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 15.64 GiB (3.4%) 
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: SSD 860 EVO 500GB size: 465.76 GiB 
  speed: 6.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q scheme: GPT 
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 456.96 GiB used: 15.63 GiB (3.4%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0 C mobo: N/A 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:
  No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-chrome.list 
  1: deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main
  Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list 
  1: deb http://packages.linuxmint.com uma main upstream import backport #id:linuxmint_main
  2: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal main restricted universe multiverse
  3: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-updates main restricted universe multiverse
  4: deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu focal-backports main restricted universe multiverse
  5: deb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ focal-security main restricted universe multiverse
  6: deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu/ focal partner
Info:
  Processes: 228 Uptime: 15h 20m Memory: 15.55 GiB used: 1.16 GiB (7.5%) 
  Init: systemd v: 245 runlevel: 5 Compilers: gcc: 9.3.0 alt: 9 Shell: bash 
  v: 5.0.17 running in: gnome-terminal inxi: 3.0.38 

[SMG]

You know the xrandr script works.

What I was wondering was whether you could do the same thing without the script. If you click the settings tab at the top of the screenshot you posted (on your live system) and Enable fractional scaling controls, does that give you the ability to produce a similar result to what you achieved with the script? That is what I was wondering.

You might also need to change the User Interface Scale option? I do not recall for sure.

[jedevnull]

That might well work. When I bypass running my script and turn on fractional scaling, below 100% I'm only offered 75%. After I run my xrandr script I have the fractional scaling at 85% which is proportionally correct to my eyes. I'm looking for a way to add the 85% scaling factor w/o using xrandr.

[SMG]

That may be the only way at the present time. I went back through some other threads and I see people referencing 25% increments which would fit with the 75% option you saw.

You can make the xrandr setting permanent, if you want. You would add the line to the end of ~/.profile which is a hidden file in your home directory. That way it will run automatically when you start the computer.

[jedevnull]

Thanks for the tip and for your patient replies!