Utilize only part of monitor (avoiding dead column of pixels)

stich09 · 2015-08-01 13:53:21

Hi everybody,

I'm currently getting in to Arch Linux as an alternative to Ubuntu (which I've been using as an average user for 7 years, simple programming, not fluent in Linux). I realized the huge variety of desktop environments and realized I might be able to rescue an old laptop and increase its functionality.

The laptop has about .75 of an inch of dead pixels on the leftmost side of the screen from dropping the old beast many times. I'm curious if there is an easy way to configure my computer to only use the remainder of my monitor (15" screen so it still has ample space). Do people have any suggestions? Either a highly customizable desktop environment that would make this easier to deal with or any other, less hack-y solutions?

Thanks.

Edit: basically I dont want to keep doing everything in a resized window of emacs, but I guess that could work.

Last edited by stich09 (2015-08-01 14:43:55)

berbae · 2015-08-01 16:28:05

In Openbox, you can create margins:

Margins
<margins>
  <top>50</top>
  <left>0</left>
  <right>20</right>
  <bottom>0</bottom>
</margins>
Each tag specifies the amount of pixels to reserve at the respective edge of the screen. New windows will not be placed in those areas, and maximized windows will not cover them.

Maybe something similar exists in other WM.

Trilby · 2015-08-01 16:57:28

xrandr --output $OUTPUT --scale 1.1x1.0

Replace $OUTPUT with your primary output (LVDS1, VGA1, soemthing like that) then play with the 1.1 value until it looks right.

stich09 · 2015-08-01 17:48:49

Thank you, I think xrandr is the right direction. So what I really want looks like:

 xrandr --output $OUTPUT --scale 0.95x1.0

but unfortunately I cannot figure out how to right-align (the dead pixels are on the left) or how to keep it from simply cutting the screen off. I'd prefer it to shrink the space i3 is trying to draw to.

Last edited by stich09 (2015-08-01 17:49:05)

Trilby · 2015-08-01 17:53:44

man xrandr.

EDIT: okay it's actually not obvious - I though --pos would do it. But it seems pos does not work with scale in that way.

You can then use transform, it may take some trial and error to get the right matrix.

Trilby · 2015-08-01 18:02:28

This gets close for me:

 xrandr --output LVDS1 --transform 1.1,0,-100,0,1,0,0,0,1

The first value (1.1 here) is the horizontal scale, so this would likely be 0.95 for you. The third number is the X offset in pixes, so if you use 0.95, this should be 5% of the pixel width of your screen. It may need to be positive in your case. All the other numbers should stay the same. So just tinker with the first and third values in that list to get what you need.

stich09 · 2015-08-01 21:19:28

Unfortunately I could not get that to work. Not only could I not get it to stick to the right side of the screen, it was cutting off parts of the display. I think the

fb

option is very important. But I couldn't get it to work. I went a slightly different route (producing a new modeline that I read about in the last answer here ) and got a little bit closer. Note my monitor originally supports 1366x768.

gtf 1248 768 60
xrandr --newmode "1248x768_60.00"   77.85 1248 1312 1440 1632 768 769 772 795  -HSync +Vsync
xrandr --addmode LVDS-0 1248x768_60.00
xrandr --output LVDS-0 --fb 1248x768 --panning 1248x768 --mode 1248x768_60.00

That is as good as I've gotten it, where I can get all of the screen from behind the dead pixels while maintaining a large screen. The price is I have a black bar on the other side to match it now. The next line of code in the link I sent simply adjusts it to the left, and nothing i could do with the /banner_left option or --pos could make it work. I even edited the modeline manually following advice here:http://www.arachnoid.com/modelines/

I'll have to be content for now. It is better than it was. Thanks again for helping out.

Last edited by stich09 (2015-08-01 21:20:16)

Arch Linux

#1 2015-08-01 13:53:21

Utilize only part of monitor (avoiding dead column of pixels)

#2 2015-08-01 16:28:05

Re: Utilize only part of monitor (avoiding dead column of pixels)

#3 2015-08-01 16:57:28

Re: Utilize only part of monitor (avoiding dead column of pixels)

#4 2015-08-01 17:48:49

Re: Utilize only part of monitor (avoiding dead column of pixels)

#5 2015-08-01 17:53:44

Re: Utilize only part of monitor (avoiding dead column of pixels)

#6 2015-08-01 18:02:28

Re: Utilize only part of monitor (avoiding dead column of pixels)

#7 2015-08-01 21:19:28

Re: Utilize only part of monitor (avoiding dead column of pixels)

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