Arch Linux

Woegjiub

Member

Registered: 2009-02-24

Posts: 9

Scaling a (larger) virtual desktop to fit a (smaller) desktop

I was wondering if it is possible for X to display say a 1600x1200 virtual desktop inside a 640x480 window, not with scrolling but by actually shrinking the display so that some pixels would be merged into single pixels on the smaller display.

I mainly wanted this for a netbook, as I'm just greedy and want massive space (and yes I am fine with having fonts look tiny due to this)

artiom

Member

From: France

Registered: 2008-07-29

Posts: 111

Re: Scaling a (larger) virtual desktop to fit a (smaller) desktop

You can achieve this effect by changing the DPI of you screen. There is an option in xorg.conf.

Woegjiub

Member

Registered: 2009-02-24

Posts: 9

Re: Scaling a (larger) virtual desktop to fit a (smaller) desktop

I'm sure this will sound very stupid, but does it shrink absolutely everything?
I mean, from a brief google it appears people only use DPI for fonts....
If it's not too much trouble, could you demonstrate how I would therefore use a 1280x750 resolution on a 1024x600 screen?

Woegjiub

Member

Registered: 2009-02-24

Posts: 9

Re: Scaling a (larger) virtual desktop to fit a (smaller) desktop

could anybody help me?

big_gie

Member

Registered: 2005-01-19

Posts: 637

Re: Scaling a (larger) virtual desktop to fit a (smaller) desktop

I'm not sure it is possible, yet.

On my 10' eeepc, I use compiz so I can zoom out of the desktop. Similar to this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c … spaces.png. So if a window is too big and spawn on many desktops, I can zoom out and see correctly. With exposé plugin you can see all open windows: https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/180039/scre … expose.png
I think it is a must for small screen.

KDE's kwin has similar feature, but on a netbook XFCE is smaller (mostly disk size) then full kde.

Maybe that will help...

Thor

Member

Registered: 2007-05-03

Posts: 15

Re: Scaling a (larger) virtual desktop to fit a (smaller) desktop

I have no idea why, but if I start my desktop with 1600x1200 all the screen fit in my monitor (which is a 17" LCD with a maximum resolution of 1280x1024). *But* it looks fugly and I barely can read the screen. But frankly I don't know why it works in my pc =S

R00KIE

Forum Fellow

From: Between a computer and a chair

Registered: 2008-09-14

Posts: 4,734

Re: Scaling a (larger) virtual desktop to fit a (smaller) desktop

Why on earth do you want to use a virtual resolution larger than the size of the screen in the first place? Its a big mess as you can already see ...

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R00KIE
Tm90aGluZyB0byBzZWUgaGVyZSwgbW92ZSBhbG9uZy4K

Woegjiub

Member

Registered: 2009-02-24

Posts: 9

Re: Scaling a (larger) virtual desktop to fit a (smaller) desktop

Because 1024x600 is really tiny, and rather unbearable...