[vox-tech] using linux laptop with projector...

[Matt Roper]

On Sat, Aug 13, 2005 at 04:24:41PM -0700, Boris Jeremic wrote:
> 
> Hello There,
> 
> I want to use my laptop (RedHat 9) when I make presentations. I used to 
> be able (with old laptop) to change screen resolution from (current 
> 1600x1200) to whatever will the (outside) projector accept (usually 
> 800x600 or so...) It used to work (again on old laptop) with CRTL-ALT + 
> or - and the resolution would change.
> 
> When I use CRTL-ALT + or - now, the actual area of screen changes and 
> thus I loose part of screen (it shrinks toward middle part of screen so 
> that for example 800x600 is middle quarter of screen only). The big part 
> of X window is lost (top menu bar...) and so I cannot use it to show PDF 
> presentations, but have to (Yack) reboot to windows and show PDF there 
> (I use LaTeX, and foils, slides or beamer classes to make those PDFs...).
> 
> Any suggestion on what to do to get this change in resolution, while 
> maintaining the screen size (and coverage) would be appreciated.
> 

Hi Boris.  I think the tool you're looking for is xrandr.  For example,
on my machine, I can get a list of possible resolutions as follows:

    mattrope at hades:~$ xrandr
     SZ:    Pixels          Physical       Refresh
    *0   1280 x 1024   ( 342mm x 271mm )  *75   60  
     1   1280 x 960    ( 342mm x 271mm )   60  
     2   1024 x 768    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75   70   60  
     3    800 x 600    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75   72   60   56  
     4   1280 x 800    ( 342mm x 271mm )   60  
     5   1152 x 864    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75  
     6   1280 x 768    ( 342mm x 271mm )   60  
     7    832 x 624    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75  
     8    640 x 512    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75   60  
     9    720 x 450    ( 342mm x 271mm )   60  
     10   640 x 480    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75   73   60  
     11   640 x 400    ( 342mm x 271mm )   60  
     12   576 x 432    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75  
     13   640 x 384    ( 342mm x 271mm )   60  
     14   512 x 384    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75   70   60  
     15   416 x 312    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75  
     16   400 x 300    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75   72   60   56  
     17   320 x 240    ( 342mm x 271mm )   75   73   60  
    Current rotation - normal
    Current reflection - none
    Rotations possible - normal 
    Reflections possible - none

and then choose a different resolution by running:

    mattrope at hades:~$ xrandr -s 800x600

The xrandr command makes use of the "rotate and resize" (i.e. RandR)
extension of X which is relatively new (so I'm not sure whether your
Redhat 9 system will have it without additional upgrades).

A fairly good introduction to xrandr can be found here:
    http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/201

Hope that helps.


Matt

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