[jkeysers]

Complete Ubuntu n00b here.

I had a bit of a play around with Ubuntu last night after successfully installing XBMCbunt (Eden). I know absolutely nothing about this OS. It sat there on my screen for about 10 minutes with the XBMCbuntu logo on the screen before I realised it was actually loaded. I noticed a very faint white line at the bottom of the screen. I can click down there and some menus come up, but they are cut off and hard to read. I assume this is the Linux equivalent of the start menu/task bar.

Is there something I can do to adjust the zoom so I am able to see the edges of the screen and see what I am doing?

No issues within XBMC itself. All zoom is good and everything works great.

[mjw25a]

Yeah, I moved to it last night and have a few issues of my own though I figured this one out. Because I've an ATI/AMD video card in my system I was able to go into the ATI Catalyst Control Centre and use a slider to cut back overscan on the screen. Everything now fits perfectly. Likewise, if you're having the same issue in XBMC itself, simply adjust the screen resolution under settings > Video/display and find what most closely fits your screen.

Those ones will be nice and easy. If your sound is working though you're further ahead than me

[jkeysers]

The issue in XBMC was easily resolved by adjusting the zoom to -6%.

As for fixing it in Ubuntu, I wouldnt even have a clue how to access my video card settings to reduce overscan. It doesn't worry me too much, I won't use Ubuntu anyway. The main purpose was just so I could get terminal access to set a static IP.

I followed these instructions for Dharma and it worked great;
http://setupguides.blogspot.com.au/2010/...-live.html

That's all I was trying to achieve. Unfortunately the terminal shortcut keys didn't work.

But yes, I do have sound. I am counting myself very lucky on that front, judging by the amount of thread on it!

[jamespcole]

I followed these instructions for Dharma and it worked great;
http://setupguides.blogspot.com.au/2010/...-live.html

Yep those instructions will work fine on all debian/ubuntu systems(that's my blog BTW) but it's probably way easier in XBMCbuntu to just boot into openbox and use the network manager, I'll be posting a guide about how to do that soon but it's pretty easy to figure out.

As for fixing it in Ubuntu, I wouldnt even have a clue how to access my video card settings to reduce overscan.

If you have an Nvidia card just boot into openbox and run the nvidia settings app(it's in the menu) or open a terminal(from openbox) and type "nvidia-settings"

[Killerc]

The main purpose was just so I could get terminal access to set a static IP.

You've always been able to SSH into xbmc and setup a static IP with ease, no need for a full blown GUI for that.

If you have an Nvidia card just boot into openbox and run the nvidia settings app(it's in the menu) or open a terminal(from openbox) and type "nvidia-settings"

Would work great if the overscan doesn't already put half the menu off the screen, thats not even including any buttons at the bottom of the app like "Ok" "Cancel" and ofc "Apply". In which case that info is actually useless.

I had this once before but the same process doesnt seem to work now, i use gentoo and not ubuntu on all my other systems getting this working with this distro has become harder than a stage 1 gentoo install for me now. xrandr won't give me modelines above 1280x780 even if i add them, doing the same on a gentoo box on the same TV works fine. Using remote desktop i can see the whole screen, but again the nvidia app is bigger than the screen, that one i don't even understand as i can't resize it even, just gimme a scroll bar if you can't fit the bloody text on screen lol.

Driving me up the wall, i find it very useful to be able to tag between XBMC and a full blown desktop on the same TV without adding a new comp or rebooting. Would go back to gentoo but the GAF/WAF whichever your wish to call it wasn't so great as occasionally things would break so i stuck buntu on as its was, the nubs choice. lol

Edit: To note, so no one gets confused, this isn't in XBMC itself, i know how to configure the display there, but rather in the "toggled" desktop UI.

[Squatch]

As for fixing it in Ubuntu, I wouldnt even have a clue how to access my video card settings to reduce overscan.

If you have an Nvidia card just boot into openbox and run the nvidia settings app(it's in the menu) or open a terminal(from openbox) and type "nvidia-settings"

Unfortunately, I wasn't running an nVidia card on the box I had trouble with. While it wasn't technically an 'overscan' issue, it turned out to be a refresh rate issue which presented similar symptoms. As such, nvidia-settings wasn't an option for me, however, using the above-mentioned method to spawn a terminal session, I was able to use lxrandr to find a temporarily usable resolution to use while I worked on the actual solution (for me) below:


The box in question is running an old e5200 dual-core on an ECS G31T-M motherboard, using the onboard video. While not optimal, it's more than sufficient to drive the older Samsung B205W 20" monitor attached to it. The problem I was having, was that at the probed 1680x1050@60hz default, the desktop was shifted about a third of the way across the width of the monitor causing it to extend well past the bezel to the right and bottom of the monitor.

Using this guide I was able to setup a custom 1680x1050@59hz display, which immediately sorted the issue.