cygwinX xwin resolution

cygwinX xwin resolution

[Dr. Rob Higgins]

I cannot find, after two days, any documentation on how and where to 
specify resolution parameters. I must be barking up the wrong trees.

My laptop under Windows has recommended resolution set at 3200 x 1800

CygwinX X Windows are much to small, and barely readable.

Can anyone just tell me where to look, or what to specify?

---rob---

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Re: cygwinX xwin resolution

[Jon Turney]

On 22/07/2016 05:23, Dr. Rob Higgins wrote:
> I cannot find, after two days, any documentation on how and where to
> specify resolution parameters. I must be barking up the wrong trees.
>
> My laptop under Windows has recommended resolution set at 3200 x 1800
>
> CygwinX X Windows are much to small, and barely readable.

I guess this means that e.g. xterm font is too small, and so a 80x24 
character window is small?

> Can anyone just tell me where to look, or what to specify?

To answer the specific question, you can specify the a display 
resolution using the '-dpi' option.

The "configuration" chapter of the user guide [1] points to "man XWin" 
[2], which in turn points to "man Xserver" [3] for general server 
options, including that one.

[1] http://x.cygwin.com/docs/ug/cygwin-x-ug.html
[2] http://x.cygwin.com/docs/man1/XWin.1.html
[3] http://x.cygwin.com/docs/man1/Xserver.1.html

If changing that helps, I'd be very interested to know what the 
autodetected value for dpi is, which is reported in /var/log/xwin/XWin.0.log

-- 
Jon Turney
Volunteer Cygwin/X X Server maintainer

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Re: cygwinX xwin resolution

[Eliot Moss]

On 7/22/2016 12:23 AM, Dr. Rob Higgins wrote:
> I cannot find, after two days, any documentation on how and where to specify resolution parameters.
> I must be barking up the wrong trees.
>
> My laptop under Windows has recommended resolution set at 3200 x 1800
>
> CygwinX X Windows are much to small, and barely readable.
>
> Can anyone just tell me where to look, or what to specify?

As I recall, X does not have a strong notion of "resolution".
It does know the dimensions of the *screen* measured in pixels.  One
specifies window sizes also in pixels.

I noticed similar effects when I moved to a Microsoft Surface Book,
which has 3000 x 2000 pixels on the screen.

Perhaps the most relevant file is your .Xdefaults.  For character-
oriented applications such as xterm and emacs, windows sizes are
generally expressed in terms of lines and columns.  I found I needed
to specify larger *fonts*, e.g.:

XTerm*font:                     -adobe-courier-medium-r-normal-*-34-240-*-*-*-*-*-*
XTerm*bodyFont:			-adobe-courier-medium-r-normal-*-34-240-*-*-*-*-*-*

Emacs.default.attributeFont:	-adobe-courier-medium-r-normal-*-34-240-*-*-*-*-*-*

Xpdf*fontList:	-*-helvetica-medium-r-*--*-240-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1

(The last one took some finding!)

For applications that measure in terms of pixels, I needed to specify larger
values, e.g.:

Xpdf*geometry:	3000x1875+0+0

(In this last one, 1875 leaves room for the icons in the bar at the bottom
under Windows 10.)

The xrdb program can be helpful around all this.  In particular,
xrdb -symbols will output symbol definitions that you can feed into
the C preprocessor (cpp) to process a file with symbolic names such
as WIDTH and HEIGHT.  You can also undoubtedly capture and process
these with a bash script, or a script in a variety of scripting
languages, to help set up the values you want when creating windows.

Now, backing off a little from my more absolute statement at the
beginning, xrdb -symbols *does* print out X_RESOLUTION and
Y_RESOLUTION.  These give the number of pixels per meter on the
screen.  For my Surface Book their value is 7576.  Presumably you
could capture that and figure something out.  And presumably
applications could as well, but I am not aware of applications
that auto-adjust according to the screen resolution.  The main
ones I use do not seem to take it into account.

(And many Windows apps do not seem to either.  I get tiny icons
sometimes (Eclipse) or cut Windows areas (CrashPlan), etc.)

Hope this help!    Eliot Moss

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Re: cygwinX xwin resolution

[Eliot Moss]

Having now seen Jon's message ...

Yes, my XWin log shows a dpi of 192, which is
7576 / 39.37 (inches per meter), rounded.

As I mentioned, it is clear the XWin itself
has a notion of resolution, but most applications
do not seem to be coded to take it into account.
The main ones that I use don't, anyway, and so
I needed to adjust things in my .Xdefaults, as
I described and gave examples of in my previous
posting ...

Regards -- EM

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Re: cygwinX xwin resolution

[Dr. Rob Higgins]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2296 bytes --]

Hello Jon,

Yes, most content in windows and be zoom'd and I've been able to work 
with it, but it's the window decorations and controls that are almost 
unreadable.

I had gone through the man pages and tried many things suggested in 
them. But I must be doing it wrong, or in the wrong place.

As another test, from my cygwin64 home directory, I used:

startxwin -- -dpi 500

Similar to the example given in
    http://xfree86.cygwin.com/docs/man1/startxwin.1.html

In the log I found:

[ XWin was started with the following command line:

[ /usr/bin/XWin :0 -multiwindow -dpi 500 -auth 
/home/Higgins/.serverauth.10276

[ ddxProcessArgument - Initializing default screens
[ winInitializeScreenDefaults - primary monitor w 3200 h 1800
[ winInitializeScreenDefaults - native DPI x 240 y 240
[ [ 45339.640] (II) xorg.conf is not supported
[ [ 45339.640] (II) See http://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-x-faq.html [ 
for more information
[ [ 45339.640] LoadPreferences: /home/Higgins/.XWinrc not found
[ [ 45339.640] LoadPreferences: Loading /etc/X11/system.XWinrc

Then again I tried:

startxwin -- -screen 0 3200x1800@1

and the log output is attached ..

Thank you

---rob---

On 2016-07-22 9:25 AM, Jon Turney wrote:
> On 22/07/2016 05:23, Dr. Rob Higgins wrote:
>> I cannot find, after two days, any documentation on how and where to
>> specify resolution parameters. I must be barking up the wrong trees.
>>
>> My laptop under Windows has recommended resolution set at 3200 x 1800
>>
>> CygwinX X Windows are much to small, and barely readable.
>
> I guess this means that e.g. xterm font is too small, and so a 80x24
> character window is small?
>
>> Can anyone just tell me where to look, or what to specify?
>
> To answer the specific question, you can specify the a display
> resolution using the '-dpi' option.
>
> The "configuration" chapter of the user guide [1] points to "man XWin"
> [2], which in turn points to "man Xserver" [3] for general server
> options, including that one.
>
> [1] http://x.cygwin.com/docs/ug/cygwin-x-ug.html
> [2] http://x.cygwin.com/docs/man1/XWin.1.html
> [3] http://x.cygwin.com/docs/man1/Xserver.1.html
>
> If changing that helps, I'd be very interested to know what the
> autodetected value for dpi is, which is reported in
> /var/log/xwin/XWin.0.log
>


[-- Attachment #2: XWin.0.log.txt --]
[-- Type: text/plain, Size: 4155 bytes --]

Welcome to the XWin X Server
Vendor: The Cygwin/X Project
Release: 1.18.3.0
OS: CYGWIN_NT-10.0 asusi7 2.5.2(0.297/5/3) 2016-06-23 14:29 x86_64
OS: Windows 10  [Windows NT 10.0 build 10586] (Win64)
Package: version 1.18.3-1 built 2016-06-20

XWin was started with the following command line:

/usr/bin/XWin :0 -multiwindow -screen 0 3200x1800@1 -auth 
 /home/Higgins/.serverauth.9680 

ddxProcessArgument - Initializing default screens
winInitializeScreenDefaults - primary monitor w 3200 h 1800
winInitializeScreenDefaults - native DPI x 240 y 240
winInitializeScreens - 1
winInitializeScreen - 0
ddxProcessArgument - screen - Found ``WxD'' arg
ddxProcessArgument - screen - Found Valid ``@Monitor'' = 1 arg
[ 49128.312] (II) xorg.conf is not supported
[ 49128.312] (II) See http://x.cygwin.com/docs/faq/cygwin-x-faq.html for more information
[ 49128.312] LoadPreferences: /home/Higgins/.XWinrc not found
[ 49128.312] LoadPreferences: Loading /etc/X11/system.XWinrc
[ 49128.312] LoadPreferences: Done parsing the configuration file...
[ 49128.312] winDetectSupportedEngines - RemoteSession: no
[ 49128.312] winDetectSupportedEngines - DirectDraw4 installed, allowing ShadowDDNL
[ 49128.312] winDetectSupportedEngines - Returning, supported engines 00000005
[ 49128.312] winSetEngine - Multi Window or Rootless => ShadowGDI
[ 49128.312] winScreenInit - Using Windows display depth of 32 bits per pixel
[ 49128.375] winAllocateFBShadowGDI - Creating DIB with width: 3200 height: 1800 depth: 32
[ 49128.375] winFinishScreenInitFB - Masks: 00ff0000 0000ff00 000000ff
[ 49128.375] winInitVisualsShadowGDI - Masks 00ff0000 0000ff00 000000ff BPRGB 8 d 24 bpp 32
[ 49128.390] MIT-SHM extension disabled due to lack of kernel support
[ 49128.390] XFree86-Bigfont extension local-client optimization disabled due to lack of shared memory support in the kernel
[ 49128.390] glWinSelectGLimplementation: Loaded 'cygnativeGLthunk.dll'
[ 49128.390] (II) AIGLX: Testing pixelFormatIndex 1
[ 49128.406] GL_VERSION:     4.4.0 - Build 20.19.15.4444
[ 49128.406] GL_VENDOR:      Intel
[ 49128.406] GL_RENDERER:    Intel(R) HD Graphics 520
[ 49128.406] (II) AIGLX: enabled GLX_SGI_make_current_read
[ 49128.406] (II) AIGLX: enabled GLX_MESA_copy_sub_buffer
[ 49128.406] (II) AIGLX: enabled GLX_SGI_swap_control and GLX_MESA_swap_control
[ 49128.406] (II) AIGLX: enabled GLX_SGIX_pbuffer
[ 49128.406] (II) AIGLX: enabled GLX_ARB_multisample and GLX_SGIS_multisample
[ 49128.406] (II) 103 pixel formats reported by wglGetPixelFormatAttribivARB
[ 49128.406] (II) AIGLX: Set GLX version to 1.4
[ 49128.421] (II) 58 fbConfigs
[ 49128.421] (II) ignored pixel formats: 0 not OpenGL, 6 RBGA float, 3 RGBA unsigned float, 0 unknown pixel type, 36 unaccelerated
[ 49128.421] (II) GLX: Initialized Win32 native WGL GL provider for screen 0
[ 49128.640] winPointerWarpCursor - Discarding first warp: 1600 900
[ 49128.640] (--) 8 mouse buttons found
[ 49128.640] (--) Setting autorepeat to delay=500, rate=31
[ 49128.640] (--) Windows keyboard layout: "00000409" (00000409) "US", type 7
[ 49128.640] (--) Found matching XKB configuration "English (USA)"
[ 49128.640] (--) Model = "pc105" Layout = "us" Variant = "none" Options = "none"
[ 49128.640] Rules = "base" Model = "pc105" Layout = "us" Variant = "none" Options = "none"
[ 49128.640] winInitMultiWindowWM - DISPLAY=:0.0
[ 49128.640] winMultiWindowXMsgProc - DISPLAY=:0.0
[ 49128.703] winMultiWindowXMsgProc - xcb_connect() returned and successfully opened the display.
[ 49128.703] winClipboardThreadProc - DISPLAY=:0.0
[ 49128.703] OS maintains clipboard viewer chain: yes
[ 49128.703] winProcEstablishConnection - winInitClipboard returned.
[ 49128.703] OS maintains clipboard viewer chain: yes
[ 49128.703] winInitMultiWindowWM - xcb_connect () returned and successfully opened the display.
[ 49128.703] Using Composite redirection
[ 49128.703] winClipboardProc - XOpenDisplay () returned and successfully opened the display.
[ 49139.625] SetupSysMenu: GetSystemMenu() failed for HWND 0x10ad2
[ 49161.203] SetupSysMenu: GetSystemMenu() failed for HWND 0x60a8a

[-- Attachment #3: Type: text/plain, Size: 218 bytes --]

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Re: cygwinX xwin resolution

[bzs]

Maybe someone suggested this but your major problem may be that you
need to modify your font path to use higher res fonts, see xset(1) but
I use something like (cut+paste, dejavu and misc are irrelevant but
for pedagological sake):

  xset fp+ /usr/share/X11/fonts/100dpi,/usr/share/fonts/dejavu/,/usr/share/X11/fonts/misc
  xset fp rehash

which can go in some *rc file or be run manually or from a shell
script.

If you need higher res than 100dpi you'll have to hunt those down
first or maybe you can prefer TrueType fonts not sure that works in
the general case.

-- 
        -Barry Shein

Software Tool & Die    | bzs@TheWorld.com             | http://www.TheWorld.com
Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD       | 800-THE-WRLD
The World: Since 1989  | A Public Information Utility | *oo*

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Re: cygwinX xwin resolution

[Dr. Rob Higgins]

Ahhh ... a totally separate platform has the same issue on this hi-res 
small screen. This laptop is new and Band-In-A-Box needs Windows or Mac, 
so I'm testing Win 10 with cygwin X to get some of the stuff I'm used to 
in Linux.

When testing Freeplane with Java 8 (in the Win 10 environment) and not 
connected to Cygwin X at all. Same issue - icons are all small and stay 
small but content can be enlarged, and menus are already large enough.

So, as an fyi for similar situations, I'm finding gnome-terminal and 
pcmanfm to be most accommodating Cygwin X apps in allowing larger 
content fonts and reasonable menu sizes even though toolbar icons remain 
very small.

Thanks for your help.

---rob---


On 2016-07-22 9:25 AM, Jon Turney wrote:
> On 22/07/2016 05:23, Dr. Rob Higgins wrote:
>> I cannot find, after two days, any documentation on how and where to
>> specify resolution parameters. I must be barking up the wrong trees.
>>
>> My laptop under Windows has recommended resolution set at 3200 x 1800
>>
>> CygwinX X Windows are much to small, and barely readable.
>
> I guess this means that e.g. xterm font is too small, and so a 80x24
> character window is small?
>
>> Can anyone just tell me where to look, or what to specify?
>
> To answer the specific question, you can specify the a display
> resolution using the '-dpi' option.
>
> The "configuration" chapter of the user guide [1] points to "man XWin"
> [2], which in turn points to "man Xserver" [3] for general server
> options, including that one.
>
> [1] http://x.cygwin.com/docs/ug/cygwin-x-ug.html
> [2] http://x.cygwin.com/docs/man1/XWin.1.html
> [3] http://x.cygwin.com/docs/man1/Xserver.1.html
>
> If changing that helps, I'd be very interested to know what the
> autodetected value for dpi is, which is reported in
> /var/log/xwin/XWin.0.log
>


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Re: cygwinX xwin resolution

[Eliot Moss]

On 7/22/2016 6:19 PM, Dr. Rob Higgins wrote:
> Ahhh ... a totally separate platform has the same issue on this hi-res small screen. This laptop is
> new and Band-In-A-Box needs Windows or Mac, so I'm testing Win 10 with cygwin X to get some of the
> stuff I'm used to in Linux.
>
> When testing Freeplane with Java 8 (in the Win 10 environment) and not connected to Cygwin X at all.
> Same issue - icons are all small and stay small but content can be enlarged, and menus are already
> large enough.
>
> So, as an fyi for similar situations, I'm finding gnome-terminal and pcmanfm to be most
> accommodating Cygwin X apps in allowing larger content fonts and reasonable menu sizes even though
> toolbar icons remain very small.
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
> ---rob---

I found a discussion about tiny icons on a list about Eclipse.  Icons are generally a fixed-size
rectangle of *pixels*, often 16x16.  To do any better, an app needs multiple versions (e.g.,
16x16 and 32x32).  They aren't generally done using a scalable format (I guess things that small
need to be custom designed).  Personally, I could live with just repeating 1 pixel in a 2x2
square to give me a bigger, if "jaggy", icon/button, but people don't seem to do that ...

Regards -- EM

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Re: (getting correct DPI from windows for) cygwinX xwin resolution

[Linda Walsh]

Eliot Moss wrote:
> As I mentioned, it is clear the XWin itself
> has a notion of resolution, but most applications
> do not seem to be coded to take it into account.
> The main ones that I use don't, anyway, and so
> I needed to adjust things in my .Xdefaults, as
> I described and gave examples of in my previous
> posting ...
---
Xwin has had the notion of "dpi" in it since before windows
was created.  Windows programming took people backwards, in
that it specified sizes in pixels.

The new HTML5 standard has artificially defined a "software pixel",
that is supposed to be 1/96th of an inch -- independent of the
rendering device, but in HTML4, pixels were still pixels.

One way that can help on XWindows The fonts were The fixed width fonts (100dpi/75dpi) are created to work
under those resolutions only.  If the programs you are using use
Truetype fonts those should resize automatically if you
start the Xwin server using the "-dpi" switch and give it the value
for your screen -- it doesn't support multiple dpi-values for different
screen types though (neither does windows, AFAIK).

A shell script way to get windows DPI:
----
#!/bin/bash -u
shopt -s expand_aliases 
alias my=declare
alias int=my\ -i

ord () { 
  printf "%d\n" "'$1"
}

get_dpi () {
  my mskey='/proc/registry64/HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWARE/Microsoft'
  my dpi_k='Windows NT/CurrentVersion/FontDPI/LogPixels'
  read val<"$mskey/$dpi_k"
  int dpi=$(ord "$val")
  # check for insane values
  ((dpi<50||dpi>>400)) && dpi=96
  echo "$dpi"
}

----

My check for 'insane' values may be out of date in the not so
distant future.  Adjust as necessary, if your screens are really
out of this range, and set a default to something near your screen's
listed resolution.  To get that use your screen's listed size
in inches.  Example: using a 20 inch screen, and your display's
listed resolution from:

"Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Display\Screen Resolution",
(you said 3200x1800 a 16:9 ratio), 
calculate the following:  (example in shell+perl)
(or use a calculator).


> X=3200 Y=1800   #or whatever your screen size is in dots
> let Z="$X*$X+$Y*$Y"; echo $Z
> perl -e 'printf "%d\n", 13480000**.5'
  3671

above is diagonal dots.  to get DPI in shell
(using the 20" screensize):

> S=20
> let actual_dpi="(3671+$S-1)/$S"; echo $actual_dpi
  184

(so use 184 for Windows DPI, and X "-dpi").

NOTE: if you let windows resize your entire screen, instead of
just the text, then magnification is already applied to your X
display, so use "-dpi 100" 
(or more precisely, "-dpi $[100*184/96]").

Hope this helps and isn't too confusing...


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