Full Screen Device

[Gabriel]

Hi, I just started using MandrakeLinux 10.0 and that's allmost my first experience with linux. I have a NVIDIA GForce MX 420 card and i succeeded to install the drivers. I even succeeded to get a twinview on my TV.
And here is my question: when i use windows I have an option called Full Screen Device witch let me see the hole picture, when I'm watching a movie, on my TV even if my res. is to high(It kind of flips out). And if anyone knows how i turn that option on in linux I would be very happy.
I also have another question about the XF86CONFIG settings. I have black space around my picture on the tv and don't know witch option I'll use to adjust that.
I'm sure these questions have allredy been answered but I've been looking in alot of forums and can't seem to find them. So if you've found them please direct me to them.

thanx!

[Thunderbird]

The black border can be adjusted using the option TVOverscan but that only works if your MX420 really uses nvidia's own tvout encoder or one from conexant/brooktree.

Further that zooming option you have on windows is in fact some sort of hack and doesn't exist on linux. To get something similar you need to set up twinview in "extended desktop" instead of clone. Further you need a "xinerama"-capable mediaplayer. Then you can choose lets say 1280x1024 on your CRT and 640x480 on your TV. When you turn the player to fullscreen on the TV it will really fit the 640x480.

Another way is to "split" your card into two cards using another special twinview method (it is not called twinview). This method is described in Appendix R of the driver docs.

[Gabriel]

Ok, to bad that I can't get that, I find it very usefull.
So to get two different resolutions I need a another twinview? Can you give me an example of that in the Config-file? And why did I need a "xinerama"-capable mediaplayer?

remember I'm a rookie.

[Thunderbird]

Regarding the tvout way with that xinerama stuff you can choose any TwinviewOrientation except Clone. (or remove the TwinviewOrientation line; it will default to RightOf then). Now about why you need a Xinerama-capable player. Normally you want a higher resolution on your CRT than on your TV as TVs are limited to about "800x600" / "640x480" depending on PAL or NTSC. When you choose lets say 1024x768 for the CRT and 800x600 for the TV, the real dimensions of the screen will become 2 * 1024x768 -> 2048x768. When you would press fullscreen an app could cover this screen (if the app doesn't know about xinerama). What you want is 800x600 fullscreen on the TV. This is were Xinerama comes in. Basicly a xinerama application can "ask" the current "screen" what its physical resolution is. So when you put a player in fullscreen on the TV, the window will become 800x600 big. (mplayer/xine need an option to use xinerama)

[Gabriel]

Thanks, this helped alot. Now I can do without windows!