Default Linpus desktop icons and external monitors

So say you bring your snazzy little AAO to a meeting, connect it up to a projector but then you switch modes and the unsightly desktop icons are off to one side. Not a good first impression. Or say you like to use your AAO at home with a much bigger screen (like me, I use a 1280x1024)

Here's a quick tip (my examples are based on a 1280x1024 resolution, but it shouldn't be hard to figure out something for other resolutions)

note: this howto assumes you have configured your Xorg.conf file to accurately reflect the desired resolution of the external monitor.

Step 1

The file you want to modify is /etc/xdg/xfce4/desktop/format.txt. To do that, open a terminal and type

Code:

sudo mousepad /etc/xdg/xfce4/desktop/format.txt 

Enter a password if it asks you for one.

It's a simple xml file, with two resolutions already set up by default: 1024x600 and 1280x800 - both widescreen. Tsk tsk. The good thing is all resolutions are independent of each other's settings, so you can have as many as you want in the same text file for as many different possibilities as you may need

Step 2

Create a new section with your desired resolution. In my case it's 1280x1024 so at the top of the format.txt file I write:

Code:

[1280x1024]

Then cut and paste the following section (it has some bugfixes, so it's best to use the one in this post rather than copying the ones inside the file.) The lines in bold need to be adjusted for your desired resolution, you can actually leave the rest as is:

Note: window_back_position_y= and table_padding_top= should be the same for the sake of consistency.

Step 3
Save it, and reboot.

Yes, if you don't want to reboot you could always kill "xfdesktop2" from the Ctrl+Alt+Del menu, and then start it again using Alt+F2 - but that doesn't always work well.

Either way, you're done! Enjoy

 

Hi,

I want to display my screen on an external projector but I am actually stuck trying to have any Screen Resolution other than the default 1024x600@60.

A number of users on this forum managed to get various resolutions but I haven't found how.

Would you please so kind to extend your How To to include the necessary steps and/or a copy of your xorg.conf?

Cheers
Toman