Unity messes up the screen, mouse pointer, etc. when the resolution is changed

[Dima Ryazanov]

When the screen resolution is changed (e.g., when I launch an old game using Wine), Unity does not display the desktop and windows correctly anymore, and messes up the game, too. It's hard to say exactly what is happening, but either the desktop or the mouse coordinates are not scaled correctly - so mouse events go to the wrong locations, making the whole desktop unusable. As far as I understand, there should be no scaling to begin with, since Xorg does all the work. Everything works correctly when I run Fluxbox.

Here's my normal screen configuration:

$ xrandr
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1366 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
LVDS1 connected 1366x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 293mm x 164mm panning 1366x768+0+0
   1366x768 60.0*+ 40.0
   1360x768 59.8 60.0
   1024x768 60.0
   800x600 60.3 56.2
   640x480 59.9
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

A command to reproduce the problem:

$ xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 800x600 --fb 1366x768 --panning 800x600

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
Package: unity 6.12.0-0ubuntu0.2
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-21.32+kamal11~DellXPS-generic 3.5.7.1
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-21-generic x86_64
.tmp.unity.support.test.0:

ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu9
Architecture: amd64
CompizPlugins: No value set for `/apps/compiz-1/general/screen0/options/active_plugins'
CompositorRunning: compiz
Date: Thu Jan 3 22:41:29 2013
DistUpgraded: 2012-09-29 19:02:57,236 DEBUG enabling apt cron job
DistroCodename: quantal
DistroVariant: ubuntu
GraphicsCard:
 Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0116] (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Dell Device [1028:052e]
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-05-30 (219 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20120425)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Dell System XPS L321X
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-21-generic root=UUID=d7e21c25-1d7a-42ce-bee0-503b732523ba ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
SourcePackage: unity
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to quantal on 2012-09-30 (96 days ago)
dmi.bios.date: 04/09/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A04
dmi.board.name: 085X6F
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A00
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 0.1
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA04:bd04/09/2012:svnDellInc.:pnDellSystemXPSL321X:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rn085X6F:rvrA00:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvr0.1:
dmi.product.name: Dell System XPS L321X
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.
version.compiz: compiz 1:0.9.8.6-0ubuntu1
version.ia32-libs: ia32-libs N/A
version.libdrm2: libdrm2 2.4.39-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri: libgl1-mesa-dri 9.0-0ubuntu1
version.libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental: libgl1-mesa-dri-experimental N/A
version.libgl1-mesa-glx: libgl1-mesa-glx 9.0-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-core: xserver-xorg-core 2:1.13.0-0ubuntu6.1
version.xserver-xorg-input-evdev: xserver-xorg-input-evdev 1:2.7.3-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-ati: xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.99.99~git20120913.8637f772-0ubuntu1
version.xserver-xorg-video-intel: xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.20.9-0ubuntu2
version.xserver-xorg-video-nouveau: xserver-xorg-video-nouveau 1:1.0.2-0ubuntu3

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

Sounds like bug 1069536. Do you agree?

[Dima Ryazanov (dima-gmail)]

Yes, definitely sounds similar, especially the linked thread: "Only the upper left quarter of the DOS screen is visible, magnified to double height and width so as to fill the whole screen." - that's exactly what I was seeing.
Though if it is the same, the title should be updated, since it's not about fullscreen windows, only the resolution change. (The desktop looks wrong even without any fullscreen windows.)

[Daniel van Vugt (vanvugt)]

OK thanks. Duplicate.

Please clarify bug 1069536's title.