unable to change scaling mode (thinkpad t410, lucid, intel arrandale graphics)

[mukesh agrawal]

Binary package hint: xserver-xorg-video-intel

I have a T410 that I want to use for a presentation. Because the built-in
LCD has a higher resolution (1440x900) than the projector, I want to
set the LCD resolution to something lower (likely 1024x768), and then
mirror its contents on the projector.

The problem I run in to is that when I set the resolution on the LCD to
1024x768, the screen contents are stretched to fit the entire screen.
Since the aspect ratios differ (4:3 for the projector, and 16:10 for the
LCD), this display is distorted on the LCD.

I've tried changing the scaling mode with xrandr, as follows:

$ xrandr --output LVDS1 --set "scaling mode" "Center"

But that does not fix the problem. While it does not report
any errors (either on the console, or in Xorg.0.log), it also
does not change how the display. This is true despite the
fact that "xrandr --prop" reports that the scaling mode has
been changed.

$ xrandr --prop
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 1024 x 768, maximum 8192 x 8192
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
LVDS1 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 304mm x 190mm
 EDID:
  00ffffffffffff0030ae364000000000
  00130103801e1378eaef259458568a29
  24505400000001010101010101010101
  0101010101018a25a02051841a303040
  360030be100000195e1fa02051841a30
  3040360030be100000190000000f0095
  0a32950a2816090030e47302000000fe
  004c503134315750332d544c413100ab
 BACKLIGHT: 13 (0x0000000d) range: (0,15)
 Backlight: 13 (0x0000000d) range: (0,15)
 scaling mode: Center
  supported: None Full Center Full aspect
   1440x900 60.1 + 59.9 50.2
   1360x768 59.8 60.0
   1152x864 60.0
   1024x768 60.0*
   800x600 60.3 56.2
   640x480 59.9
HDMI1 connected 1024x768+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 519mm x 324mm
 EDID:
  00ffffffffffff0010ac26a053415232
  2411010380342178ee9bb5a95434ae25
  135054a54b008180a940714fb3000101
  010101010101283c80a070b023403020
  360007442100001a000000ff00474d35
  30343739363252415320000000fc0044
  454c4c323430375746504843000000fd
  00384c1e5311000a202020202020004c
   1920x1200 60.0 +
   1600x1200 60.0
   1680x1050 60.0
   1280x1024 75.0 60.0
   1152x864 75.0
   1024x768 75.1 60.0*
   800x600 75.0 60.3
   640x480 75.0 60.0
   720x400 70.1
DP1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Note that this bug report is similar to 458571, in that both
deal with scaling mode on Intel graphics. However, in that
bug report, the above command fixes the problem.

(In case the xrandr information about HDMI1 is confusing, I should
note that I'm testing this while using a large LCD as the external
display, since I don't have a projector handy.)

There are a couple of web pages [1][2] that report that this issue
might be resolved in version 2.9.1 of the Intel graphics driver.
But that seems not to be the issue here, as I'm running...

$ lsb_release -rd
Description: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
Release: 10.04

$ apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-video-intel
xserver-xorg-video-intel:
  Installed: 2:2.11.0-1ubuntu1~xup
  Candidate: 2:2.11.0-1ubuntu1~xup
  Version table:
 *** 2:2.11.0-1ubuntu1~xup 0
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2:2.9.1-3ubuntu5 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/main Packages

[1] http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1400943
[2] http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/linux-software-2/aspect-ratio-scaling-with-intel-gpus-and-linux-793488/

[mukesh agrawal (launchpad-net-mukesh)]

Because the current version of my xserver-xorg-video-intel package
was from the x-swat repository, I downgraded to the Lucid version.

$ apt-cache policy xserver-xorg-video-intel
xserver-xorg-video-intel:
  Installed: 2:2.9.1-3ubuntu5
  Candidate: 2:2.9.1-3ubuntu5
  Version table:
 *** 2:2.9.1-3ubuntu5 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ lucid/main Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

Unfortunately, the problem still occurs.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

This is almost certainly https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18033

This has been fixed upstream in kernel 2.6.35-rc4. From the changelog:

commit dd1ea37d9257bdf118693235dc74003901c55204
Author: Jesse Barnes
Date: Thu Jun 24 11:05:10 2010 -0700

    drm/i915: change default panel fitting mode to preserve aspect ratio

    We did this a long time ago in the DDX driver, but now this fix belongs
    in the kernel.

    Preserving the aspect ratio is a nicer default.

    Fixes https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=18033.

    Tested-by: Josh Triplett
    Signed-off-by: Jesse Barnes
    Signed-off-by: Eric Anholt

[mukesh agrawal (launchpad-net-mukesh)]

Hi madbiologist,

I'm not sure if it's exactly the same bug. I'm finding that not only
is the default inconvenient, but I can't dynamically change it.
(xrandr accepts the command to change the scaling mode,
but the display will remain unchanged.)

Nonetheless, if the patch works, it would resolve the more important
half of the problem. If no one else beats me to it, I'll give it a
try this weekend.

Thanks for the research, and the pointer!

[madbiologist (me-again)]

Good to hear. Sounds like you probably don't need me to tell you that the abovementioned kernel is available at http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/

[mukesh agrawal (launchpad-net-mukesh)]

I just tried the linux-image-2.6.35-020635rc4-generic_2.6.35-020635rc4_i386.deb package from the kernel-ppa mainline archive. Unfortunately, though, it does not resolve the problem.

When I configure the panel to use 1024x768 pixels, the image is expanded in to fill the screen in both directions (x and y). Since the native aspect ratio is 16:10 instead of 4:3, I would expect black bars on the sides.

FWIW, here's the kernel build version:
$ uname -a
Linux orbit 2.6.35-020635rc4-generic #020635rc4 SMP Mon Jul 5 10:17:01 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux

Any ideas for other things to try, or logfiles that might help diagnose the problem?

Thanks,
mukesh

[madbiologist (me-again)]

Please attach the output of lspci -vvnn

[mukesh agrawal (launchpad-net-mukesh)]

Please see the attachment for the output of "sudo lspci -vvnn"

[Aaron Peterson (myusualnickname)]

Still happens on 9.10 on my dell mini 9 with intel 950

Kinda funny how many bugs add up to make something unusable.. CBS made their website stream solely on bandwidth.. not factoring processor power...

So It tries to give me a full HD stream of Survivor, of which only one of my computers could play, and it's a desktop...

so it looks jerkier than shockwave over dialup in 1998... just because CBS is stupid... anyway, lowering screen resolution helps it go smoother, but now everything looks so distorted... which is worse than jerky... Sigh.. one step forward, two steps back.

[aeol (aeol)]

Same thing here, kubuntu 10.10 on Dell Vostro 3500. Are there any solutions/workarounds?

[peridot (peridot-faceted)]

I see these same symptoms on Maverick: the default is to fill the panel, but xrandr reports the scaling mode is "Full aspect". If I run xrandr --output LVDS1 --set "scaling mode" "Full aspect", nothing happens; if I try to set one of the other modes, the screen blanks briefly and xrandr reports the setting has changed, but the actual behaviour does not.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

mukesh agrawal, thank you for reporting this bug and helping make Ubuntu better. This bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? Can you try with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO CD images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/ .

If it remains an issue, could you run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal). It will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report.

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, if you could test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Closing this bug with Won't fix as this kernel / release is no longer supported.
Please feel free to open a new bug report if you're still experiencing this on a newer release (Bionic 18.04.3 / Disco 19.04)
Thanks!