Setting up Puppy on a 4K TV

[redandwhitestripes]

Hi guys, I'm embarrassed posting this in the beginners section after using Puppy for about ten years but I deserve the shame.

I'm running Fossapup 64, frugal install from a USB at boot, with my desktop connected to an LCD 4K TV I just purchased. The problem, as you may have guessed from the title, is that the default resolution makes everything so tiny. Is there anyway to a) Zoom everything, as is possible in Linux Mint or b) Zoom things I have not managed to config yet...

I have done all I know how to. I have used JWM Desk Manager to set the global fontsize to the highest possible, I have managed to toy around with jwm config files to make the tray taller and the tray font bigger. I have set up vivaldi to auto zoom.

My main issue now is that the font is better but still not quite big enough and both roxfm or pcfileman have no font size option I can find and in rox, the toolbar icons are too small to even see. Sadly this is unusable for me as obviously, it will damage my eyes in the long term.I do realise I could downsize the screen resolution though this is the last choice for me.

Any help greatly appreciated.

[bigpup]

What resolution setting are you using in Fossapup64?

Try using a lower resolution setting.

What is the computers graphics hardware?

See if the TV's setup has any settings for use as a PC monitor or a recommended resolution.

[williams2]

You could try editing the hidden file /root/.Xresources and change the value of Xft.dpi (dots per inch)

Mine is set to Xft.dpi: 96

I think the number needs to be bigger. Or maybe smaller, I'm not really sure.
Change the dpi number then restart X (or reboot) for it to take effect.

I think the dpi value can be set in the desktop customization wizard.

[Clarity]

This SETUP request is a universal problem as more and more users find benefit in replacing monitors with TVs.

Here is, yet another thread, requesting help.

Note: I think we need an area on the forum where "TV use" can be under its own heading. Rather than having these HDMI request needs scattered all over the forum. And for starters, this thread and the other thread of today, should be moved into the new area as the first entries as starters.

We should expect more and more of these appeals for guidance and those seeking a straight-forward use in all PUPs, no matter the video adapter, now and in the future.

@redandwhitestripes, Although I have not needed to try this on my desktop-HDMI, @bigpup's suggestion via Firstrun change in its 'Graphics' area may be just what you need.

FirstRUN.jpg (20.77 KiB) Viewed 426 times

[Clarity]

@redandwhitestripes, I found this forum entry from a user who has a AMD graphics card.

It 'may' be useful to you. Let us know which effort addresses your video need.

[redandwhitestripes]

Thanks for the replies. I'm using an Nvidia Geforce GTX 1050ti card. My TV has settings but the 4k resolution was simply too small, apps like rox just aren't designed to deal with it, as far as I can tell.

In the end I did indeed open the first run wizard again and played with resolutions until I settled on 1920x1080, it's still HD and let's face it, we don't use Puppy for high end gaming, so there's no real loss. I did try to install the nvidia driver but it proved too troublesome, each time asking for new steps to be taken.

I also manually edited my jwm theme to make fonts larger and I set the dpi to the highest possible in jwmdeskconfig.

I agree that a new section for TV set up may be a good idea, puppy is perfect for desktop use after all, and hdmi TVs are the future for desktop PCs.

Thanks again everyone.

[666philb]

hi @redandwhitestripes

i run fossapup on a 4k monitor and there's a few things to do to make things more readable.

1. menu>>desktop>>jwmdesk>>screen font ...... mine is set to 144
2. also in jwmdesk on the menu tab set to 32
3. jwmdesk again on the window tab set titlebar to 45
4. and jwmdesk tray tab set 'short dimension' to 45

then restart X

you can play around with the above settings to see what suits

and finally make sure that you install the nvidia driver for your card from quickpet.

doing the above will look so much better than lowering the resolution .... everything stays really crispy!

[redandwhitestripes]

hi @redandwhitestripes

i run fossapup on a 4k monitor and there's a few things to do to make things more readable.

1. menu>>desktop>>jwmdesk>>screen font ...... mine is set to 144
2. also in jwmdesk on the menu tab set to 32
3. jwmdesk again on the window tab set titlebar to 45
4. and jwmdesk tray tab set 'short dimension' to 45

then restart X

you can play around with the above settings to see what suits

and finally make sure that you install the nvidia driver for your card from quickpet.

doing the above will look so much better than lowering the resolution .... everything stays really crispy!

Thanks Phil, I only learned about the noveau driver through this problem. Is there a significant performance difference between the noveau driver and the official driver? Is it worth the time?

[666philb]

Thanks Phil, I only learned about the noveau driver through this problem. Is there a significant performance difference between the noveau driver and the official driver? Is it worth the time?

absolutely !!!! and it's easy to install ...
quickpet>>drivers>>nvidia 450
wait for it to fully install then reboot

there's a couple of other settings to tweak once installed and rebooted.

menu>>system>>nvidia xserver settings>>X server display configuration
click on the advanced button near the bottom and tick the 'composition pipeline' boxes (this turns on vsync)
then 'save to X configuration file'

menu>>desktop>>jwmdesk>>window effects
untick vsync if on and tick xrender

you should have a smooth fast desktop then and also readable if you followed my instructions in the previous post

[redandwhitestripes]

Thanks again Phil. I didn't do the quickpup install of the nvidia driver earlier as the two options didn't seem to match my Geforce GTX 1050ti series, they seemed to be for two different series, but after you suggested it I tried and it works perfectly. Is there a chance other users would be under the same misapprehension as me?

I followed your instructions and the crispness is indeed noticeable! It looks great but still, even after maxing out everything on jwmdesk, the highest resolution just makes everything too small. I've attached a full screenshot for you to see.

For now I've dropped down to 1920 x 1080 which still looks great. Thanks for the help getting everything looking sharp.

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