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I have 5-inch a 800x480 tft connected to the LVDS connector on a Portwell WADE-8020 mini-ITX embedded system board. I would like to build a XMBC/Kodi box for streming my music from my freenas PC with the tft showing what is been played, I got as fare as this... 

sudo xrandr --newmode "800x480_60.00"  29.50  800 824 896 992  480 483 493 500 -hsync +vsync`enter code here

then,

sudo xrandr --addmode LVDS1 800x480_60.00

now that I get the correct resolution, I now have a black band on the top of the screen.

sudo xrandr --output LVDS1 --set "scaling mode"  "Full aspect"

However this did not solve the issue, also I know I need to amend the /bin/sh file with this from googling so I don't need to keep doing this at every boot. But I don't know how to as I'm very new to Linux.

#!/bin/sh
xrandr --newmode "800x480_60.00"  29.50  800 824 896 992  480 483 493 500 -hsync +vsync
xrandr --addmode LVDS1 800x480_60.00
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1 Answer 1

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Approach 1: Using Startup Applications

You could make an executable script file and add it to the list of Startup Applications. Here is a screenshot how the result of next steps looks in my system.

1. Create a directory where the script file will be contained. For example this directory could be placed into your home directory and could be named .autorun-startup:

mkdir ~/.autorun-startup

2. Create the script file and make it executable:

  • Let's call this file custom-screen-resolution.sh:

    nano ~/.autorun-startup/custom-screen-resolution.sh

    In this example is used Nano text editor (where you can use ctrl+o to save the edits and ctrl+x to exit), but you can use your favorite text editor.

  • The content of the script custom-screen-resolution.sh should look as this:

    #!/bin/sh
# To calculate the modeline use: cvt 800 640 60 
# To view the available modes and the output names use: xrandr
# Create new mode:
xrandr --newmode "800x480_60.00"  29.50  800 824 896 992  480 483 493 500 -hsync +vsync
# Add the new mode to the list of modes of certain output:
xrandr --addmode LVDS1 800x480_60.00
# Set the new mode as current for the certain output: 
xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 800x480_60.00

  • Set executable permissions to the file custom-screen-resolution.sh (or use Nautilus):

    chmod +x ~/.autorun-startup/custom-screen-resolution.sh

3. Open the application Startup Applications, click on the Add button to add a new entry and fill the parameters values:

Name:     Custom Screen Resolution
Command:  /home/<user>/.autorun-startup/custom-screen-resolution.sh
Comment:  Add Custom Screen Resolution

Save the entry and Close Startup Applications.

Approach 2: Using XDG Utils

  • This approach allows you to execute the above commands during system startup system wide (for all users). For this purpose you must create .desktop file and place it into a appropriate place, to be more specific, according to the example into the directory /etc/xdg/autostart/. I found this approach here, but there are also available and other ways how to use XDG Utils tools package.

1. Create a directory where the .desktop file will be contained:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/xdg/autostart

2. Create the .desktop file and make it executable:

  • Let's call this file custom-screen-resolution.desktop:

    sudo nano /etc/xdg/autostart/custom-screen-resolution.desktop

  • The content of the file custom-screen-resolution.desktop should look as:

    [Desktop Entry]
Name=Custom Screen Resolution
Exec=sh -c 'xrandr --newmode "800x480_60.00"  29.50  800 824 896 992  480 483 493 500 -hsync +vsync; xrandr --addmode LVDS1 800x480_60.00; xrandr --output LVDS1 --mode 800x480_60.00'
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application

    Make sure custom-screen-resolution.desktop has read permissions system wide.

  • Set executable permissions to the file custom-screen-resolution.desktop. In this case, this step is optional and you need it, if you want to test your file via 'double click'.

Note 1: The .desktop file could use the script created in the above approach. For this purpose change the Exec as follow (make sure custom-screen-resolution.sh has read permissions system wide):

Exec=/home/<user>/.autorun-startup/custom-screen-resolution.sh

Note 2: Create the .desktop file within the directory /home/<user>/.autorun-startup and then make a symbolic link to /etc/xdg/autostart:

sudo ln -s /home/<user>/.autorun-startup/custom-screen-resolution.desktop /etc/xdg/autostart/

Further reading

Add resolution:

Startup commands:

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  • This is perfect, thank you very much. I'll get back if I run into difficulty.
    – Block
    Mar 6, 2017 at 20:05
  • Another possible solution - create ~/.layout.sh and put there the xrandr's statements.
    – pa4080
    Jun 15, 2017 at 7:48

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