Re: [Qemu-devel] scrollable window

["Jim C. Brown" <jma5@umd.edu>]

On Sun, Jul 10, 2005 at 11:37:07AM -0500, jeebs@yango.us wrote:
> "Jim C. Brown"
> 
> 
> >I personally feel that a scrollable window is not very useful unless your 
> >host
> > resolution is smaller than your guest resolution. Hard to see what the 
> > point is
> 
> Or the same size.  Don't forget, Windows XP will cover up part of the window 
> even when the GTK version switches to 'full screen'.
> 

This is easily worked around by activiating the auto-hide feature of the taskbar.
Since qemu gtk grabs the mouse and won't let it move outside the center box
(set to about half the area of the host resolution) the real mouse pointer
never moves over the taskbar, so it will never come out of hiding.

A way to force the taskbar on when in fullscreen mode (and reset it back to
its original mode when leaving) would make that problem go away entirely.

> And a lot of times, guest resolution will be higher.  Some things just seem 
> to expect 1024x768 or 1280x1024 (or whatever) resolution.
> 
> A scrollable window is just a nice fall back if nothing else is convenient.
> 
> Some, such as myself, still use 800x600.  I do it out of necessity.  I have 
> poor eyesight and don't have the spare cash (or desk space!) for a 21 inch 
> monitor.  And LCD monitors tend to have too high a native resolution.  With 
> my current 17" monitor, I simply can't handle anything beyond 800x600.
> 
> So, a scrollable window makes using qemu (or vmware) more convenient.
> 

I never though of it that way. You're right, having the ability to use
scrolled windows does add more utility to qemu.

> Sure, scaling the window so the guest thinks it's 1024x768 (or whatever) 
> when it's really much smaller, is probably a better choice.  As would be the 
> video card providing custom sizes (700x400, or whatever) so XP will think 
> that's what the display really is, and the actual qemu/vmware window 
> wouldn't have to be scrolled, scaled or even full screened.
> 

Well, scaling is actually not so convient as it can make the graphics, especially
characters in small font, too small to see clearly. Scaling to make the window
larger than the guest resolution might be useful though.

Custom sizes wouldn't work too well, it seems a lot of graphics programs like
to insist on standard modes (640x480, 800x600, etc).

> Unfortunately, I can't test it for you on a Windows host.
> 
> A bit of a long story, but at the moment, I'm stuck with a single hard drive 
> and cd burner.  I can't access my second hard drive, which is where qemu and 
> my test OS images are stored.
> 
> Sorry.
> 

Ouch. Good luck.

-- 
Infinite complexity begets infinite beauty.
Infinite precision begets infinite perfection.