Howto run Linux with resolution other than 1080p

[longsleep]

Many people seem to have issues with the fixed 1920x1060@60Hz resolution i ship my U-Boot and Linux images with. Until now you needed to be a developer to change the resultion to anything else.

This has now changed.

I created a tool which can change the resolution. Say hello to sunxi-disp-tool.

I provide a binary package for Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus (arm64) in my Ubuntu Pine64 Makers PPA.

If you do not run my Ubuntu Xenial image it is now a good time to change that. See the Ubunu 16.04 Xenial Xerus thread for download and instructions.

Other than the tool itself, you need:
- U-Boot v2014.07-4-pine64 or later
- Kernel 3.10.101-0-pine64-longsleep-39 or later

I will eventually release an updated Xenial image which has those - for now update as usual (as root) with:

Code:

bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/longsleep/build-pine64-image/master/simpleimage/platform-scripts/pine64_update_uboot.sh)
bash <(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/longsleep/build-pine64-image/master/simpleimage/platform-scripts/pine64_update_kernel.sh)

Then you can just add the desired resolution to /boot/uEnv.txt (eg. as optargs). By default the sunxi-disp-tool looks for a Kernel parameter called disp.screen0_output_mode to be in line with other sunxi boards.

Quick instructions for 720p60 (1280x720p@60Hz):

Code:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install sunxi-disp-tool
cat <<EOF | sudo tee -a /boot/uEnv.txt
optargs=disp.screen0_output_mode=720p60
EOF
sudo reboot

For a list of supported resolutions see README.md.

I will work on other distributions as well, but you need to install it manually and integrate it manually into the boot system. I strongly advice to use my Ubuntu image.


Your feedback is most welcome.

[longsleep]

I just released a new Ubuntu Xenial image (20160507-1) which has the Kernel and tools to read output_mode from uEnv.txt pre-installed.

When you flash this image, modify uEnv.txt on the first partition by appending "optargs=disp.screen0_output_mode=720p60" at the end as new line. This will switch the HDMI resolution to 1280x720p at 60Hz during boot.

To download of the Ubuntu Xenial image see: http://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=376

[baryluk]

Hi. That is good to hear.

I guess we will never get xrandr support really right? It is just something fixed at boot time and the driver? And maybe HDMI is incapable of detecting monitor supported resolution?

Is it possible to output 16:10, 4:3, 5:4, 1:1 resolutions? Something like 2560x1600, 1920x1200, 1600x1200, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1920x1920, etc

[longsleep]

I guess we will never get xrandr support really right? It is just something fixed at boot time and the driver?

No it can be changed after boot.

And maybe HDMI is incapable of detecting monitor supported resolution?

No EDID works just fine.

Is it possible to output 16:10, 4:3, 5:4, 1:1 resolutions? Something like 2560x1600, 1920x1200, 1600x1200, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1920x1920, etc

No - check the link above for supported resolutions of the tool. Pine64 supports a subset of those. 4K needs different kernel because of memory configuration.

[frewind]

Top work longsleep, this works for me and I'm using a HDMI->VGA converter

I think this is another big step forward.... I know you stated in a another thread that the non 4:3 ratio display required a lot of work, but could you let us know if this is on your list of things to do and if so is it a priority? IMHO this lack of display support (in all it's variations) must be one of the biggest blockers to the community.

look forward to hearing your thoughts....

[longsleep]

HDMI anything is not something I need at all and thus no priority especially as the driver requires a closed source library. Thus the community cannot work on improving it. Pine64 needs to release full source to make improvement even remotely possibly.

[dhardingham]

Fantastic work in such a short space of time.

I'd like to see support for 1920x1200 (at 60 fps), since this is used with many high-resolution widescreen monitors. Without this, you are almost forcing everyone to upgrade to a 4K monitor!

It's a shame that Allwinner don't understand the true meaning of Open Source :-)

[Luke]

great work, much appreciated longsleep !

[webbson]

Hey!

I've successfully got Ubuntu Xenial image (20160507-1) to boot and installed the desktop interface.
However when i try to add optargs=disp.screen0_output_mode=2160p the boot sequence works as intended as it is run in 1080. But when it switches to 4k output when the login dialogue is supposed to be displayed all I see is the boot console in the upper left corner and then display corruption on the lower half of the screen. Any Idea what to do?

[frewind]

Hey!

I've successfully got Ubuntu Xenial image (20160507-1) to boot and installed the desktop interface.
However when i try to add optargs=disp.screen0_output_mode=2160p the boot sequence works as intended as it is run in 1080. But when it switches to 4k output when the login dialogue is supposed to be displayed all I see is the boot console in the upper left corner and then display corruption on the lower half of the screen. Any Idea what to do?

I thought that resolution could not be supported as longsleep stated..

4K needs different  kernel because of memory configuration.