displaying MATE on a 1366x768 screen

2026-06-15

xrandr to the rescue

+ Unfortunately several Ghostbsd MATE configuration windows are taller + than my Thinkpad X220's 768 pixels. I made both the top and bottom + panels autohide, but a better solution is to use xrandr: +

sudo pkg install xrandr

+ type xrandr to get the name of your display, in my case LVDS-1 on my + Thinkpad X220. +

To change 16:9 screen resolution, you can type:

+xrandr --output LVDS-1 --panning 1600x900  --scale 1.171x1.172

+xrandr --output LVDS-1 --panning 1920x1080 --scale 1.406x1.406

To get back to the original resolution type:

xrandr --output LVDS-1 --panning 1366x768 --scale 1x1

+ Here's a simple bash script that will rotate the screen resolution on + each call. I've added a MATE keyboard shortcut (CTRL+RIGHT) to run + this script. It is intended for my 1366x768 screen, so it will need + adapting for other screens. +

+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+        
+RES="$(xdpyinfo | grep dimensions | sed -r 's/^[^0-9]*([0-9]+x[0-9]+).*$/\1/')"
+# xdpy results can vary by 1 or two pixels 
+# so take the first two characters
+RES="${RES:0:2}"
+        
+case "$RES" in
+  "13")
+  xrandr --output LVDS-1 --panning 1600x900  --scale 1.171x1.172
+  ;;
+  "16")
+  xrandr --output LVDS-1 --panning 1920x1080 --scale 1.406x1.406
+  ;;
+  *)
+  xrandr --output LVDS-1 --panning 1366x768 --scale 1x1
+  ;;
+esac
+

I doubt you can do that in Wayland.