xrandr-extend

Extend a HIDPI screen to a normal DPI external display. This command line tool implements various solutions described in the HIDPI Arch Linux wiki page.

• Free software: GNU General Public License v3

Installation

pip install xrandr-extend --user

or alternatively use pipx:

pipx install xrandr-extend

Configuration

python -m xrandr_extend.config

This creates a file ~/.config/xrandr-extend.cfg which looks like this:

[provider:modesetting]
primary = eDP-1
hdmi = HDMI-1
vga = DP-1

[provider:intel]
primary = eDP1
hdmi = HDMI1
vga = DP1

[resolutions]
primary = 3200, 1800
hdmi = 1920, 1080
vga = 1920, 1200

# [scaling]
# primary = 1.0
# hdmi = 2.0
# vga = 2.0

# [rotation]
# primary = left
# hdmi = left
# vga = right

The first few sections have the name in the format [provider:display_driver]. Run xrandr --listproviders to find what your system has. The values in this section should be given as profile = monitor_name, as in the output of xrandr --listmonitors command. You may even remove existing sections and add more sections for your display driver.

Each line in the [resolutions] section signifies a resolution profile in the format profile = [width_in_pixels, height_in_pixels]. The profile primary should contain the resolution of your built-in display. You may edit or remove the remaining values hdmi and vga.

The [scaling] section contains the scale factors, which if uncommented, overrides the scale factor computed from the resolutions.

The [rotation] section specifies the directions to rotate the output contents similarly to xrandr --rotate.

Quick reference

usage: xrandr-extend [-h] [-p PRI_RES PRI_RES] [-e EXT_RES EXT_RES]
                     [-x EXT_SCALE] [-m] [-n] [-o] [-s] [-d]
                     profile

Extend a HIDPI screen to a normal DPI external display

positional arguments:
  profile               Use preset external resolution profiles (available:
                        ['hdmi', 'vga']).

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -p PRI_RES PRI_RES, --pri-res PRI_RES PRI_RES
                        Modify preset resolution of primary display (default:
                        3200, 1800)
  -e EXT_RES EXT_RES, --ext-res EXT_RES EXT_RES
                        Modify preset resolution of external display (default
                        based on profile)
  -x EXT_SCALE, --ext-scale EXT_SCALE
                        Sets the scale factor of external display (DPI of
                        primary display / DPI of external display), overriding
                        scale factor estimation from resolutions
  -m, --mirror          Mirror the external display
  -n, --pan             Pan the position of external display
  -o, --only            Extend and use only external display
  -s, --pos             Set the position of external display explicitly
  -d, --dry-run         Preview command without executing it

Examples
--------
# Built-in options or user-configured options are used when only the display
# profile is mentioned

$ xrandr-extend --dry-run vga
$ xrandr-extend vga
$ xrandr-extend hdmi

# Other options to extend the display

$ xrandr-extend --pan hdmi
$ xrandr-extend --only hdmi
$ xrandr-extend -e 1024 768 -n vga  # Pan with custom external resolution
$ xrandr-extend -x 2.0 hdmi         # Custom scale factor

Credits

This package was created with Cookiecutter and the ashwinvis/cookiecutter-pypackage project template.

History

0.3.0 (2021-12-22)

• New option -r or --rotate to orient the external display

0.2.0 (2019-07-15)

• New optional option -x or --ext-scale for the scaling factor (PR #4, #5)

0.1.1 (2019-05-16)

• Correct command xrandr_extend -> xrandr-extend

0.1.0 (2019-05-16)

• Flicker correction
• Use cookiecutter to generate src layout

0.0.3

• Deploy to PyPI
• Reorganize as a package and allow for configuration
• Use pkg_resources to find default.cfg

0.0.2

• Simpler defaults which uses only scaling factors
• Parse args only inside __main__ and do not run any commands during dry run
• Less bugs