Re: [gentoo-user] [OT] Panning desktop on windows

[Paul Hartman <paul.hartman+gentoo@gmail.com>]

On Sat, Jan 31, 2009 at 2:09 PM, Harry Putnam <reader@newsguy.com> wrote:
> This list may be too good for its own good... hehe.
>
> Sorry to bring this up here but in fact the behavior I'll describe in
> a moment is something I've learned to love from yrs of linux us with
> this enabled.  Including the last few yrs on gentoo.
>
> I add this into xorg.conf in one of the display subsections
> (at the asterisks):
>
>   Subsection "Display"
>        Depth       24
>        Modes       "1280x1024" #"1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
> **      Virtual     2048 1536
>        ViewPort    0 0
>    EndSubsection
>
> I'm using a 17 inch monitor so that (in X) gives me a 2048x1536
> virtual resolution in each of my virtual desktops.  Bigger than my
> monitor a fair bit so I'm able to pan around this monster by mousing
> to the screen edges which pans the rest into view.  Essentially the
> limits of the hardware desktop are only a port hole into the bigger
> virtual desktop.
>
> It can be very disconcerting to the uninitiated... which is a side
> benefit in that it keeps people off my machine.
>
> I use  windowsXP a fair bit for video editing (I'm a semi-pro editor
> and produce quite a few videos of events) and I find the tools on
> linux are too labor and time intensive compared to the adobe tools
> available on windows. Even those tools and others like Vegas are hard
> to learn and require a lot of time spent in usage to get at all fast
> with them.  (Please don't bring up one or another of the
> available emulations as that still introduces another layer of
> complexity)
>
> Anyway cutting to the chase here... given that I need to spend a good
> bit of time on windows... I sorely miss my huge virtual desktop.
>
> So wondering if any of you fellow part time windows users know of or
> have heard of any kind of application for windows that would allow
> such behavior?
>
> ps- I've also asked this question on the main
> microsoft.public.windowsXP.bla.bla   group. (in case you were thinking
> of suggesting that)

It's definitely hardware specific. Windows will do this when your
desktop resolution is set higher than the highest resolution your
monitor supports. Normally, it does not allow you to do that, but it's
quite common when hooking up an external display (such as a TV). I
think Windows might be smart enough to not allow this on the primary
monitor. They consider it a bad thing(tm) and there are even some KB
articles telling worried customers how to "fix" the "problem".

paul