Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

Maura Edeweiss Monville

26 Jan 2006 26 Jan '06

19:48

I recently used my laptop for a presentation. It runs Linux/SuSe 9.3 and the Windows emulation package Cross-Over. They attavhed a VGA projector and by operating the keys Fn-F5 I managed to have the slides displayed on both the laptor monitor and the big screen on the wall. I used MS PowerPoint to generate the slides so I used it also to project them. Wne I cliked on the button "Slide Show" the slide was displayed in full-screen mode on the laptop monitor where it kept its aspect ratio. On the big screen instead the slide image was chopped laterally as well as at the bottom. One of my seminar attendees adjusted the projector so as the wall image looked fine laterally but still had 1/3 chopped off at the bottom. We tried to play with different monitor resolutions but this did not solve the problem. Finally we decided to reduce the slide size on the laptop monitor by giving up the "slide Show" mode and set back Power-Point to the editing mode. This way the wall projected image was entirely visible but the projected image kept flickering (not the monitor image) which was bery disturbing for the audience to read ,,, I have no idea what cuased this problem, either Cross-Over or the projector or XP/MS Power Point ...who knows ... All what I can say is that I presented the same set of slides elsewhere by using someone slse's laptop running native Windows XP and did not have any problem whatsoever . Any idea about a workaround ... ??? I do not have a projector at home to reproduce the problem and try to find a solution. Thank you in advance for your help. Regards, Maura

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Sunny

26 Jan 26 Jan

20:04

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On 1/26/06, Maura Edeweiss Monville wrote:

...

I recently used my laptop for a presentation. It runs Linux/SuSe 9.3 and the Windows emulation package Cross-Over. They attavhed a VGA projector and by operating the keys Fn-F5 I managed to have the slides displayed on both the laptor monitor and the big screen on the wall. I used MS PowerPoint to generate the slides so I used it also to project them. Wne I cliked on the button "Slide Show" the slide was displayed in full-screen mode on the laptop monitor where it kept its aspect ratio. On the big screen instead the slide image was chopped laterally as well as at the bottom. <snip>

Usually the projectors have smaller resolution that your LCD. When I'm to attach another monitor or projector to my laptop, I create a new SCPM profile with the new device (it's resolution, refresh rates, etc.) and use it. Keep in mind that only changing the resolution may not help, as different devices has different refresh rates. -- Svetoslav Milenov (Sunny)

Greg Freemyer

22:22

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On 1/26/06, Sunny wrote:

...

On 1/26/06, Maura Edeweiss Monville wrote:

...
I recently used my laptop for a presentation. It runs Linux/SuSe 9.3 and the Windows emulation package Cross-Over. They attavhed a VGA projector and by operating the keys Fn-F5 I managed to have the slides displayed on both the laptor monitor and the big screen on the wall. I used MS PowerPoint to generate the slides so I used it also to project them. Wne I cliked on the button "Slide Show" the slide was displayed in full-screen mode on the laptop monitor where it kept its aspect ratio. On the big screen instead the slide image was chopped laterally as well as at the bottom. <snip>

Usually the projectors have smaller resolution that your LCD. When I'm to attach another monitor or projector to my laptop, I create a new SCPM profile with the new device (it's resolution, refresh rates, etc.) and use it. Keep in mind that only changing the resolution may not help, as different devices has different refresh rates.

--

I vote with Sunny. If you have the screen resolution set too high on your laptop screen it can cause clipping issues like the above. Incompatible refresh rates ccan also cause issues, but not normally clipping. You have the same issues in Windows. Newer projectors are more flexible, but I've had a lot of problems with older ones (and with cheaper ones). This is very laptop/projector/setting specific. Most people doing presentations either use a low resolution setting on their laptop display or they bring their own projector that they know to work with higher resolutions/refresh rates. Greg -- Greg Freemyer The Norcross Group Forensics for the 21st Century

Ken Schneider

21:39

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Thu, 2006-01-26 at 13:48 -0600, Maura Edeweiss Monville wrote:

...

I recently used my laptop for a presentation. It runs Linux/SuSe 9.3 and the Windows emulation package Cross-Over. They attavhed a VGA projector and by operating the keys Fn-F5 I managed to have the slides displayed on both the laptor monitor and the big screen on the wall. I used MS PowerPoint to generate the slides so I used it also to project them. Wne I cliked on the button "Slide Show" the slide was displayed in full-screen mode on the laptop monitor where it kept its aspect ratio. On the big screen instead the slide image was chopped laterally as well as at the bottom. One of my seminar attendees adjusted the projector so as the wall image looked fine laterally but still had 1/3 chopped off at the bottom. We tried to play with different monitor resolutions but this did not solve the problem. Finally we decided to reduce the slide size on the laptop monitor by giving up the "slide Show" mode and set back Power-Point to the editing mode. This way the wall projected image was entirely visible but the projected image kept flickering (not the monitor image) which was bery disturbing for the audience to read ,,,

I have no idea what cuased this problem, either Cross-Over or the projector or XP/MS Power Point ...who knows ... All what I can say is that I presented the same set of slides elsewhere by using someone slse's laptop running native Windows XP and did not have any problem whatsoever . Any idea about a workaround ... ???

Yes, use OpenOffice next time to display the slide show it works excellent. -- Ken Schneider UNIX since 1989, linux since 1994, SuSE since 1998

Kevin Donnelly

27 Jan 27 Jan

16:15

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Thursday 26 January 2006 19:48, Maura Edeweiss Monville wrote:

...

Any idea about a workaround ... ???

Is there any particular reason why you can't eliminate the CrossOver part by running the presentation in OpenOffice.org? Unless you have lots of effects it is usually quite reliable. -- Pob hwyl / Best wishes Kevin Donnelly www.kyfieithu.co.uk - KDE yn Gymraeg www.rhedadur.org.uk - Rhedeg berfau Cymraeg www.cymrux.org.uk - Linux Cymraeg ar un CD

Gil Weber

18:05

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Fri January 27 2006 11:15 am, Kevin Donnelly wrote:

...

On Thursday 26 January 2006 19:48, Maura Edeweiss Monville wrote:

...
Any idea about a workaround ... ???

Is there any particular reason why you can't eliminate the CrossOver part by running the presentation in OpenOffice.org? Unless you have lots of effects it is usually quite reliable.

Speaking only for myself, Open Office's Impress presentation program is a big disappointment and can't replace MS PowerPoint run under CrossOver Office. As I noted in a post to this list on January 1st, it seems that Impress won't allow the importing of video clips. At least I could not do it, and all of the reply posts from others on the list seemed to indicate that this was a known problem with Impress. :o( Gil

Kevin Donnelly

19:40

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Friday 27 January 2006 18:05, Gil Weber wrote:

...

Speaking only for myself, Open Office's Impress presentation program is a big disappointment and can't replace MS PowerPoint run under CrossOver Office. As I noted in a post to this list on January 1st, it seems that Impress won't allow the importing of video clips.

I did say "unless you have a lot of effects", and video would plainly count as that. On the other hand, I don't really see why it wouldn't be possible to minimise the presentation, run the video in Xine or Mplayer, and then maximise the presentation again. Monolithic apps aren't necessarily the only answer .... -- Pob hwyl / Best wishes Kevin Donnelly www.kyfieithu.co.uk - KDE yn Gymraeg www.rhedadur.org.uk - Rhedeg berfau Cymraeg www.cymrux.org.uk - Linux Cymraeg ar un CD

Gil Weber

20:25

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Fri January 27 2006 2:40 pm, Kevin Donnelly wrote:

...

On Friday 27 January 2006 18:05, Gil Weber wrote:

...
Speaking only for myself, Open Office's Impress presentation program is a big disappointment and can't replace MS PowerPoint run under CrossOver Office. As I noted in a post to this list on January 1st, it seems that Impress won't allow the importing of video clips.

I did say "unless you have a lot of effects", and video would plainly count as that. On the other hand, I don't really see why it wouldn't be possible to minimise the presentation, run the video in Xine or Mplayer, and then maximise the presentation again. Monolithic apps aren't necessarily the only answer ....

Yes, Kevin, I did see your qualification about "effects." My point was only that Impress doesn't allow one to use perhaps the most powerful format for inserted materials -- videos. Note also, that I have not found a way to do what you suggest -- minimize Impress and run the video in Xine or MPlayer, and then maximize Impress and continue with the presentation. When running in slide show mode, there is no minimize button on the Impress screen. At least I have not found one. The only way I have found to get to a media player while in Impress is to hit "escape" which brings you back to the Impress editing screen. You can then view the video in a media player (I happen to use Kaffeine), but after playing the video you then have to again click on "slide show" in Impress to restart the presentation. Of course restarting Impress always brings you to slide #1, so you then have to navigate to the slide from which you want to continue. Since my presentations might include a dozen or more videos this constant restarting of Impress and having to then move to the proper slide to resume the presentation is incredibly cumbersome. Now, if you know of a way to minimize Impress from slide show mode so that it can immediately be restored back to slide show mode after playing a video in a media player, PLEASE post that to this list. It would be VERY helpful. Thanks! :o) Gil

Don Raboud

21:50

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Friday 27 January 2006 1:25 pm, Gil Weber wrote:

...

Now, if you know of a way to minimize Impress from slide show mode so that it can immediately be restored back to slide show mode after playing a video in a media player, PLEASE post that to this list. It would be VERY helpful.

Thanks! :o) Gil

I've not tried it, but how about having impress running in slideshow mode on desktop 1, and whatever video player on desktop 2? Use Ctrl+F1 / Ctrl+F2 to switch between them (in KDE at least). Doesn't minimize impress, but effect is the same as far as I can see. -- Don

Gil Weber

22:37

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Fri January 27 2006 4:50 pm, Don Raboud wrote:

...

On Friday 27 January 2006 1:25 pm, Gil Weber wrote:

...
Now, if you know of a way to minimize Impress from slide show mode so that it can immediately be restored back to slide show mode after playing a video in a media player, PLEASE post that to this list. It would be VERY helpful.

Thanks! :o) Gil

I've not tried it, but how about having impress running in slideshow mode on desktop 1, and whatever video player on desktop 2? Use Ctrl+F1 / Ctrl+F2 to switch between them (in KDE at least).

Doesn't minimize impress, but effect is the same as far as I can see.

-- Don

Thanks, Don. That works! I really appreciate this simple work-around. :o) Gil

kai

28 Jan 28 Jan

00:26

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Friday 27 January 2006 02:37 pm, Gil Weber wrote:

...

...
Doesn't minimize impress, but effect is the same as far as I can see.

...

Thanks, Don. That works! I really appreciate this simple work-around. :o) Gil

Just as a follow up to the list, I was watching a Microsoft presentation today at work. They showed off BizTalk 2006, Team Services 2006 and the forthcoming Office 12. During one of the powerpoint presentations, a "system error" occurred and powerpoint had to close. I tried to keep from laughing out loud, but had to leave the room, instead. Unfortunately I forgot to ask if ODT format was going to be supported in Office 12. :) -- kai www.perfectreign.com linux - genuine windows replacement part

Maura Edeweiss Monville

03:11

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

Sorry for my inexperience in this field. Can someone please explain to a laywoman how the mentioned workaround can solve my problem ? At most meetings, seminars I partecipated in the speaker turne his/her back to the big wall screen (projected image) as he/she has to look at the audience he/she addresses. To spare the speaker from stretching his/her neck, the speaker can see the same slide, which is being projected on the wall, on the monitor of the computer whose keyboard or mouse he/she uses to select the next slide. According to my little experience, laptops running Windows allow for the slide to be seen by the audience facing the wall and by the speaker facing the laptop monitor, at the same time. I am a Linux fan. Nevertheless for PowerPoint presentations I believe a plain Windows box is the right choice... Thank you for your patience. Maura On Fri, 27 Jan 2006, Gil Weber wrote:

...

On Fri January 27 2006 4:50 pm, Don Raboud wrote:

...
On Friday 27 January 2006 1:25 pm, Gil Weber wrote:

...
Now, if you know of a way to minimize Impress from slide show mode so that it can immediately be restored back to slide show mode after playing a video in a media player, PLEASE post that to this list. It would be VERY helpful.

Thanks! :o) Gil

I've not tried it, but how about having impress running in slideshow mode on desktop 1, and whatever video player on desktop 2? Use Ctrl+F1 / Ctrl+F2 to switch between them (in KDE at least).

Doesn't minimize impress, but effect is the same as far as I can see.

-- Don

Thanks, Don. That works! I really appreciate this simple work-around. :o) Gil

-- Check the headers for your unsubscription address For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the archives at http://lists.suse.com Please read the FAQs: suse-linux-e-faq@suse.com

James Knott

03:57

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

Maura Edeweiss Monville wrote:

...

Sorry for my inexperience in this field. Can someone please explain to a laywoman how the mentioned workaround can solve my problem ? At most meetings, seminars I partecipated in the speaker turne his/her back to the big wall screen (projected image) as he/she has to look at the audience he/she addresses. To spare the speaker from stretching his/her neck, the speaker can see the same slide, which is being projected on the wall, on the monitor of the computer whose keyboard or mouse he/she uses to select the next slide. According to my little experience, laptops running Windows allow for the slide to be seen by the audience facing the wall and by the speaker facing the laptop monitor, at the same time. I am a Linux fan. Nevertheless for PowerPoint presentations I believe a plain Windows box is the right choice...

I have an IBM ThinkPad, which also allows both the LCD and external display to function at the same time. However, with the 2.6 kernel, I cannot switch modes, once Linux starts, so I have to enable both displays, prior to Linux booting.

Don Raboud

03:25

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Friday 27 January 2006 3:37 pm, Gil Weber wrote:

...

On Fri January 27 2006 4:50 pm, Don Raboud wrote:

...
On Friday 27 January 2006 1:25 pm, Gil Weber wrote:

...
Now, if you know of a way to minimize Impress from slide show mode so that it can immediately be restored back to slide show mode after playing a video in a media player, PLEASE post that to this list. It would be VERY helpful.

I've not tried it, but how about having impress running in slideshow mode on desktop 1, and whatever video player on desktop 2? Use Ctrl+F1 / Ctrl+F2 to switch between them (in KDE at least).

Doesn't minimize impress, but effect is the same as far as I can see.

Thanks, Don. That works! I really appreciate this simple work-around. :o) Gil

I'm glad that it works for you. -- Don

kai

27 Jan 27 Jan

22:07

New subject: [SLE] Linux/SuSE + CrossOver + VGA projector ... a nightmare

On Friday 27 January 2006 10:05 am, Gil Weber wrote:

...

Speaking only for myself, Open Office's Impress presentation program is a big disappointment and can't replace MS PowerPoint run under CrossOver Office. As I noted in a post to this list on January 1st, it seems that Impress won't allow the importing of video clips.

At least I could not do it, and all of the reply posts from others on the list seemed to indicate that this was a known problem with Impress. :o(

Yeah, video and sound blow chunks under impress. Even for native OOo documents. Grrr... -- kai www.perfectreign.com linux - genuine windows replacement part

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participants (9)

Don Raboud
Gil Weber
Greg Freemyer
James Knott
kai
Ken Schneider
Kevin Donnelly
Maura Edeweiss Monville
Sunny