Fedora 34 Screen Size Issue

Today I tried using a SCSI adapter on a dual-boot (WIN/LIN) machine. I quickly found neither Windows 10 nor Adaptec were accommodating this particular PCI adapter’s need for a driver. I turned to Linux to see if it could recognize the adapter: It did, without trouble.

I did have trouble with Linux itself, however, in that the screen size was too large for the display, and as a consequence I couldn’t see all the icons at the edges. I could see the tops of the ones at the bottom, but had to guess where the application launcher was.

I conducted my test using a Fedora 34 Live CD, as I assumed I would eventually update the machine to 34 (it was running 26 and I couldn’t remember the PW). Changes to the UI notwithstanding, I found the desktop unusable due to the screen size problem.

I couldn’t find any means to “shrink” the dimensions of the desktop so I investigated modifying the display’s characteristics. The display is a Philips HDTV, about 42" diagonal, and quite sharp. It’s doing double-duty as a computer monitor and video playback. But there was a setting for the HDMI port to be used with “computer”, and I selected that.

After I did so the display didn’t seem any different in Fedora 34 but in Windows 10 there was a reduction in size, and the Win10 desktop appeared with a nice 1/2 inch border all around. I think what this implies is that there is a display setting or code that Windows is passing to the display but that Fedora is not. At least it seems that way to me. Maybe this can be addressed in future releases or updates?

-CH-