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Asset ID: 1-72-1012101.1
Update Date:2011-03-16
Keywords:

Solution Type  Problem Resolution Sure

Solution  1012101.1 :   Sun Ray[TM] Server Software: Why is there a Black Border or Panning During a Session  


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  • Sun Ray Hardware
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PreviouslyPublishedAs
216649


Symptoms
One of the following two effects can occur during a Sun Ray[TM] session:
  • black border: the session is in the upper left corner of the screen, the remainder of the screen is black.
  • panning: the session is larger than the physical size of the screen, causing the user to scroll beyond screen borders to hidden parts of the screen.


Resolution
On Sun Ray[TM], there are two independent screen resolutions:
  • the resolution used by the X server process, called virtual resolution or desktop dimensions.
  • the resolution used by the framebuffer in the Sun Ray DTU, called physical resolution.

If the two screen resolutions do not match, due to a difference in configuration or after hot desking, you get the following visible effects:

  • the black border or black band effect, if the physical resolution is larger than the desktop dimensions.
  • the "panning" effect, if the physical resolution is smaller than the desktop dimensions.

Furthermore, the Sun Ray[TM] 150, the Sun Ray[TM] 170 when used with firmware from the SRSS 3.0 unpatched or earlier, and the Tadpole Comet (Sunray in notebook enclosure) have a fixed physical resolution. Any attempt to change the physical resolution on such devices must fail, and setting the desktop dimensions to a resolution different to the appliance's fixed physical resolution will result in the black border or panning effect.

See Problem Resolution <Document: 1001562.1> "How to permanently set the Sun Ray[TM] screen resolution" (in the "Symptoms and Resolutions" section) for resolution configuration instructions.

The desktop dimensions are fixed for the lifetime of a session. If you insert a smartcard at a Sun Ray DTU, and get the login screen, the session's desktop dimensions have already been defined. If you do not log in, but pull out the smartcard and insert it at another Sun Ray DTU, you might get back this existing "idle" session, with the existing desktop dimensions. If these are unsuitable for the current Sun Ray DTU, you should destroy this existing "idle" session by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Backspace twice, rather than log in. Login can result in the black border or panning effect if the current DTU does not support the session's existing desktop dimensions. See Bug ID 5088476.

Similarly, if you hot desk a session after you have already logged in, the desktop dimensions still will be those defined when the session was created. Thus, hot desking can result in the black border or panning effect if the current DTU does not support the session's existing desktop dimensions.

In a multihead group, to avoid panning, all monitors must support the same resolution. See the chapter on multihead of the Sun Ray Server Software Administrator's Guide (page 169 in the SRSS 3.1 Admin Guide for Solaris).
Furthermore, the multihead groups should have the same number of screens, otherwise all secondary screens will be blank after hot desking.

The Sun Ray 2FS provides one large virtual screen which is displayed over two monitors. The 2FS will fit the display area used by the Xserver to the first display if that is possible. Only after it decides that the X screen area is too large to fit entirely on the first display will it add in the second display. In the event that it uses only the first display, the second video output will be blanked to save energy. Conversely, hot desking a Sun Ray session from a Sun Ray 2FS to a different Sun Ray unit can cause panning.

If you are using Sun Ray 2FS, use SRSS 4.0 or higher firmware.



Relief/Workaround
The shift+props hotkey combination is not available when Sun Ray Connector is run in full screen mode.


Additional Information
The default operation for the Sun Ray DTU is that it powers up and sends a DDC/EDID request to the monitor to negotiate the physical resolution. If DDC fails, for example, because the monitor is powered off or does not support DDC, or provides broken EDID data, you get the fallback resolution, which is 640x480 (VGA) for the SRSS 2.0 and higher, and 1152x900 (SUNW_STD) for SRSS 1.x. If DDC works, you frequently do not get 1280x1024 because many monitors do not correctly report that they support 1
The SRSS 4.0 adds additional functionality to separately define the screen resolutions of the two monitors attached to a Sun Ray 2 FS. Please refer to the -v option in the utresadm manual page, and the -d option in the utset manual page.

Abbreviations:
DDC - Display Data Channel
DTU - Desktop Unit
EDID - Extended Display Identification Data
SRSS - Sun Ray Server Softwar



Product
Sun Ray Server Software 2.0
Sun Ray Server Software 1.3
Sun Ray Server Software 1.2
Sun Ray Server Software 3.0
Sun Ray 1 Ultra-Thin Client
Sun Ray 170 Ultra-Thin Client
Sun Ray 100 Ultra-Thin Client
Sun Ray 1g Ultra-Thin Client
Sun Ray 150 Ultra-Thin Client
Sun Ray Server Software 3.1
Sun Ray Server Software 4.0
Sun Ray Server Software 3.1.1

Internal Comments
For internal Sun use only.

This document is maintained by Thomas Dehn ([email protected]).


You can create similar effects on workstations by using commands such as:

"ffbconfig -dev /dev/fbs/ffb0 -res <new_resolution> now"

"fbconfig -dev /dev/fbs/afb0 -res <new_resolution> now"


Note: You don't get panning, but areas of the screen cannot be reached anymore if the desktop dimensions are larger than the new physical resolution.


The Xorg X server supports dynamic resizing of the desktop dimensions.

The Sun Ray Server Software currently does not support this feature.


black border, panning, paning, resolution, screen resolution, Sun Ray, sunray, utresadm, utxconfig, utset
Previously Published As
74362

Change History
Date: 2008-01-08
User Name: 95826
Action: Approved
Comment: publishing to allow IBIS migration
Version: 14
Date: 2008-01-08
User Name: 95826
Action: Accept
Comment:
Version: 0

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