resizing windows in ubuntu

[Jonathan Bowley]

at the risk of sounding rather stupid, is it possible to force menu screens to resize for the smaller screen resolution of the joggler? trying to navigate through the various screens is a matter of guess work and hit or miss. impossible to set up evolution to sync with gmail as i cannot see the navigation buttons or even some of the options. i did search and look through various forums and pages, but to no avail. any suggestions would be appreciated.

[dwl99]

'fraid not, it's a recognised bug. One workaround is to login via remote desktop, hold down the Alt button & you can drag the hidden part of the window into view. But it's a PITA.

[Jonathan Bowley]

ah, that clears it up. you're right though, complete PITA. still, small sacrifices are in order. main thing is i can run it as a music server. i want another one now for the kitchen. can't justify it though!

[BuZz]

there are a couple of other options too that might work for you - tap so the current window isnt selected, then tap and hold the window entry so you get the context menu, you can then choose resize - but because pressing the screen is a click, you can only then press again and get it to resize to where you click. it's a bit trial and error but can work. same for window moving. you can choose it and press near the top of the screen (where you press will be the centre). fiddly mind.

Another method that works a lot better is to use easystroke. you can configure it for button 0 (left click), with a timeout (so only fast gestures are recognised so you can still do other things that are not gestures). Then you can make a "move" gesture (or resize). for move, do "add action", call it move, type "ignore" and for details press alt+return (it should then just say alt). then make a gesture by double clicking on the stroke area. all this is much easier to setup with a mouse/keyboard attached of course.

[edit]
You can also use tools such as "maximus" which when running in the background will make all windows maximised when opened. this might be useful on ubuntu. jolicloud works a bit like that (and has the window controls in the taskbar at the top). basically if you use maximus and the window picker applet, you get a setup like jolicloud.

[gegs]

Not so finger-friendly but definitely more accurate, especially when using xbmc, is to use a mini wireless mouse. I use one all the time with my Joggler and there's no need to map gestures to a right click etc. - just right click.

My wireless mouse cost less than a fiver from Asda.

[Jonathan Bowley]

wow, quite a few options to try out, thanks guys.

i splashed out a little bit on a BT mouse the other day (Wireless Notebook Presenter Mouse 8000). i used to have one with my old MSI Wind and it was pricey, but nice. saw it down from £50 to £20 at dixons and had to grab one for the laptop. will use that with it when i get a BT dongle in. not messed with solder since GCSE Electronics, but it will be a good challenge.

while i'm here, what is the range like with a small BT dongle positioned internally?

[BuZz]

I bought one of these recently. Think I got it for £15 at the time (was on special)

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/222811

[gegs]

not messed with solder since GCSE Electronics, but it will be a good challenge.

while i'm here, what is the range like with a small BT dongle positioned internally?

Why do you want muck around with solder and position devices internally? I have a USB soundcard, a USB powered speaker, A memory stick with Ubuntu and the wireless mouse dongle all running from a cheap USB hub like this:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/4-PORT-USB-MULTI- ... 415308f193

You could have more than 4 devices attached to a USB hub but it would need to be a powered one.

[BuZz]

I thought to mount a BT internally in mine. not because you cant do it from a cheap hub, but just for the challenge/fun of it