Re: 7.8: textual output far beyond display width

Nick Holland wrote:
> On 8/26/26 16:17, dan wrote:
>> Hello,
>>
>> I notice from a while that operations in console like eg. pkg_add, 
>> syspatch etc. (nb: outside X indeed) generate progressive textual 
>> outputs that go far beyond the display width (and I tried all the 
>> possible display settings with the same result anchored to left but 
>> out same on the far right).
>>
>> I guess about a bug.
>> Let me know how can I help more.
> 
> first of all... 7.8 is not being developed.  7.9 is long out the door, 
> and 8.0 is coming.  Upgrade to -current, see if your problem is still 
> there.
> 
> I've not seen what you are talking about...so provide some concrete 
> details:
> * Platform
> * EXACT command line.
> * EXACTLY what environment you are working in (console, ssh.  If SSH, 
> what you are SSHing from.  Console, how: serial, keyboard/monitor, etc).
> * EXACTLY what you are seeing.
> * EXACTLY what you expect to see
> * dmesg
> 
> Sounds like you might be dealing with a keyboard and display directly 
> attached to the computer outside of X.  So yes, dmesg would be important 
> to figure out how text is getting to the screen.
> 
> On the other hand...it could be something I see with the 4k TVs I use as 
> monitors on some of my computers that will be running X (or maybe just 
> have only an HDMI port, as I don't have anything on the bench with 
> HDMI).  On some hardware and some TVs being used as monitors, the right 
> and left side are truncated...haven't yet figured out if it is TV or 
> computer being stupid (doesn't seem to be the OS, as when I see this, 
> it's stupid before the OS boots, and SOMETIMES fixes itself once the OS 
> is running and out of VGA text mode).
> 
> Nick.
> 
> 
Regarding cropping on 4K TVs: it's common for TVs to default to 
'overscan' with about 5% horizontal and vertical cropping. This is a 
historical legacy from the days of CRTs, where the picture patch varied 
in size on low-cost models according to average image brightness. It 
also prevents the viewer seeing the data and other signals commonly 
inserted into vertical blanking period (between rasters) on broadcast.
Buried in the settings of modern devices you can usually find a '1:1' or 
'full' mode setting that can restore the full pixel grid to view. 
Low-cost TVs might not have this setting.

There is commonly also a setting that restricts the viewable pixel 
dynamic range to 'broadcast' levels, where 'black' is not black, but a 
few percent above it. This is another historical legacy from analogue 
days. Sometimes this also applies to the HDMI input (for things like DVD 
players or set-top boxes) but can usually be switched off.
Chris