Cursor flickers with xrandr scaling

Question

Unhappy with the unreasonably large text on my 1920x1080 external screen connected to a laptop with a 3200x1800 display in Fedora 24, I tried rescaling the external screen by using:

xrandr --output HDMI-2 --scale 2x2 --mode 1920x1080 --fb 7040x2160 --pos 0x0
xrandr --output eDP-1 --scale 1x1 --pos 3840x0

This has the desired effect, but it causes the cursor to flicker when I move the mouse on the laptop screen. The cursor does not flicker when it is on the external screen. Flickering stops when I revert to 1x1 scaling on the external screen:

xrandr --output HDMI-2 --scale 1x1 --mode 1920x1080 --fb 4120x1800 --pos 0x0
xrandr --output eDP-1 --scale 1x1 --pos 1920x0

How can I stop this flickering?

Possibly related to a bug in the modesetting driver.[See here](https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=101225). — jadelord, Jan 31 '18 at 08:59

score 17 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 25 '19 at 13:31

17

This workaround helped me. What I do now is after performing a xrandr scale, I run an extra command which stops the mouse flicker.

xrandr --output eDP-1 --auto --output HDMI-2 --auto --scale 2x2 --right-of eDP-1  # Simpler oneliner scaling
xrandr --output eDP-1 --scale 0.9999x0.9999  # Stop flicker

answered Feb 25 '19 at 13:31

jadelord

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This is also an [open issue for xserver](https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/issues/70). – jadelord Mar 03 '19 at 08:42
1

running `xrandr --output eDP-1 --scale 0.9999x0.9999` works but it slows down display reactions. You can see that when watching some fast video on youtube. – matt525252 Apr 12 '20 at 10:41
1

I agree. Using Wayland or the Intel driver on X is a better solution as of now. – jadelord Jun 26 '20 at 11:42
That was immediately and impressively effective. Good job. – kristopolous Nov 15 '22 at 02:06

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Jul 20 '17 at 20:28

10

I had the exact problem after using scaling with xrandr although with a slightly different setup. Strangely, what helped was the first section on https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/intel_graphics#Xorg_configuration . Namely,

"However, to take advantage of some driver options, you will need to create a Xorg configuration file similar to the one below:"

/etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf
Section "Device"
   Identifier  "Intel Graphics"
   Driver      "intel"
EndSection

That is probably only relevant if you're running on Intel graphics (and not on a dedicated gpu)

answered Jul 20 '17 at 20:28

Anonymous

101
1
3

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Worked for me in Ubuntu, however the relevant file to create is /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf – Simon D Jul 28 '18 at 14:28
This worked fine for me in ubuntu 18.04 (unity) – Jithin Jose Sep 29 '18 at 07:37
1

Works perfectly, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS by creating said content in /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf on a Macbook pro. Note that you have to log out and back in again for the change to take effect. – Johan May 28 '19 at 19:24
`/usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/20-intel.conf` worked on Fedora 31. BTW the file content starts from `Section...`. – Lubo Kanev Apr 28 '20 at 09:24
Tested and worked for me with Ubuntu 19.10 running on a Dell Precision 7510 with dual Nvidia and Intel graphics when only the Intel graphics is used. – Yan Li Jun 28 '20 at 22:54
Fixed issues on Linux Mint 20 as well. (Ubuntu 20.04 base) The config file path was same as in Ubuntu mentioned above by Simon D. Thanks! – darkless Oct 26 '20 at 07:38
Started flickering for me after I attached an external USB monitor (wacom tablet), wouldn't stop after disconnecting it and rebooting. Doing this helped instantly. – Pawel Veselov Apr 12 '22 at 00:13

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 13 '21 at 20:57

On a MacBook Pro with resolution of 2560x1600 and a Samsung TV with the resolution of 1680x1050 I found the following command useful:

xrandr --output eDP-1 --auto --scale 0.9999x0.9999 --output HDMI-2 --auto --scale 2x2 --right-of eDP-1

I found it via reading arch-linux wiki and the 0.9999x0.9999 scaling solution in answers on this page.

Cursor flickers with xrandr scaling

3 Answers3