Add the ability to create/modify the overscan values in config.txt via the NOOBS GUI

[ukscone]

It would be nice to be able to change/set the values for overscan via the NOOBS install/recovery screen. something similar to https://github.com/ukscone/set_overscan but of course done in a much better way

[lurch]

I guess this kinda falls under the same 'automatic edits to config.txt' as #165 ;-)

[stevekmcc]

I wonder if there could be something like an #include, rather than a value-based copying of rows to config.txt? I use my Pi with an HDMI screen, my TV, and two different little LCD screens, and the last three are all PAL composite but with different aspect ratios, screen sizes, and overscan values. Having a set of named monitors in a global monitors.txt, each with their own values, would make life a lot easier to be able to choose a monitor at NOOBS startup, then an OS, which would inherit the chosen monitor values without changing config.txt.

Maybe keypresses 1-4 could be hard-coded with default values, but the user could define 5-9 for particular monitors, each with its own set of config.txt monitor settings?

[lurch]

One of the key concepts for NOOBS is to be easy-to-use; we don't want to make it too complex! But I know exactly what you mean about having a multitude of screens, all requiring their own customised settings. See also some of the discussion on #142

Keypress 9 is already used to change the Keyboard Layout used by NOOBS ;-) (no, I don't know why!)

See also http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=91&t=52441 (which allows you to save and load named config presets)

[ukscone]

over the last few days i'd been thinking about Raspberry Pi setup and the myriad of problems with setting up video display and the people who are not even sure if their sd card is functional as they can't see anything. So I wondered is there any brand of smaller size sd card that we can "guarantee" will always work, say 2Gig in size that we could (the royal we) put a very cut down system would boot directly into a display setup/selection screen where the user could just keep hitting the keyboard until they get something on the screen and then once they can see something fiddle with things like overscan and resolution etc. that could then display the values on the screen and/or save to the sd card so the user can then copy & paste to the noobs (or raw image ) sd card. it's a convoluted method but could work especially if this was something sold in the swag store as a "device test/setup" sd card and can be checked for bootability prior to shipping. silly idea i know but thought i'd throw it out there

[stevekmcc]

lurch: I agree, and NOOBS has been a huge step forward in ease of use for multi-booting! In my experience, for something to be easy-to-use it's best to either have a GUI for making settings, or a UI for editing a config file, but not both. If you have to support both non-techies and techies, as with the Pi, you may need to support both. In that case the key thing is that the rules of interaction and precedence are clear and well-documented, and that the user knows which setting will "win". At the moment I think it's fair to say that's not the case - the possible interactions between all the different screen settings, keys, and recovery/cmdline.txt, and their effect on NOOBS itself vs. on the chosen OS, are too complex to describe.

[lurch]

the possible interactions .... are too complex to describe.

I agree - of course it's not helped any by the small subtly-interacting bugs. But as I said on #175 I'm planning to spend some time to try and thrash out all these little fiddly issues once and for all (thankyou to everyone for reporting them). And in the process, document "which setting will win" :)

@ukscone Interesting idea. But it'd still catch out users with insufficient power supplies or non-working USB keyboards... :-/

[ukscone]

@lurch Yes it wouldn't catch everything but it would give us less to worry about when troubleshooting. Of course this all depends if there is such a thing as a specific sd card of a big enough (and small enough) size that is guaranteed to be non-problematic (or at least boots 99 times out of 100) otherwise it doesn't help at all. if there is though the check list is now cut down to 3 items rather than 333 :) 1. is your psu powerful enough? 2. swap to another keyboard (at least for now) 3. boot the magic sd card. The card would probably be most use in a lab setting or for a wandering techie

[lurch]

I've not been following the forums very closely, but has anyone ever had a problem with one of the 'swag store' SD cards?

[NicoHood]

Why dont you add another custom mode "5" to noobs? My monitor needs a very special hdmi mode and resolution+framerate. So it would be cool if i somehow could use a global setting for my monitor.

Also another question:
Hitting shift and then try to edit the configs wont work. I cannot press e, nothing will happen then. Am i doing sth wrong?

[lurch]

Why dont you add another custom mode "5" to noobs? My monitor needs a very special hdmi mode and resolution+framerate.

And how should NOOBS know what settings to use for display-mode "5" ?
If you want this as a new feature, please open a new issue for it.

Hitting shift and then try to edit the configs wont work. I cannot press e, nothing will happen then. Am i doing sth wrong?

The 'edit' button will only become active when the currently-selected OS in the list has already been installed to your SD card. If the currently-selected OS in the list hasn't been installed yet, NOOBS has no idea which config.txt it should be editing! (since NOOBS allows multiple OSes to be installed, each with their own config.txt)

[NicoHood]

I installed Noobs 1.3.8 with all OS. I started Openelec and rebooted. I couldnt klick the edit, it just doesnt work. with raspbian the same. Its a clean install

[lurch]

First I've heard of this not working. Are you sure you selected the correct OS before clicking the edit button?
I'll have to look into this in more detail next week.