search

Elecrow-RD / CrowPi2

60 stars 14 forks source link

Screen resolution or bigger fonts in software #21

Open Karol3500 opened 3 years ago

Karol3500 commented 3 years ago

Hi,

I'm using the official image. While the screen works great in the default resolution, some of the elements are terribly hard to use at that resolution. For example, Scratch has a script pane that's not resizeable and the fonts are very small. I have a good sight, but after a while my eyes get really fatigued when using the CrowPi2.

I've tried changing resolution to 1280×720. The screen looked less sharp than with full-HD, but it was also more readable. However this way it's impossible to follow the lessons, as the CropPi2 software (the home screen, the lessons window) seems to be completely neither scalable nor resizeable.

Are there some adjustments that can be made (other than a magnifying glass software) so that the software on the screen would be easier for eyes (simply, bigger)?

Best regards, Karol

Pearl-852 commented 3 years ago

There are 3 major version of Scratch apps, to set the font size, each behave differently as below

Scratch (Can be launched from the Raspberry Pi app menu)

  1. Open the Terminal app.
  2. At the command prompt, type nano ~/.scratch.ini and press Enter.
  3. Add the line, fontscale=1.3 (Experiment with different values as desired).
  4. Press Ctrl+X, Y to save the changes.
  5. Launch Scratch app.

Scratch 2 (Can be launched from the Raspberry Pi app menu)

  1. In the Scratch Desktop, hold Shift and click on the Globe icon.
  2. Click on set font size and select your desired size (ex. 13). Note: This set the font size of the Block Palette only.

Scratch 3 (Launch by the CrowPi2 interface)

I'm afraid, there is no solution or workaround available yet that I'm aware of.

premsatha commented 3 years ago

Hi,

I hope someone is looking into this issue.The font is so tiny. I hope we have a solution soon.

Pappy2670 commented 3 years ago

I also agree the Scratch font is virtually unreadable. Will try the solution Pearl-852 supplied.

Pearl-852 commented 3 years ago

Okay, I have a new workaround.

By using Pixel Doubling to make fonts more readable (larger) on small screen with high resolution, however, there are drawbacks

To enable Pixel Doubling:

  1. Click on Menu (Raspberry icon).
  2. Select Preferences and click Raspberry Pi Configuration.
  3. The Raspberry Pi Configuration window appears.
  4. On the Display tab, click on Pixel Doubling: ( ) Enable.
  5. Click OK and reboot the system. Note: After reboot, the CrowPi2 menu software will refuse to run, and everything on the screen becomes very big. You will need to customize appearance settings as below.

To customize Appearance Settings:

  1. Click on Menu (Raspberry icon).
  2. Select Preferences and click Appearance Settings.
  3. The Appearance Settings window appears.
  4. On the Menu Bar tab, set Size: Medium (24x24).
  5. On the System tab, set Font to PibotoLt 8 and Mouse Cursor: Small.
  6. Finally, click OK and that's it. Note: You may wants to experiment with different appearance settings to suit your own liking.

Hope these instructions help. Please feel free to comment/post your appearance settings to help others.

Pappy2670 commented 3 years ago

@Pearl-852 thanks for posting this. Pixel Doubling worked for me. I used Small Menu Bar. Wonder if there is a way to access the CrowPi2 lessons now that I can read the screen.

Pearl-852 commented 3 years ago

@Pappy2670 All the CrowPi2 lessons are stored locally in the /usr/share/.user/course directory, then under its respective sub-directories for different applications accordingly (i.e. python, scatch). The ./zh sub-directory contains the same lessons for Chinese users.

Directory tree structure:

2021-01-01-145750_391x141_scrot Notice that the .../.user/... directory is a hidden directory, so you will need to select View then Show Hidden in the file manager in order to view it.

ontheslab commented 3 years ago

Very much hope they are working on this! Pixel Doubling is almost a requirement on small screens!

ontheslab commented 3 years ago

I would like to add my support to what @Pearl-852 is saying. To be useable to a very large number of students - including this half blind teacher - such an option on the tiny screen would seem to be a requirement.

BoneRoller commented 3 years ago

I mentioned this tiny font problem (which is a BIG problem) in the Kickstarter comments a while back and haven't seen Elecrow respond. But as others mentioned, this issue makes the Scratch environment nearly unusable with the built-in screen.

ontheslab commented 3 years ago

Link back to Kickstarter comments for reference: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elecrow/crowpi2-steam-education-platformand-raspberry-pi-laptop/comments?comment=Q29tbWVudC0zMDg3NTM2MA%3D%3D

Karol3500 commented 3 years ago

Thanks Pearl-852 for the suggestions, looks promising. I've left the device with my nephew and will be able to test those next week when I'll return to home.

If I understand pixel doubling correctly, the only problem that prevents us from using the crowpi software with reasonable font size is a lack of UI scalability (I've managed to run it in different screen resolution and the crowpi app was only partially visible in the screen). And for Scratch, only Scratch 3 doesn't seem to have any workaround for scaling.

Pearl-852 commented 3 years ago

The problem that Crowpi2 software refuses to run when Pixel Doubling is enabled has been confirmed and was fixed on V1.2.0 system image. Thus, the tiny fonts issue when using Scratch 3 can be adjusted using Pixel Doubling as a workaround solution.

@Karol3500 Please try the V1.2.0 system image. If you are satisfied with the result, then, please close this issue.