Screen Resolution Question

Question

I have just bought a Surface Pro 4 and have been trying all afternoon to set up ARC but just cannot get the resolution to look right - I tried dozens of settings, but all I get is bunched up text as jpeg below.

I have had big screen resolution problems before on my Windows 7 Asus slate tablet which also never worked properly with ARC, is it just me or is there a problem with the way ARC handles screen resolution?

If anyone can help it would be greatly appreciated!

Tony

DJ Sures · Answer

Instructions can be found in the LEARN link or by viewing the manual on the ARC download page: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=207 Surfaces and touch tablets have the text size increased to make the interface larger for fingers.

Toymaker · Answer

By taking the display down to 1680 x 1050 I now get the text unscrambled - but another problem appears when I load my EZ project the windows are massively jumbled up so when I tidy them up and save the project and I then load it again, I lose the entire top part of the window (where the connect box is), the right scroll bar has gone, so there is no way to work on the project properly. I then run the auto-arrange and get the top back but with all the windows massively jumbled again and yes if I tidy that up and save again then when loading back the top has gone again Grrr. This is exactly what happened on my Windows 7 Asus slate tablet where I gave up using ARC on years back because that used to lose the top all the time. It looks to me that ARC somehow has major problems with resolution on some Windows tablets - I do not have these problems on my PCs. Very frustrating as I wanted to use the Surface Pro 4 for portable control via ARC of the EZ:1 robot! Tony

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Tony, I feel your pain. Screen resolution and text problems is the "only" real complaint I have with ARC. You probably know DJ and crew has struggled with Windows GUI issues since the early days. I know nothing of what they need to do to overcome these issues buy it must be a monumental task to make ARC look right on all the different screens and resolution out there. Still I truly wish it could be done. Please don't think I'm hijacking your thread here but I think this is connected with your issue. Also I want to validate your problem. I'm running the latest version of ARC; Personally, I'm also having the same issue your having. Along with that I'm still frustrated with half my controls being trapped under the menu bar on virtual screen #2 when I close and then restart ARC. EDIT: (This was fixed at one time and had reappeared).  I always have to use Smart Arrange to get them from under them. This is the only window where the controls extend down past the bottom of the window and I need to scroll down to see them. It's very frustrating having to rearrange my long list of controls and have them jumbled up and hard to find each time I open my project. This is on an old Dell laptop running Win 10. Also on my new Hi resolution Win 10 HP laptop the controls and text are so small I can't even see them. Any adjustments I make so their size is barely acceptable make the rest of the programs I use on this laptop way to large. Anyway, I've almost given up hoping these issues can be fixed and accept them. Each time anyone asks for relief on these issues we get the seemingly valid excuse that it's a Windows problem with the way they scale the GUI. tired At this point I rally don't even know how or who to ask for help. I can't even get the suggested fixes to make things even a little better. sleep

Toymaker · Answer

I have now set the resolution to (the recommended) 1920 x 1080 and initially it looks ok - I then load the (any) project and it comes in with its windows all jumbled up. If I now tidy-up and save then on the next load the complete top part is not available the right scroll bar has gone. If I auto-arrange, I get the top back (all the project windows) but they are jumbled again! If I try to tidy them up again, the same thing just keeps happening. So as far as I can see, there seems to be no way to use ARC on a Surface Pro 4 which is a pity as the main reason I bought it for was to use with ARC. Tony

Toymaker · Answer

Dave, very good points you make! but this is a serious problem with ARC I now have 2 very expensive Windows tablets that effectively seem not to be able to work with ARC and I just bought the expensive Surface Pro 4 for just the purpose of being a portable platform for ARC so I am now very frustrated. If it was a Windows problem then surely it would affect other vendors software? When I take the ALTAIR robots into Universities and Schools, I dont want to have to dismantel and take in a full desktop PC and monitor (which are the only computer devices that currently seem to work for me)! Having software that will on work on only some Windows devices/platforms does seem strange in this day and age. Tony

Dave Schulpius · Answer

It's so sad that issues like this drive away the very talented DIY people like you. We've lost quite a few over the years. The release of the V4/2 and the LoTiny has been a huge tip of the hat to the DIY guys. Still, the Ez Robot focus has gone towards the Revolution. I understand. That pays the bills and keeps the doors open. I hope you don't get so flustrated again that you once again stop visiting and adding to the community. stress

DJ Sures · Answer

Please follow the instructions previously provided by not disregarding the text sizing value. The resolution is merely half of the instructions.

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Thanks DJ, I'll give it another try.

DJ Sures · Answer

Screen Resolution is the number of pixels on the screen - it only matters regarding how much information you wish to place on the screen. Text Size is how large the text is relative to the original specified size. If you increase the text size value, the size of text will increase in applications. Increasing text size is attempting to fit larger text in a space designed for smaller text. The ARC was designed for text size 125% Windows 10 screwed everything up by setting the default value to 125% which is ridiculous but uncontrollable. Some tablets are set to 150% Follow the instructions and set your computer correctly: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=207

billplays · Answer

Are you using MSDN to develop ARC? There are many ways for an applications to handle screen size changes. Some are more automatic than others.

Dave Schulpius · Answer

OK, in your tutorial you say to slid the text size slider all the way to the left. In my version of Win 10 this takes the size to 100%. You then say that ARC is designed for 125% text size. I assume its ok to then not drag it all the way to the left but to stop at 125%? A found a lot of other things not as listed in your tutorial. I assume like everything else the nerds at Windwos took it upon themselves to change the names of things from version to version. This makes your tutorial hard to follow. I hate it and do not understand it when they do this. I see the reason to make things work better but why change the names of the same function! "I hate those guys." (said in the true Animal House tradition).

Dave Schulpius · Answer

OK, I followed your directions and I like! I tried this several times in the past and I don't know why it didn't work then. Maybe I needed to reboot. This did the trick for me. I no longer have to squint at the screen to see my controls. In Win 10 on my Hi Res HP, 17" screen, I have my resolution set to 1600x900 and the text size set to 125%. The rest of the programs on my laptop are viewable but still a little small for my taste. This is what I get in ARC. Remember I was having the same problem with cut off text as Tony:  I'm going to try this now on my old Dell.

Dave Schulpius · Answer

My Old Dell only goes up to 1280 X 800 Resolution. This is where it was set and my text size is 100%. If I bump my text up to 125% everything is Huge in ARC but is still visible. Could any of this result in my controls getting pushed up under the menu bar? I think tony said he still is having this issue also. It looks likk this after each restart of ARC:

billplays · Answer

This panel the vertical size of the listbox followed the borders but the horizontal size did not. They are not anchored correctly.  This panel even the vertical size isn't anchored properly. Please can't someone in the software fix this simple problem?

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Is it safe to say Tony opened a can of worms here?

DJ Sures · Answer

Everyone, please follow the setup tutorial mentioned in this post as the instructions are clear. Set resolution to 1080p and configure text size to 100% or 125% but no higher. Again, the link is: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=207 It can also be found by clicking ARC Manual on the download page. @billPlays, your usage log resolution reads: 3840x2160 (96x96 dpi), which is not recommended for ARC. Please use the following link to configure the display settings for ARC: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=207 @Dave, you will find the instructions (https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=207) mention how rebooting is necessary.

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Yep. Did the trick for me. I guess the secret is to follow directions to set up your system for ARC. That and having a system that falls into spec of what ARC is made to run on.

DJ Sures · Answer

Any computer manufactured in the last 10-12 years will be able to run the minimum resolution specified for ARC in the instructions located here: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=207 The challenge isn't resolution when you have older PCs... the challenge is operating system at that point. Anything below Windows 7 is not supported.

Toymaker · Answer

ARC and Surface Pro 4 do not get along with each other! DJ, I carried out the tutorial to the letter I first tried the tutorial recommendation of 1920 x 1080 text size 125% then rebooted - same problem top lost I then tried 1920 x 1080 text size 100% then rebooted - same problem top lost I then tried 1024 x 768, 1152 x 864, 1280 x 600, 1280 x 720, 1280 x 768, 1280 x 800, 1280 x 960, 1280 x 1024 - same problem! I then tried Daves 1600 x 900 text size 125% then rebooted - same problem top lost I then tried 1600 x 900 text size 100% then rebooted - same problem top lost I then tried other settings and none work. I am absolutely gutted, I have a major ALTAIR robot presentation next week so I bought a grands worth of tablet which would be nice and easy to transport - now I am going to have to strip down one of my main PCs and large monitor to be able to do the presentation. My main Windows 10 PC has no problem with the ARC software everything works as it should, it obviously just does not like tablets! Why the heck is ARC software so hard to use! It (to me) is really sad that such a great product is being let down by this sometimes seemingly unusable software. I am now very disillusioned! Tony

thetechguru · Answer

Tony, I am at work where I have Windows 7, so I can't give specific instructions, but Windows 10 has a "Tablet" mode and, when a keyboard is attached (can be Bluetooth), a "Desktop" mode. Have you tried changing to desktop mode? Windows does all kinds of strange formatting things in tablet mode, and it may be related. (I don't disagree that only ARC seems to have these formatting issues with Windows 10 at different resolutions. I have dozens, if not hundreds of different apps, and the only one I need to be particular about my screen settings to get to work correctly is ARC. Some may not look good at full screen, but all will work fine in windowed mode, if a little small.... Sorry DJ, but I think you need to stop blaming Microsoft and start looking at the ARC framework and fix this. As more of us get high resolution portable devices, it is only going to get worse). Alan

Toymaker · Answer

Thanks Alan, you help and advice is much appreciated on this. I agree DJ should stop blaming Microsoft, I see this problem as a big flaw in ARC - seriously if I had not invested years of work with EZ-Robot this would have made me give up on the whole idea of using ARC! I have spent 2 days trying to get EZ-Robot to work on the Surface Pro with no luck - I thought it was supposed to be easy robot, well it seems that it is not very easy to get it to work on tablets. Tony

DJ Sures · Answer

The top having blank space with arrange controls is a known issue that I have been struggling to fix since the beginning. If it was that easy, it would be done. This is due to the Control model of ARC by having each control in a window within a window and having a scroll bar. The closest solution I can find per documentation is to disable the scroll bar and force virtual desktops. That isn't an ideal solution but it may be the last hope. In your current situation, using the virtual desktops is the best option. Right click on the headers of each control and move them to virtual desktops. As for your original topic, which is font sizing. Please follow the tutorial to adjust font sizing here: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=207 The font sizing adjusts the size of the text in Windows. Each software application on your computer has space allocated for text. If the font size is increased, the space allocated for the text doesn't fit. This is not an issue limited to ARC and no additional development will be allocated to supporting 150% font size because it will affect those using 100% and 125% font sizing. The font sizing can be resolved by following the tutorial here: https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=207 If you purchase a tablet or PC that has 150% font sizing, simply follow the instructions to change the font size to 100% or 125%

Toymaker · Answer

DJ, please fully read my post #20 - I have done everything over and over from the tutorial https://synthiam.com/Tutorials/Help.aspx?id=207, so the tutorial obviously does not work for a Surface Pro. As I also explained in the post, I have tried all the permutations of font sizes (100%, 125% etc) for all the screen resolutions and all this has made absolutely no difference! Tony

DJ Sures · Answer

The issue i read in post #20 is there is spacing on the workspace above controls, is this correct?

Toymaker · Answer

As soon as I save the project and reload, the top controls all all lost (like the connect window etc) the right sidebar does not allow the top controls to be enabled/seen. The only way round this is to auto-arrange then the whole thing comes back but with the window/controls all messed up. Saving this again and the whole process starts over where when loading back the top is gone again.

DJ Sures · Answer

Please read responses in entirety. The situation that you are experiencing with the top spacing can be resolved using Virtual Desktops. Right click on the header of controls and move them to a different desktop.

Toymaker · Answer

This just goes from bad to worse - moved all the controls over to Virtual Desktop 2 and still same errors/malfunction with the top disappearing - tried all the suggested screen resolutions and font sizes. In my humble opinion, no decent software should put users through unending loops like this! I am going to give up on it now, I cannot waste any more time trying to get this to work, because until its fixed I personally do not believe that the Surface Pro will ever work with ARC. Tony

DJ Sures · Answer

EZ-Robot has education customers using Surface Pro tablets with ARC successfully, so I have faith there is a solution if you are willing to continue working on solving the issue? Can you provide me with an updated screenshot of both Virtual Desktop #1 and Virtual Desktop #2? Also, is there a way I can get access to your project to test with? I do not have a Surface Pro to fully test with - but I'm hoping that settings in the Windows OS should be able to resolve any screen rendering issues on any hardware. I am limited to having access to only a handful of computing devices for testing.

Dave Schulpius · Answer

Tony, before you leave could you answer one question? When you're controls dissappear does it look like my screen shot I'm my post #14? I'll lose 1/2 my controls until I do a smart arrange. This happens on screen 2 when I reload.

DJ Sures · Answer

Try this latest release which has an experimental workspace: https://synthiam.com/Community/Questions/9828

Dave Schulpius · Answer

I'll give a try later tonight. Thanks for this.

DJ Sures · Answer

Don't thank me yet, it may not work for you. It's a battle I'm been fighting for 5 years

Toymaker · Answer

DJ, I tried the update and initially it looked good as the project came in ok with the top part showing correctly. I then saved the project then loaded it again and the top part was still there so I thought the problem was solved. I then tried to move one of the controls to below the lower controls shown on the display, once this is done the whole problem starts again as if you then save and load again the top part has gone again presumably under the menu bar. So with this version everything is better until you add any new windows/controls that expands the screen.

Dave, it is exactly as your post#14 the top controls look to be being pushed under the menu bar.

Tony

Toymaker

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