Is it possible to shrink Windows desktop?

[LeedsFan]

I basically want to shrink the image of my desktop so that I get a smaller screen of around 10" viewable. As far as Mame is concerned I can just enter into the TAB menu and look in the slider settings and then play around with them so that all games fit exactly where I want them to. But once I'm in the frontend or back to desktop everything reverts to full size. I just want to display my desktop and all programs with a black border all around to mimic a smaller sized monitor. Is this possible? It's Windows XP by the way.

[BadMouth]

Most NVidia cards I've had allow you to adjust the size and position of the desktop.
Drivers from different time periods seemed to have different options for the Nvidia cards.
I remember having to install an older driver one time to get a feature I was looking for.  

I currently have 8000 series cards in all my machines with the most current drivers (I think).
They have the option.

[leapinlew]

I basically want to shrink the image of my desktop so that I get a smaller screen of around 10" viewable. As far as Mame is concerned I can just enter into the TAB menu and look in the slider settings and then play around with them so that all games fit exactly where I want them to. But once I'm in the frontend or back to desktop everything reverts to full size. I just want to display my desktop and all programs with a black border all around to mimic a smaller sized monitor. Is this possible? It's Windows XP by the way.

Hmm.... tricky. This doesn't solve your problem as far as the desktop is concerned but couldn't you build a MALA theme that only uses a 10" portion of the screen?

[LeedsFan]

I basically want to shrink the image of my desktop so that I get a smaller screen of around 10" viewable. As far as Mame is concerned I can just enter into the TAB menu and look in the slider settings and then play around with them so that all games fit exactly where I want them to. But once I'm in the frontend or back to desktop everything reverts to full size. I just want to display my desktop and all programs with a black border all around to mimic a smaller sized monitor. Is this possible? It's Windows XP by the way.

Hmm.... tricky. This doesn't solve your problem as far as the desktop is concerned but couldn't you build a MALA theme that only uses a 10" portion of the screen?

Yeah I could and that's exactly how I did my DK bartop. But this time I'm using a different frontend for my Star Wars project and there's no way to reduce the image size for that. Not that I can tell anyway.

[ark_ader]

I was thinking of the same thing the other day after looking at those Flash Starwars screens.

Then I thought:  "what if I used my PSP to drive the display" and then remembered I had the homebrew software on the file server PC and tried it out.  I remembered this was going to be a part of my mini dragon's lair project (that is sitting in my shed) and use the cab as a docking station for it and the PSP as the scoreboard.

I'll try it out this weekend. I think the software is called PC Monitor Alpha.

[Gray_Area]

I'm not getting why you would want this in the first place. ?

[scofthe7seas]

Are you using an LCD? Depending on the brand (a lot of newer ones have this feature) you can put the pixel aspect to 1:1, which means it doesn't stretch lower resolution than the native res. Then, set the resolution as small as you like. I think Nvidia cards might have a feature similar to this also, regardless of screen type.

[LeedsFan]

I'm not getting why you would want this in the first place. ?

I'm building a small scale cabinet. This means I need something like a 10" screen. A screen this size is very hard to come by without paying a lot of money for something like a modern touchscreen. But I can easily buy an older 15" monitor dirt cheap that will fit in the cab. Then I just need to adjust the visible area by letterboxing windows somehow.

[Gray_Area]

.....  If 15 inches fits in there, use the whole screen.

[ark_ader]

I'm not getting why you would want this in the first place. ?

I'm building a small scale cabinet. This means I need something like a 10" screen. A screen this size is very hard to come by without paying a lot of money for something like a modern touchscreen. But I can easily buy an older 15" monitor dirt cheap that will fit in the cab. Then I just need to adjust the visible area by letterboxing windows somehow.

I tried the PSP thing and it works but its not your 10" that you are wanting.  I have another solution for you though.  Since you are just playing Star Wars you can get away with with a smaller CPU size and still have the same experience.

I would look on ebay for a ThinkPad 240X.  Last one went for £27, and that has a 10" display and you can hook up your whatever size display for the main screen.  I have one that I was going to put into my Mini DL and I use it for college as it is really small.  Perfect size for your project.



You just have to find one.

I found this solution was possible and you can use photographers tape on the screen to mask the window frames, cheap I know but workable.  You would need to add a button to your cab that would activate the session for the flash and you would need to time it when it is trenchville.

[LeedsFan]

I actually thought about the Thinkpad screen because I've owned one of those laptops before. But I also remember how bad the viewing angle on that thing was. It was terrible. You just had to move your head a little and the contrast on the screen shifted horribly.

I've just bought a Xerox XA7-15i monitor which I used in my DK bartop. It physycally just fits in my Star Wars cab above the artwork around the yoke. I did some research on Google and it seems Powerstrip software might be an option for letterboxing windows. I just need to power up this monitor and mess with the software and Windows settings. Trouble is this monitor uses a strange power cable which I need to go buy tomorrow (seller didn't have the cable which is why I got it cheap).

[ark_ader]

How about using a mirror instead?