Step 2: Making Menu's fit the screen

Ok so the first think we want to do is to is to configure a part of the underlying OS (operating system) so that the menu's fit in the screen area otherwise it get hard to follow some of the other page guides (particularly Step '3'. So to do all this we need to go from the XBMC interface and into the desktop environment underneath.


A

So from within the XBMC interface, start by using the keyboard to go down to the ‘power icon’ hit enter and choose ‘exit’ this will take you to a desktop style log-in screen. You will need to use the password you choose when installing the OS in step 1: and you will need to select xbmcbuntu from the drop-down box instead of XBMC. This will log you into the underlying XBMCbuntu OS

B

We now need to bring up a 'terminal' screen this will help us 'plumb' in commands to the operating system via a 'command-line interface' i.e. we have to type stuff rather than point and click. I will be totally upfront and say this cared the bejesus out of me initially but so many people give you the actual code to type in, or copy and paste that after some practice (and yes mistakes!!) it actually becomes quite intuitive and dare I say it (Bill Gates don't strike me down!) quite fun. Oh and for information, I class command line stuff as 'coding'  in my precious statements on the introduction page

Click on the 'Play' icon / start menu style button on the desktop, scroll up to 'system tools' then select XTerm (you will also see UXTerm this may also work but i havn't tried it). You will now have a black box up on the screen and a square white cursor ready to be used to type instructions

C

So we need to type, exactly, the following (and it is case sensitive)

sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

then hit enter / return, you will be prompted to enter your password and you wont see the letters or any feedback you have typed anything until you press enter (so blindly type your password then press enter), this command will give you access to a set of instructions and we need to add a line.So navigate (use arrow keys) down to the 'Monitor' section. You will see a line that says

Option                "DPMS"

navigate to the end of this line with the arrow keys and cursor, hit enter and type

Option               "DPI" "120 x 120"

now press ctrl-x (press Ctrl and x) to exit, you will be asked it you want to save, say yes and you will be back at the black screen with a cursor in it.

D

We now just need to log out of the desktop, so click on the play arrow (bit like the start menu in Windows) and choose ‘logout’ and the select ‘logout’ again. This will take you back to the log in box discussed in step a:

E

We now need to log back into the ‘XMBC’ environment so select this from the drop-down box and type in your password and you will be taken back into the pretty XBMC interface (the reason for this step before doing a reboot is that by default the OS will reboot into the last logged in session, so if we rebooted from step ‘e:’ we would be taken back to the xbmcbuntu desktop rather than the XBMC interface). Now select the power button icon and choose reboot from the following list. 

Proceed to Step 3: