Output to an external tv via HDMI or VGA doesn't appear to be working with Recalbox installed on PC

[qoobit]

@Substring ok, so I'm unable to actually modify the xinitrc file as it's read only (no surprises there).
I tried following the instructions here
https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/Change-display-resolution-on-x86---x86_64
but I kept getting "read only system file" message when copying the file to a different directory.

I then modified the file on my local machine but again, when I try to copy the modified file back to the xinitrc directory I get a read only error on the directory.

I tried to chmod the xinitrc directory but that didn't work.
I tried to chmod the file but that also didn't work.
I tried to change user to sudo but sudo isn't a recognised command.
I tried to use su instead but when I enable su with su - I wasn't prompted for a password so su didn't work.

I am logged in as the root user as outlined here so I'm not sure what else I could do to actually modify this file.
https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/Root-access-on-terminal-(EN)

Any help would be great.

[qoobit]

Just thinking there. Is the reason that I cannot modify the file is because it is currently in use?

Is there a command I can run to say stop a service that might be using the xinitrc file so I can modify it?

[qoobit]

I tried following the instructions here
https://github.com/recalbox/recalbox-os/wiki/Change-display-resolution-on-x86---x86_64
but I kept getting "read only system file" message when copying the file to a different directory.

Just to note that I was actually able to see the .xinitrc file in the /recalbox/share/system directory after trying a second time. Not sure what happened first time around, possibly missed something when copying the command initially.

Anyway, I was able to modify the file there and added the following parameter
xrandr --output HDMI-0 --mode 1920x1080 --same-as LVDS-0

Once I rebooted Recalbox the issue still persisted. Not sure what else to do at this point.

[Substring]

@qoobit it's still better to quit ES first with /etc/init.d/S31emulationstation stop

Then to edit the file out of the user's home path, you need to mount -o remount, rw /

[qoobit]

@substring, thanks very much. I was able to write to xinitrc in the /X11/xinit directory after stopping ES.
Now that I am able to start and stop the service freely it's a lot quicker to verify if the changes made to xinitrc actually work. Unless I should be doing a full reboot after making those changes?

So far though, I haven't had any luck. Behaviour is still this same.
I stripped back the xrandr attributes to just output as HDMI now in case there is some issue with outputting to both the netbook and the tv.
Not sure if it's an issue trying to output HD to a 4k tv but I would have just assumed the image would be smaller.

If you have any other suggestions that would be great. If not, I appreciate the help anyway.
Cheers!

[Substring]

@qoobit from my holidays place, there is not much more I can do for now

Maybe @rockaddicted can be of some help from now On

[qoobit]

@substring enjoy your holidays! I appreciate the help so far. Thanks

[gnubit]

@qoobit

Have you tried switching off the laptops display and only displaying via HDMI ?

xrandr --output LVDS-0 --off --output HDMI-0 --mode 1920x1080

[chabayo]

As i was pleasured last night, today i got the behaviour that Xorg-server doubled the viewport of LVDS1 (laptop screen) --same-as VGA1 (external monitor): scratch! - external Monitor spots the RecalBox menu and Kodi only in a 1280X800 view upper left inside a 1920x1080 view.

By your help i fond the xinitrc and wrote:
# xrandr --output output_name --off
DISPLAY=:0
xrandr --listmonitors | grep VGA1 && {
xrandr --output LVDS1 --off
xrandr --output VGA1 --mode 1920x1080
}

out of that.

[salvitch]

@chabayo

Thanks to all the thread I was able to do it
My machine is a laptop and was connected to a second screen via display port
So I have not modified the .xinicrt since I didn't find it but I manually ran the following

DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --listmonitors
Then I had two connected monitors
eDP-1
And DP-1
So I did DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --output eDP1 --off
And the laptop screen went black
After that I did DISPLAY=:0 xrandr --output DP-1 primary
And then I clicked escape on the laptop and I was back in the main screen displayed on the tv

Thank you so much for your investigation and output