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Revise FAQ question on making Medley bigger #298

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26 changes: 22 additions & 4 deletions content/en/project/faqs.md
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Expand Up @@ -65,11 +65,11 @@ now type `OK` and _enter_ (or middle click in the debugger then choose Ok). It w

## I have a large display. Medley is so tiny it's hard to read.

(This information is specific to macOS. We need someone who runs Medley under Windows or Linux
to expand this section.)
To make Medley larger and more legible you can run it with pixel scaling or increase the size of text. To fit more and larger windows on the screen, which helps with larger text, you may also make the Medley screen fill up more of the display.

On macOS and Linux pixel scaling is supported only by the SDL graphics layer of Maiko.
There are two ways to build and run the Maiko virtual machine/host interface layer
that underlies Medley: running under X Windows ([XQuartz](https://www.xquartz.org/)) and running in a native window
that underlies Medley: running under X Windows ([XQuartz](https://www.xquartz.org/) on macOS) and running in a native window
using [SDL](https://www.libsdl.org/). Full instructions for building Maiko for X Windows are [here](https://github.com/Interlisp/maiko).
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@masinter masinter Sep 19, 2025 •
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where are the instructions for buliding maiko under SDL? Shouldn't it mention SDL2 vs SDL3?
We build an SDL for cygwin... should we build one for MacOS? Are the performance probles with very slow display related to SDL use?

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The current FAQ as well as this PR defer to the Maiko README for building instructions and integrate it with SDL information. Should we add SDL instructions to the README and just point to it from the FAQ/PR?

Since SDL3 is experimental we may assume SDL in current documentation. And SDL2 vs SDL3 probably belongs more in the Maiko README than the FAQ.

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@nbriggs In the September 24, 2025 external meeting we agreed it would be better for the Maiko README to also mention how to build with SDL. This way the FAQ could refer to the README and focus on the -ps option.

Could you please update the README? Would you prefer me to do it?

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I will do it - but not until I've sorted out the pending updates/merges. It should get instructions on how to build with CMake (and the cmake-gui) as well as the ./makeright path. Only SDL2 is currently supported, and the key bindings for SDL2 are not up-to-date.

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Thanks, no problem.


To make the Medley window larger on a large display, we first build and run Maiko for SDL.
Expand All @@ -91,5 +91,23 @@ _n_*_n_ screen pixels.
To double each pixel, set _n_ to 2:

```
$ /path/to/my/medley.sh -ps 2
$ /path/to/my/medley -ps 2
```

Windows supports pixel scaling for individual applications, including Medley. Refer to the Windows documentation for how to change this setting.

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is there a search string to search windows documentation with?

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I wanted to link to the relevant documentation but googling for Windows pixel scaling turned up much noise and little useful material. Not being familiar with Windows I'm not even sure "pixel scaling" is the correct name of the feature to search for.

To make text bigger in most windows, from Medley call the Lisp function `FONTSET` with an appropriate size specification. For example, at an Interlisp Exec evaluate
```
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where is FONTSET documented? There isn't really a 'size' specification just keywords in an ALIST that isn't used in SEdit.

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The IRM documents FONTSET and the Medley primer provides an example. I mean "size" as a generic proxy to the actual specification to pass to the function. But since it's confusing I may replace it with "call the Lisp function FONTSET" and let the example that comes immediately next clarify what the argument should be.

We may leave here the description of FONTSET to document what's already available and fix the feature later, or don't mention FONTSET until we fix the feature. What do you suggest?

As for the frame buffer size, is it better to just generically mention limitations of how Maiko implements graphics? After all it's not that important here for a user who just wants to make Medley's window bigger.

(FONTSET ’BIG)
```
Or
```
(FONTSET ’HUGE)
```

Finally, for running Medley with a larger screen, launch the system with the option `-s` _W_`x`_H_ of the `medley` command where _W_ and _H_ are the desired width and height in pixels. Because of frame buffer limitations _W_*_H_ must be less than 2^21 pixels, i.e. 2097152. For example

```
$ medley -s 1920x1080
```
Sets to FullHD the size of the virtual display as seen from Medley’s point of view, which is effectively the maximum you can achieve.