27
January
2026
13:48

How to enable display panning from the Linux command line

27 January 2026 13:48

On Linux, you can use a high-resolution software framebuffer and enable panning.

In one of the articles it was said,how to change display resolution from Linux command line.
You can also enable image panning using the xrandr command.

xrandr --output VGA-1 --mode 1920x1080 --fb 2000x1200 --panning 2000x1200

If the message "xrandr: screen cannot be larger than" means the video card is in VESA mode and nothing can be done (just replace it). Look xrandr -q

Simultaneous zoom and pan:

xrandr --output VGA-1 --mode 1920x1080 --scale-from 2000x1200 --panning 2300x1400 --auto

Query available permissions:
xrandr -q

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2300 x 1400, maximum 16384 x 16384

4K resolution (3840x2160 pixels) on a FullHD screen (1920x1080 pixels), with panning enabled:

xrandr --output VGA-1 --mode 1920x1080 --panning 3840x2160 --auto

When panned, the display shows a portion of the image of a larger virtual display. You can scroll the viewing area by moving the mouse pointer.
The mode can be useful for editing very long lines, for testing website designs, or for viewing a map without having to turn the scroll bar.



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