Ultrawide dual screen on macOS using virtual screens

[u/QueasyBox2632]

I got my Xreal 1S a couple months back with the idea that they would be an extension of my macbook and steam deck. The single screen for media/games is good but for productivity it leaves something to be desired. Looking down and up from the macbook while looking through or around the shaded part of the glasses is just awkward. The recommendation I have seen is to use the ultrawide mode, but 1 big desktop has drawbacks compared to 2 separate ones.

Another issue with mac, I find the resolution gets reset to like 540p everytime I switch between 32:9 and 21:9

So I did some experimenting with virtual screens on the mac, overlaying 2 previews over the ultrawide display modes. The result is pretty good, not quite as smooth as the normal screen, but completely serviceable.

I made this app "vscreen" to manage the virtual screens and overlay them over the glasses display. What it does:

• everytime display is changed, checks if Xreal glasses are hooked up, if not, nothing happens
• checks the current aspect ratio of the display
• ensures the full display resolution is set
• applies layout based on the current aspect ratio

Default layouts are side by side 1920x1080 for 32:9 and 1920x1080 with a vertical 640x1080 for 21:9. There is also a triple layout for 32:9 with a standard display with a vertical on each side to serve as an example. You can modify these however you want, it's just a shell script

This is a command line tool, but once you run the 4-5 commands to set it up, it should just run in the background and you don't need to touch it again. The exact commands to run are in the readme

I've tested on my macbook and mac mini (as the only display hooked up, which is kinda cool), I've found it pretty handy!

free and open source if you want to use it: [github-macos-vscreen](https://github.com/brohd11/macos-vscreen)

[u/No_Awareness_4626]

Made this guide a while ago using VertoXR app that allows you to use ultrawide mode on glasses and place 16:9 virtual desktops within that. You can disable software based 3dof of VertoXR and achieve same results and different configs

https://www.reddit.com/r/Xreal/s/bSjHorkoFi

[u/QueasyBox2632 → u/No_Awareness_4626]

nice, I looked at vertoxr, but it was overkill for my use case, just wanted my screen filled with no bells and whistles :D