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Updated VBoxVideo driver for VirtualBox to support Widescreen Resolutions

Started by jeffburg, Sep 20, 2025, 04:34 AM

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jeffburg

Originally posted 2025/01/02 - https://www.nextcomputers.org/forums/index.php?topic=5841.0

Hey, for anyone using VirtualBox to run their OpenStep/NextStep/Rhapsody VM, I updated the VBoxVideo driver to support widescreen resolutions. So if you are running it a modern modern or laptop, these new resolutions should make it a closer fit for the screen.

I tested all the resolutions in the list (bold are widescreen):

"Height:1080 Width:1920 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height:1050 Width:1680 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 900 Width:1440 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 800 Width:1280 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 768 Width:1366 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height:1200 Width:1600 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height:1024 Width:1280 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 864 Width:1152 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 768 Width:1024 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 600 Width: 800 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 480 Width: 640 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:888/32";
"Height: 768 Width:1024 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:555/16";
"Height: 600 Width: 800 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:555/16";
"Height: 480 Width: 640 Refresh: 60Hz ColorSpace: RGB:555/16";

I tried to make it run at 1920x1200 but it booted a blue screen. Same with 2560x1440. So I think 1920x1080 is the highest we will get out of the VirtualBox VGA emulation. If you want to try it yourself (and let me know if something goes terribly wrong :o) then you can find the compiled version here: https://github.com/jeffreybergier/VBoxVideo/blob/mac-resolutions/build/VBoxVideo-1.1.config.tar

I am not sure if the owner of this repo is open to pull requests or even still around for these things, but if they are, I created a PR at this URL: https://github.com/vcarosadev/VBoxVideo/pull/1

-Jeff,

Also, Happy New Year!
Grab my app, MathEdit for OpenStep - https://github.com/jeffreybergier/MathEdit
Follow me on Mastodon for Retro Mac Adventures - https://jeffburg.social/@jeff