5 ms·

It would be nice to have the option. But given that Linux still doesn't have perfect support for display scaling (compared to macOS, for example) and the fact

It would be nice to have the option. But given that Linux still doesn't have perfect support for display scaling (compared to macOS, for example) and the fact that it's a 15" screen, I would still probably opt for the 1080p if given the option.

turblety 6y ago
Pop!_OS (their own Linux distro) has DPI scaling built in. I can actually turn on x2 scaling, and while it's huge on the poor 1080 display, it works perfectly. Also a lot of the big linux distro's now have support for this. I know Manjaro and Ubuntu can do it with minimal effort.
echlebek 6y ago
I use Fedora on a 4K 15" display with an Intel GPU, and the scaling works fine. However, the Intel GPU is a tad underpowered for the task.
- ncmncm 6y ago
  I use a Skylake on a 4K laptop with a 4K external monitor above it. It is plenty fast, with no tearing. Under Qubes, where app VMs don't get to use the GPU, mpv plays full-screen 1080p video using 3 cores. (Oddly, the external monitor will do 4K only at 30 Hz. I don't know if that is a limitation of the laptop or of the monitor.)
  - ericdevries 6y ago
    The 30hz thing might be because of an older hdmi version, like 1.4. I have had the same issues and it was a hardware limitation
jedbrown 6y ago
I have a 13" HP Spectre from mid-2017 with a 4k display. It's noticeably sharper (and brighter) than the 1080p alternatives. Prior to that, I had a QHD laptop from circa 2013. No font size issues on Linux that affected my work.
Ericson2314 6y ago
Actually Linux has my favorite display scaling --- if you just have one screen. I spend all day with Firefox, terminals, and emacs in XMonad and they all scale perfectly with no raster UI elements. (XMonad's pixel boarder I didn't bother to scale.) On Windows and MacOS last I checked, there was a lot more resized raster bullshit.
- mdtusz 6y ago
  Even with multiple displays it's not that difficult - just pass the scale you want for a given display when calling `xrandr` and things generally just work as long as you're downscaling from the "native" dpi you have X using.
  - NhanH 6y ago
    I can never get it to work properly with multiple displays. I have a 4k monitor and two 1080p monitors. Using 192dpi with 2x scale (param passing to xrandr), all kind of display errors popup (wrong color, weird fonts etc).
  - ephimetheus 6y ago
    You can only do integer scales though this way, can’t you?
    - Koffiepoeder 6y ago
      As for me: I haven't figured it out yet, sometimes a fractional scale works, sometimes you get vague errors. In any case what I have noticed is that quality drops significantly if you use fractionals. For my set-up at home (1080 - 4k - 1080) I have a simple script, that really was more of a `write once - use always`-experience. E.g. xrandr --output HDMI1 --auto --scale 2x2 --pos 0x0+0+0 xrandr --output eDP1 --auto --scale 2x2 --pos 7680x0+0+0 xrandr --output DP1 --auto --mode 3840x2160 --scale 1x1 --pos 3840x0+0+0 --primary So basically what I do is, I virtually up-scale my other screens up to 4k, such that system-wide zoom settings are (more or less) consistent and enjoyable.
    - 6y ago
fulafel 6y ago
Is there any end in sight for the pixel doubling hacks? Why do we even use them any more? Apps should have had plenty time to adapt to higher DPI displays by now, and X11 has supported per display DPI since the 90s and a scale factor on top of this seems obviously wrong. And for the niche case where you have a big disparity in DPIs of multiple displays + apps that can't adapt to DPI on the fly, scaling up is surely the wrong solution, you should be scaling down no the smaller screen.
- mjevans 6y ago
  I'd guess in Wayland the compositor would be responsible for handling such issues. I could readily see different filter profiles for different applications. Some of which render, and take input ques, at scaled resolutions. What I hate a LOT more are games and applications that make any sort of connection between Pixel Aspect Ratio and a display resolution.
- vladvasiliu 6y ago
  I've tried looking a bit into this at one point and my understanding is that it's more a toolkit issue than an app issue. QT has an option to adapt the size of the widgets according to the reported screen resolution, which seems to kind of work. I don't use that many QT apps, so not sure how this turns out in practice. However, GTK just doesn't care. All this is on X11, I hear the situation is somewhat better on Wayland.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
WhyNotHugo 6y ago
I recently got a 2020 Mac mini and I can tell you without hesitation: Linux+Wayland has far superior scaling support than macOS. macOS only allowed me to run my 3440x1440 display at lower resolutions, but no _actual_ scaling support. The font is around 3mm tall. Meanwhile, wayland scaling work wonders. The big issue being that xorg-only apps are blurry (it’s recently been fixed in master though).
neverminder 6y ago
Ubuntu Unity, which I still use today, has working fractional scaling (in 12.5% steps) for ages now. In fact, I'm pretty sure it had that before even Windows did. Gnome seems to have finally caught up as well, even with Nvidia drivers. Like it or not, 4K is the current standard and going backwards makes no sense.

turblety 6y ago

Pop!_OS (their own Linux distro) has DPI scaling built in. I can actually turn on x2 scaling, and while it's huge on the poor 1080 display, it works perfectly. Also a lot of the big linux distro's now have support for this. I know Manjaro and Ubuntu can do it with minimal effort.

echlebek 6y ago

I use Fedora on a 4K 15" display with an Intel GPU, and the scaling works fine. However, the Intel GPU is a tad underpowered for the task.

ncmncm 6y ago
I use a Skylake on a 4K laptop with a 4K external monitor above it. It is plenty fast, with no tearing. Under Qubes, where app VMs don't get to use the GPU, mpv plays full-screen 1080p video using 3 cores. (Oddly, the external monitor will do 4K only at 30 Hz. I don't know if that is a limitation of the laptop or of the monitor.)
- ericdevries 6y ago
  The 30hz thing might be because of an older hdmi version, like 1.4. I have had the same issues and it was a hardware limitation

jedbrown 6y ago

I have a 13" HP Spectre from mid-2017 with a 4k display. It's noticeably sharper (and brighter) than the 1080p alternatives. Prior to that, I had a QHD laptop from circa 2013. No font size issues on Linux that affected my work.

Ericson2314 6y ago

Actually Linux has my favorite display scaling --- if you just have one screen. I spend all day with Firefox, terminals, and emacs in XMonad and they all scale perfectly with no raster UI elements. (XMonad's pixel boarder I didn't bother to scale.) On Windows and MacOS last I checked, there was a lot more resized raster bullshit.

mdtusz 6y ago
Even with multiple displays it's not that difficult - just pass the scale you want for a given display when calling `xrandr` and things generally just work as long as you're downscaling from the "native" dpi you have X using.
- NhanH 6y ago
  I can never get it to work properly with multiple displays. I have a 4k monitor and two 1080p monitors. Using 192dpi with 2x scale (param passing to xrandr), all kind of display errors popup (wrong color, weird fonts etc).
- ephimetheus 6y ago
  You can only do integer scales though this way, can’t you?
  - Koffiepoeder 6y ago
    As for me: I haven't figured it out yet, sometimes a fractional scale works, sometimes you get vague errors. In any case what I have noticed is that quality drops significantly if you use fractionals. For my set-up at home (1080 - 4k - 1080) I have a simple script, that really was more of a `write once - use always`-experience. E.g. xrandr --output HDMI1 --auto --scale 2x2 --pos 0x0+0+0 xrandr --output eDP1 --auto --scale 2x2 --pos 7680x0+0+0 xrandr --output DP1 --auto --mode 3840x2160 --scale 1x1 --pos 3840x0+0+0 --primary So basically what I do is, I virtually up-scale my other screens up to 4k, such that system-wide zoom settings are (more or less) consistent and enjoyable.
  - 6y ago

fulafel 6y ago

Is there any end in sight for the pixel doubling hacks? Why do we even use them any more? Apps should have had plenty time to adapt to higher DPI displays by now, and X11 has supported per display DPI since the 90s and a scale factor on top of this seems obviously wrong. And for the niche case where you have a big disparity in DPIs of multiple displays + apps that can't adapt to DPI on the fly, scaling up is surely the wrong solution, you should be scaling down no the smaller screen.

mjevans 6y ago
I'd guess in Wayland the compositor would be responsible for handling such issues. I could readily see different filter profiles for different applications. Some of which render, and take input ques, at scaled resolutions. What I hate a LOT more are games and applications that make any sort of connection between Pixel Aspect Ratio and a display resolution.
vladvasiliu 6y ago
I've tried looking a bit into this at one point and my understanding is that it's more a toolkit issue than an app issue. QT has an option to adapt the size of the widgets according to the reported screen resolution, which seems to kind of work. I don't use that many QT apps, so not sure how this turns out in practice. However, GTK just doesn't care. All this is on X11, I hear the situation is somewhat better on Wayland.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

WhyNotHugo 6y ago

I recently got a 2020 Mac mini and I can tell you without hesitation: Linux+Wayland has far superior scaling support than macOS. macOS only allowed me to run my 3440x1440 display at lower resolutions, but no _actual_ scaling support. The font is around 3mm tall. Meanwhile, wayland scaling work wonders. The big issue being that xorg-only apps are blurry (it’s recently been fixed in master though).

neverminder 6y ago

Ubuntu Unity, which I still use today, has working fractional scaling (in 12.5% steps) for ages now. In fact, I'm pretty sure it had that before even Windows did. Gnome seems to have finally caught up as well, even with Nvidia drivers. Like it or not, 4K is the current standard and going backwards makes no sense.