5 ms·

This is MY experience. I have run 4k on my ThinkPad X1 Extreme with Linux. Its not been a good experience for me. I am getting old and having vision issues, so

This is MY experience. I have run 4k on my ThinkPad X1 Extreme with Linux. Its not been a good experience for me. I am getting old and having vision issues, so I decided to get the 4k screen because my old MacBookPro 2015 had the high res and worked well with my eyes, it just didn't have the 15" screen. Display Managers: When Linux boots in a 4k screen, the GRUB menu is impossible to read, so I have it memorized. I have tried many Display Managers, some recognize 4k and adapt with no issue, many do not. GDM and SDDM work well, XDM not so much, fonts are all over the place. X11 (it has an NVIDIA card) There are some apps which refuse to adapt to 4k if you are running GNOME (and yes I use the QT_SCALE_FACTOR). Then there are apps written in WXWIDGETS. Steam menus and items are unreadable to me. Some Window Managers barely support HiDPI displays (XFCE I am looking at you). It goes on and on, by the end of the day its a very frustrating experience. GNOME (and it's derivatives) do it the best so far, KDE has issues with icon sizes and the panel. XFCE has multiple issues, so much that I gave up on it quickly and can't remember them all (and it looked awful). i3 was a little tricky at first but it can be configured to work well, but you need to adapt all the apps and bars too. Other OSes: Even MS Windows has frequent problems with the screen magnification. macOS just gets it right, and I never had ANY of these issues, except small fonts in the firmware screen. For my next laptop I will go back to 1920x1080 and avoid all these problems and start using AMD GPU's so I dont have to turn off secure boot and stop using X11.

jcelerier 6y ago
> Display Managers: When Linux boots in a 4k screen, the GRUB menu is impossible to read, so I have it memorized. weird, I have a 4k screen but the bios, grub, etc are just scaled across the screen. A bit blurry of course but definitely readable.
jordanab 6y ago
Tip: install Pop!_OS - Nvidia edition. I also have a (1st gen) Thinkpad X1 Extreme with a 4K screen. In addition to that, I have 3 external 4K screens connected to it (so 4x 4K screens in total), and it runs smoothly without having needed any additonal config/customization.
- sgtnasty 6y ago
  I tried popos, but still have an unreadable grub screen.
  - RamRodification 6y ago
    Is that the only issue there? Sounds like it's not worth going back to 1080p over.
    - bradwood 6y ago
      It can be fixed. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI#Boot_managers https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI#Boot_managers
- bitexploder 6y ago
  How much work does it take to get Ubuntu to a good state with Nvidia drivers. e.g. equivalent of ease of use of Pop!_OS. I have a Thinkpad X1 Extreme (Gen3) on the way, and I am researching Pop!_OS vs. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I am leaning Ubuntu but if you tell me there is something magical in the Nvidia Pop!_OS distribution that is hard/impossible to replicate in Ubuntu 20.04 I would consider it. If I install Xfce instead of Gnome desktop will I break the magic? tangent: Who the hell let them name Pop!_OS, such an engineer name.
  - qchris 6y ago
    Fwiw, my default method of managing the NVIDIA drivers on Ubuntu 18.04 is by installing the System76 driver package using the directions from their site. I found that to make it way easier than doing it manually, especially bc I needed to manage two CUDA versions on one machine. I wouldn't guess that switching away from GNOME would break hardware compatibility drivers, but I could be wrong.
  - paulsmal 6y ago
    I’ve tried both. There is no magic except few additional tools to enhance desktop experience like power manager [0] and hi resolution daemon[1] [0]https://github.com/pop-os/system76-power https://github.com/pop-os/system76-power [1]https://blog.system76.com/post/174414833678/all-about-the-hidpi-daemon https://blog.system76.com/post/174414833678/all-about-the-hi...
tubularhells 6y ago
You can change the GRUB loader resolution in config, my dear penguin. Also, KDE is better in all regards. Ditch gnome.
- sgtnasty 6y ago
  > Also, KDE is better in all regards. Ditch gnome. Yup, did that, GNOME looks nice, but... KDE has some issues with HiDPI, like a mouse pointer that is way too small on window controls. Yes I did change the cursor size to 48, but it does not work with what I assume is a kwin issue. So the cursor hops from one size to another all over the place.
  - simcop2387 6y ago
    This may be a bug in an older KDE version. I'm on debian testing with running the latest stuff from https://www.preining.info/blog/2020/12/debian-kde-plasma-status-2020-12-02/ https://www.preining.info/blog/2020/12/debian-kde-plasma-sta... . I'm no longer running into those HiDPI issues in gnome or kde apps (some wxwidgets stuff is still wonky). Nothing ends up the wrong scale when using Plasma Wayland, but there are still other issues that aren't worked out that keep it from being perfect either. You might quickly try the KDE Neon distro on a live usb disk to see if it behaves better and then you'll know if the bugs you're running into have been fixed. https://neon.kde.org/ https://neon.kde.org/
- Filligree 6y ago
  > You can change the GRUB loader resolution in config, my dear penguin. But why do you have to? Why doesn't it use a reasonably sized font by default?
  - dsr_ 6y ago
    Since you are of the opinion that it is a small matter of programming, and it is an open-source project that takes contributions, you should definitely go write that. Since it has not already happened, you may assume one of the following: - it is in the works but has not made it to the version you are using. - nobody else thought of that, congratulations - it turns out to be harder than just identifying the issue
bluedino 6y ago
I quite like the QHD ThinkPad displays (2560x1440), very similar to the quality of a Retina.
zepearl 6y ago
Using XFCE 4.14-r2 (Gentoo) and things are okish with Intel GPU (Lenovo P71, 17' 4k panel). But I did not use the option "Window Scaling" (currently set to 1x) instead I changed in the Fonts-tab the "Custom DPI settings" setting it to 192. The only problem that I have left is with Google Chrome & Vinagre: whenever I move the cursor inside their windows it stops being scaled up (therefore it becomes tiny). Used to work fine, changed during some recent update :(
geophile 6y ago
This gets into the technical details more than I am able to, but I agree completely. I also have older eyes, and 4k was just unusable (on a Galago with a 13" screen). I could have scaled down by a factor of two, but that was too coarse. I exchanged the Galago for a 14" Darter, and 1920x1280 is just right. The Pangolin looks pretty nice to me.
IE6 6y ago
I'm in the same boat where my eyes were not as good as they used to be and I often run a scaled display rather than 1:1. I'm using Ubuntu 18.x LTS and it comes out of the box with gnome but I primarily use i3wm. I was able to scale my display to be 25% larger and every app by adding this line to my .Xresources: Xft.dpi: 125
djsumdog 6y ago
Same. I use the Xresources and scale factor environment variables for my desktop with its 32 inch screen and I love it. It's great. But for a laptop, you get a little crispness on the text, but in general there's no reason to get a 4K display on a 13~15 inch screen. It's not worth all that effort.
morgangrubb 6y ago
Specifically regarding GRUB: Add these lines to /etc/default/grub: GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x32 GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep And then run: sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg (see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB/Tips_and_tricks#Setting_the_framebuffer_resolution https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB/Tips_and_tricks#Se...)
bradwood 6y ago
Tip: Check the Arch Wiki's HiDPI page... There is a bit more to it thank QT_SCALE_FACTOR. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI

jcelerier 6y ago

> Display Managers: When Linux boots in a 4k screen, the GRUB menu is impossible to read, so I have it memorized. weird, I have a 4k screen but the bios, grub, etc are just scaled across the screen. A bit blurry of course but definitely readable.

jordanab 6y ago

Tip: install Pop!_OS - Nvidia edition. I also have a (1st gen) Thinkpad X1 Extreme with a 4K screen. In addition to that, I have 3 external 4K screens connected to it (so 4x 4K screens in total), and it runs smoothly without having needed any additonal config/customization.

sgtnasty 6y ago
I tried popos, but still have an unreadable grub screen.
- RamRodification 6y ago
  Is that the only issue there? Sounds like it's not worth going back to 1080p over.
  - bradwood 6y ago
    It can be fixed. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI#Boot_managers https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI#Boot_managers
bitexploder 6y ago
How much work does it take to get Ubuntu to a good state with Nvidia drivers. e.g. equivalent of ease of use of Pop!_OS. I have a Thinkpad X1 Extreme (Gen3) on the way, and I am researching Pop!_OS vs. Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. I am leaning Ubuntu but if you tell me there is something magical in the Nvidia Pop!_OS distribution that is hard/impossible to replicate in Ubuntu 20.04 I would consider it. If I install Xfce instead of Gnome desktop will I break the magic? tangent: Who the hell let them name Pop!_OS, such an engineer name.
- qchris 6y ago
  Fwiw, my default method of managing the NVIDIA drivers on Ubuntu 18.04 is by installing the System76 driver package using the directions from their site. I found that to make it way easier than doing it manually, especially bc I needed to manage two CUDA versions on one machine. I wouldn't guess that switching away from GNOME would break hardware compatibility drivers, but I could be wrong.
- paulsmal 6y ago
  I’ve tried both. There is no magic except few additional tools to enhance desktop experience like power manager [0] and hi resolution daemon[1] [0]https://github.com/pop-os/system76-power https://github.com/pop-os/system76-power [1]https://blog.system76.com/post/174414833678/all-about-the-hidpi-daemon https://blog.system76.com/post/174414833678/all-about-the-hi...

tubularhells 6y ago

You can change the GRUB loader resolution in config, my dear penguin. Also, KDE is better in all regards. Ditch gnome.

sgtnasty 6y ago
> Also, KDE is better in all regards. Ditch gnome. Yup, did that, GNOME looks nice, but... KDE has some issues with HiDPI, like a mouse pointer that is way too small on window controls. Yes I did change the cursor size to 48, but it does not work with what I assume is a kwin issue. So the cursor hops from one size to another all over the place.
- simcop2387 6y ago
  This may be a bug in an older KDE version. I'm on debian testing with running the latest stuff from https://www.preining.info/blog/2020/12/debian-kde-plasma-status-2020-12-02/ https://www.preining.info/blog/2020/12/debian-kde-plasma-sta... . I'm no longer running into those HiDPI issues in gnome or kde apps (some wxwidgets stuff is still wonky). Nothing ends up the wrong scale when using Plasma Wayland, but there are still other issues that aren't worked out that keep it from being perfect either. You might quickly try the KDE Neon distro on a live usb disk to see if it behaves better and then you'll know if the bugs you're running into have been fixed. https://neon.kde.org/ https://neon.kde.org/
Filligree 6y ago
> You can change the GRUB loader resolution in config, my dear penguin. But why do you have to? Why doesn't it use a reasonably sized font by default?
- dsr_ 6y ago
  Since you are of the opinion that it is a small matter of programming, and it is an open-source project that takes contributions, you should definitely go write that. Since it has not already happened, you may assume one of the following: - it is in the works but has not made it to the version you are using. - nobody else thought of that, congratulations - it turns out to be harder than just identifying the issue

bluedino 6y ago

I quite like the QHD ThinkPad displays (2560x1440), very similar to the quality of a Retina.

zepearl 6y ago

Using XFCE 4.14-r2 (Gentoo) and things are okish with Intel GPU (Lenovo P71, 17' 4k panel). But I did not use the option "Window Scaling" (currently set to 1x) instead I changed in the Fonts-tab the "Custom DPI settings" setting it to 192. The only problem that I have left is with Google Chrome & Vinagre: whenever I move the cursor inside their windows it stops being scaled up (therefore it becomes tiny). Used to work fine, changed during some recent update :(

geophile 6y ago

This gets into the technical details more than I am able to, but I agree completely. I also have older eyes, and 4k was just unusable (on a Galago with a 13" screen). I could have scaled down by a factor of two, but that was too coarse. I exchanged the Galago for a 14" Darter, and 1920x1280 is just right. The Pangolin looks pretty nice to me.

IE6 6y ago

I'm in the same boat where my eyes were not as good as they used to be and I often run a scaled display rather than 1:1. I'm using Ubuntu 18.x LTS and it comes out of the box with gnome but I primarily use i3wm. I was able to scale my display to be 25% larger and every app by adding this line to my .Xresources: Xft.dpi: 125

djsumdog 6y ago

Same. I use the Xresources and scale factor environment variables for my desktop with its 32 inch screen and I love it. It's great. But for a laptop, you get a little crispness on the text, but in general there's no reason to get a 4K display on a 13~15 inch screen. It's not worth all that effort.

morgangrubb 6y ago

Specifically regarding GRUB: Add these lines to /etc/default/grub: GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x32 GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep And then run: sudo grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg (see https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB/Tips_and_tricks#Setting_the_framebuffer_resolution https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB/Tips_and_tricks#Se...)

bradwood 6y ago

Tip: Check the Arch Wiki's HiDPI page... There is a bit more to it thank QT_SCALE_FACTOR. https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/HiDPI