5 ms·

To provide some counter-anecdata, if you are in the lucky position to have screens that work at exactly 200% (4K at 24", 5K at 27"), then Ubuntu and its derivat

To provide some counter-anecdata, if you are in the lucky position to have screens that work at exactly 200% (4K at 24", 5K at 27"), then Ubuntu and its derivatives will Just Work out of the box. At least that was my experience around 2017-2019. Fractional scaling factors like 150% are tricky, but macOS does not properly support them either. The only app that didn't pick up my DPI settings on Linux was Spotify, but all web-ish apps support ctrl +/-...which honestly strikes me as a big usability win over native toolkits. I actually found my 5K screen more enjoyable under Linux than macOS, because the performance of JetBrains IDEs on Retina Macs seems to flip-flop between okay and abysmal every year. Mixed-DPI setups are where macOS is truly superior.

robertoandred 6y ago
macOS supports fractional scaling just fine, by rounding up and then downscaling. Sure it's not pixel-perfect to the display, but at such high ppi it's not really noticeable, and certainly much better than trying to get actual fractional resolutions working. Apple tried true resolution independence in the early 2000s and it didn't work out. 2x and 3x scaling proved to be a much better solution.
- vetinari 6y ago
  macOS does very similar thing that Gnome/Wayland is using; except in Linux land, due to misc reasons[1], it works only for Wayland apps. Yet, there are cries from the Internets, that it is not pixel perfect and other solution (Windows/Qt/Android-like) should be used. [1] Mostly that you can't update client side libs like you can in Mac and Windows land and be done; there will be always some legacy X11 client that will connect directly to display server and ignore your modifications. On mac and windows, apps cannot talk directly to display server, the protocol is not public.
- gurkendoktor 6y ago
  I liked Apple's approach when the iPhone 4 and MacBook Pro 2012 came out. Adding @2x bitmaps was easy enough for developers, and the transition was quick and painless. Since then, however, Apple's UI has (regrettably) become less about pixel-perfect bitmaps and more about black typography on white roundrects, and almost all Macs run at a scaled resolution by default, which is then typically used to display web-based apps that support fractional scaling. I really think that Windows' approach has aged much better. Kudos to Microsoft. We could have our cake and eat it too if Apple sold Macs with slightly higher-resolution displays, and also a 5K 27" display because other manufacturers can't be bothered.

robertoandred 6y ago

macOS supports fractional scaling just fine, by rounding up and then downscaling. Sure it's not pixel-perfect to the display, but at such high ppi it's not really noticeable, and certainly much better than trying to get actual fractional resolutions working. Apple tried true resolution independence in the early 2000s and it didn't work out. 2x and 3x scaling proved to be a much better solution.

vetinari 6y ago
macOS does very similar thing that Gnome/Wayland is using; except in Linux land, due to misc reasons[1], it works only for Wayland apps. Yet, there are cries from the Internets, that it is not pixel perfect and other solution (Windows/Qt/Android-like) should be used. [1] Mostly that you can't update client side libs like you can in Mac and Windows land and be done; there will be always some legacy X11 client that will connect directly to display server and ignore your modifications. On mac and windows, apps cannot talk directly to display server, the protocol is not public.
gurkendoktor 6y ago
I liked Apple's approach when the iPhone 4 and MacBook Pro 2012 came out. Adding @2x bitmaps was easy enough for developers, and the transition was quick and painless. Since then, however, Apple's UI has (regrettably) become less about pixel-perfect bitmaps and more about black typography on white roundrects, and almost all Macs run at a scaled resolution by default, which is then typically used to display web-based apps that support fractional scaling. I really think that Windows' approach has aged much better. Kudos to Microsoft. We could have our cake and eat it too if Apple sold Macs with slightly higher-resolution displays, and also a 5K 27" display because other manufacturers can't be bothered.