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> Apparently, KDE Plasma5 does the scaling right. Setting it to 150% gives pleasuring look. Overall, I find KDE’s approach with a taskbar much more reasonable t

> Apparently, KDE Plasma5 does the scaling right. Setting it to 150% gives pleasuring look. Overall, I find KDE’s approach with a taskbar much more reasonable than what Gnome forces on me. It’s the paradigm shift from “tell me what you need” (modern Gnome, also Google) to “show me what you have” (KDE and others application menu, also your file manager). I like this aside and I noticed the same when I tried to use Gnome a couple of years ago. I asked a coworker what he recommended, he showed me KDE and I've never looked back. The scaling was great too when I needed it for my MBP's retina display.

m0zg 5y ago
Protip for Ubuntu on HiDPI displays. Set the screen to 100% (everything will be tiny), then go into "Universal Access" and enable "Large Text", and also increase the size of the mouse pointer while you're at it. Adjust terminal font sizes to taste, and set the browser to 125-150% scaling by default. That's how I run Ubuntu on HiDPI screens. Looks great.
- heavyset_go 5y ago
  Does this also adjust icon sizes in apps' toolbars?
  - ayushnix 5y ago
    No, increasing just the font size is a hack. Unless you only use the terminal, doing this means not using GUI apps comfortably because icon size will not scale. Even if you somehow do make them scale, that increased font size and is limited to the screen you're working on. If you ever attach an external monitor to your laptop, it won't look right on that. Avoid doing this unless you have no choice.
    - m0zg 5y ago
      Works well on external 4K monitors also. And yes, the icons do not increase in size, but they still look OK. Certainly better than fractionally scaled icons. There's no downside to trying this - it's literally a single slider that you can slide back if you don't like what it does.
      - ayushnix 5y ago
        I've actually done this on my primary setup which is an AMD ThinkPad connected to a 4K 27 inch display. I didn't know about issues with fractional scaling before I bought this monitor and now I keep everything at 1x scaling and have increased the font size. As I said, this setup has two big drawbacks - I can't use my laptop display without adjusting the font size - Almost all GUI apps look strange because the text is large and icons are small. For example, the uBlock Origin icon on Firefox is tiny and sometimes I make mistake and click elsewhere. Scaling fonts and not the display is a hack but considering fractional scaling is even more messy, I've resorted to using this method. This is why I said that I won't buy the FrameWork laptop because it needs fractional scaling.
        m0zg 5y ago
        Ah yes, if your laptop is non-hidpi and your display is, you will have these issues. In my case both the laptop and the display are hidpi, and things work pretty well. Basically all devices I used in the last decade are hidpi.
        ayushnix 5y ago
        My laptop has a 14 inch 1080p display which is ~157 PPI so it needs around 1.2x scaling. My external monitor is 27 inch 4K which is ~163 PPI so it needs at least 1.5x scaling. The most obvious solution that fixes all of these problems is to buy displays that work with 2x scaling. A combination of 15 inch 4K or 13 inch 3000x2000 laptop display and a 27 inch 5K external display is the ideal combination because both of them would work with 2x scaling.
Aeolun 5y ago
Huh. I had the opposite. I never wonder what’s on my PC. If I can’t even remember the program exists I clearly don’t need it.
- Apaec 5y ago
  > I never wonder what’s on my PC Then clearly this article is not meant for you? Or maybe this forum altogether?
  - bananamerica 5y ago
    Come on, don't be harsh...
  - Shared404 5y ago
    Responding to the strongest interpretation of the parent I would agree with them. I know what programs I have installed, and where to find them. I don't wonder about that. I do wonder about lots of other things, but they're not really relevant to my DE.

m0zg 5y ago

Protip for Ubuntu on HiDPI displays. Set the screen to 100% (everything will be tiny), then go into "Universal Access" and enable "Large Text", and also increase the size of the mouse pointer while you're at it. Adjust terminal font sizes to taste, and set the browser to 125-150% scaling by default. That's how I run Ubuntu on HiDPI screens. Looks great.

heavyset_go 5y ago
Does this also adjust icon sizes in apps' toolbars?
- ayushnix 5y ago
  No, increasing just the font size is a hack. Unless you only use the terminal, doing this means not using GUI apps comfortably because icon size will not scale. Even if you somehow do make them scale, that increased font size and is limited to the screen you're working on. If you ever attach an external monitor to your laptop, it won't look right on that. Avoid doing this unless you have no choice.
  - m0zg 5y ago
    Works well on external 4K monitors also. And yes, the icons do not increase in size, but they still look OK. Certainly better than fractionally scaled icons. There's no downside to trying this - it's literally a single slider that you can slide back if you don't like what it does.
    - ayushnix 5y ago
      I've actually done this on my primary setup which is an AMD ThinkPad connected to a 4K 27 inch display. I didn't know about issues with fractional scaling before I bought this monitor and now I keep everything at 1x scaling and have increased the font size. As I said, this setup has two big drawbacks - I can't use my laptop display without adjusting the font size - Almost all GUI apps look strange because the text is large and icons are small. For example, the uBlock Origin icon on Firefox is tiny and sometimes I make mistake and click elsewhere. Scaling fonts and not the display is a hack but considering fractional scaling is even more messy, I've resorted to using this method. This is why I said that I won't buy the FrameWork laptop because it needs fractional scaling.
      - m0zg 5y ago
        Ah yes, if your laptop is non-hidpi and your display is, you will have these issues. In my case both the laptop and the display are hidpi, and things work pretty well. Basically all devices I used in the last decade are hidpi.
        ayushnix 5y ago
        My laptop has a 14 inch 1080p display which is ~157 PPI so it needs around 1.2x scaling. My external monitor is 27 inch 4K which is ~163 PPI so it needs at least 1.5x scaling. The most obvious solution that fixes all of these problems is to buy displays that work with 2x scaling. A combination of 15 inch 4K or 13 inch 3000x2000 laptop display and a 27 inch 5K external display is the ideal combination because both of them would work with 2x scaling.

Aeolun 5y ago

Huh. I had the opposite. I never wonder what’s on my PC. If I can’t even remember the program exists I clearly don’t need it.

Apaec 5y ago
> I never wonder what’s on my PC Then clearly this article is not meant for you? Or maybe this forum altogether?
- bananamerica 5y ago
  Come on, don't be harsh...
- Shared404 5y ago
  Responding to the strongest interpretation of the parent I would agree with them. I know what programs I have installed, and where to find them. I don't wonder about that. I do wonder about lots of other things, but they're not really relevant to my DE.