4 ms·

The only thing stopping me from using Linux at this point is piss-poor 4k support, combined with the crap market for building your own PC (thanks Bitcoin!) I j

by larrik 5y ago

The only thing stopping me from using Linux at this point is piss-poor 4k support, combined with the crap market for building your own PC (thanks Bitcoin!) I just couldn't beat the m1 Air for price/performance last year.

MH15 5y ago
Yeah I was -this close- to buying the Framework laptop when my 2017 MBP died (I'm not gentle with my electronics) but I needed a laptop soon and the M1 Air was ~200 cheaper than the Framework would have been. It's the best computer I've ever owned hands down. I do wish I got the Framework for Linux but I can work fine in macos.
napkin 5y ago
Hmm what do you mean by piss poor 4k support? I have a 27" 4k display and so far things have been great with debian/gnome at 200% scaling. From what I can tell at least integer scaling is pretty good in most Linux desktop environments.
- colordrops 5y ago
  Gnome is the only linux desktop environment that got 4k (sort of) right. If you don't like gnome then you are on your own. I use sway/wayland for work and i3/xorg for home and I got them to work in 4k after days of customization. Wayland, X, sway, each version of gtk, qt, and various apps all have their own configuration, each which need to be configured separately, often with conflicting results, and when finally functioning, still don't work very well.
  - Macha 5y ago
    What are you configuring for 4k?
    - colordrops 5y ago
      I set base DPI to native. Then set GDK environment variables to scale up to double so UI and fonys aren't tiny in apps like chromium. QT scaling env variables, and the Trolltech conf for font size in apps like Beyond Compare. Then a HiDPI font config for Gimp. Each version of GTK has its own dconf settings. Then there's Firefox which requires an environment variable for HiDPI in wayland. Mouse cursor size must be configured in both Sway and X. Font size for terminals like Kitty. Display managers often have their own separate config, e.g. SDDM. Its a nightmare.
- larrik 5y ago
  I know this comment is aging, but I had to configure every app individually in Linux Mint 18 (which I acknowledge is older), whereas macOS I just moved a slider. That said, I didn't realize until just now it could have been due to being on such an older Linux Mint, so maybe I'm just way out of date.
michaelmrose 5y ago
Linux actually has excellent 4K support. If you primarily use KDE and QT applications under x11 what you need to do is virtually nothing or set DPI. GTK apps can be adjusted by setting GDK_SCALE=Integer. If you want to tweak text bigger or smaller set your default font size in GTK/KDE settings to be larger or smaller. There is an entire section on handles you can tweak in different environments odds are you need few of them save for the above as things are increasingly automatic. For example GDK_SCALE is enough for firefox to look correct without also fiddling with anything internal to firefox. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI Essentially hidpi on Linux is spending 5 minutes reading a wiki then enumerable hours using the system.
- secondcoming 5y ago
  It's 2022. Linux should be past the point of requiring people to hunt for a config file so they can edit it to get a usable display.
  - michaelmrose 5y ago
    It's a free software provided gratis by volunteers. Desktop Linux is mostly by techies and for techies despite any other aspirations. Things that work great but require configuration don't always get looked at or worked on. This is especially true if they only effect a tiny minority of users. https://linux-hardware.org/?view=mon_resolution https://linux-hardware.org/?view=mon_resolution You should absolutely volunteer your time to address high dpi configuration out of the box across several of the most popular distros. I mean for example KDE software already works basically perfectly right out of the box. So all you really need to do is automate the process of choosing ideal font sizes, scaling settings etc. Push out looks-right.sh to various distros to be run at installation.

by larrik 5y ago

MH15 5y ago

Yeah I was -this close- to buying the Framework laptop when my 2017 MBP died (I'm not gentle with my electronics) but I needed a laptop soon and the M1 Air was ~200 cheaper than the Framework would have been. It's the best computer I've ever owned hands down. I do wish I got the Framework for Linux but I can work fine in macos.

napkin 5y ago

Hmm what do you mean by piss poor 4k support? I have a 27" 4k display and so far things have been great with debian/gnome at 200% scaling. From what I can tell at least integer scaling is pretty good in most Linux desktop environments.

colordrops 5y ago
Gnome is the only linux desktop environment that got 4k (sort of) right. If you don't like gnome then you are on your own. I use sway/wayland for work and i3/xorg for home and I got them to work in 4k after days of customization. Wayland, X, sway, each version of gtk, qt, and various apps all have their own configuration, each which need to be configured separately, often with conflicting results, and when finally functioning, still don't work very well.
- Macha 5y ago
  What are you configuring for 4k?
  - colordrops 5y ago
    I set base DPI to native. Then set GDK environment variables to scale up to double so UI and fonys aren't tiny in apps like chromium. QT scaling env variables, and the Trolltech conf for font size in apps like Beyond Compare. Then a HiDPI font config for Gimp. Each version of GTK has its own dconf settings. Then there's Firefox which requires an environment variable for HiDPI in wayland. Mouse cursor size must be configured in both Sway and X. Font size for terminals like Kitty. Display managers often have their own separate config, e.g. SDDM. Its a nightmare.
larrik 5y ago
I know this comment is aging, but I had to configure every app individually in Linux Mint 18 (which I acknowledge is older), whereas macOS I just moved a slider. That said, I didn't realize until just now it could have been due to being on such an older Linux Mint, so maybe I'm just way out of date.

michaelmrose 5y ago

Linux actually has excellent 4K support. If you primarily use KDE and QT applications under x11 what you need to do is virtually nothing or set DPI. GTK apps can be adjusted by setting GDK_SCALE=Integer. If you want to tweak text bigger or smaller set your default font size in GTK/KDE settings to be larger or smaller. There is an entire section on handles you can tweak in different environments odds are you need few of them save for the above as things are increasingly automatic. For example GDK_SCALE is enough for firefox to look correct without also fiddling with anything internal to firefox. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI Essentially hidpi on Linux is spending 5 minutes reading a wiki then enumerable hours using the system.

secondcoming 5y ago
It's 2022. Linux should be past the point of requiring people to hunt for a config file so they can edit it to get a usable display.
- michaelmrose 5y ago
  It's a free software provided gratis by volunteers. Desktop Linux is mostly by techies and for techies despite any other aspirations. Things that work great but require configuration don't always get looked at or worked on. This is especially true if they only effect a tiny minority of users. https://linux-hardware.org/?view=mon_resolution https://linux-hardware.org/?view=mon_resolution You should absolutely volunteer your time to address high dpi configuration out of the box across several of the most popular distros. I mean for example KDE software already works basically perfectly right out of the box. So all you really need to do is automate the process of choosing ideal font sizes, scaling settings etc. Push out looks-right.sh to various distros to be run at installation.