I have a 27" 4K monitor and a 24" 1080p monitor. On Windows I can set a different scale value for each monitor so things on the small monitor look as they always have and the contents of the 4K monitor aren’t so tiny.
With Clear Linux (or any linux) I am not finding this feature anywhere.
I’ve come across various blog posts and tutorials that say the feature has been enabled in gnome and I have followed the steps, but still switching the scale value on one display, changes it for both.
Before I tear out ALL my hair, I thought I’d ask here and see if it’s even supported and maybe there’s a much easier way of using it.
Thank you.
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I assume this is something GNOME would have to control for you, but I’m not even sure that it’s possible just like that under X - this is the first time I’ve heard of it.
Can you link these? Perhaps we can learn something from that.
I know you can scale everything, but I’ve never heard of per-monitor scaling TBH.
Yes that’s one of them (not the link, but the content is certainly familiar).
Here’s another one:
There were a couple more, but I can’t find them in my history or remember the search terms that lead to them.
To clarify, The way Windows does it is that the monitor still displays in its native resolution (e.g. 24" is 1920x1080 and the 27" is 3840x2160). What is scaled are the icons and the fonts.
Fractional scaling means you can set the scaling value to be a float rather than an integer. It has nothing to do with different scaling for different display.
If you would read the exact section of the link, you will see that in the example, you may separately set scaling values for each dispaly.
@copolii - yes this issue is a pain and has been what’s prevented me seriously considering any Linux as a primary OS on my laptop.
However there is possible light here: according to HiDPI - ArchWiki, this already works in Wayland.
I don’t know whether the Gnome settings UI knows about this and allows you to set the scaling per-monitor. If not there’ll surely be a cli-based way to do it.
Edit: just tried a live Fedora image (as it has Wayland by default). Sure enough - the Gnome display settings allow you to set a different scaling factor for each monitor. I imagine Clear Linux has a Wayland package available, in which case I’d give that a go.
I added this guide last week. Partial scaling works on gnome with wayland using
native gtk apps only.
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Thanks @xopher_mc . This thread’s title is a bit misleading (the OP was really asking about per-monitor scaling). But I’m just trying Clear Linux out, & your guide will be useful for me.
@copolii - I can confirm that per-monitor scaling works on Clear Linux with the devpkg-wayland bundle installed. After installation you’ll need to log out, then when you log back in choose a wayland instead of an X session from the login screen.
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Are there any updates?
I use multi monitor and sometimes different sizes. What I usually do is try to accomplish this at the widow or application level by permanently placing a go-to app or window (or two with tiling) on the oddball monitor with some custom zoom or scaling applied to it.