Linux High DPI Settings
I am told that with Windows or Mac, everything just works with a high resolution screen. Gnome and KDE are getting good at it too. But I run OpenBox with a boring theme, for one simple reason. When I take screen shots for a new edition of one of my books, I don't need to worry about changing window decorations and UI elements.
For many years, I didn't have to touch my window manager setup. But I recently got a new laptop with a “WQUXGA” display (3840 x 2400), and everything was teensy-tiny when I booted into OpenBox.
At first I didn't care because my external monitor didn't change, and just set the resolution to 1920x1200. But when I traveled over Christmas, I got curious. Would it be nicer at full resolution?
As always, the Arch wiki is an outstanding resource, even for users of other Linux flavors. (I use Ubuntu.) I was a bit overwhelmed by the level of detail, and it turns out I didn't need quite as much.
I have a script to switch between video modes. The script looks at the external monitor (if any) and dual screen options, then computes an optimal display layout. It sets Xft.dpi to 192 or 96 in ~/.Xresources, depending on the chosen resolution.
