I'm really struggling with getting Linux to work properly on my 4K laptop. I initially tried Arch with i3, but the scaling is way off no matter what adjustments I make. Even after tweaking my xinitrc and font sizes, it didn't help. Then I switched to Debian with KDE; it was a bit better, but each app has a different cursor size, which is super annoying. I even tried XFCE, but still no luck. I've done my research on the HiDPI section of the Arch Wiki, but I'm starting to think this might be a hardware issue since even Grub's text is way too small. Has anyone figured out a solution to this?
5 Answers
If you prefer a tiling window manager like i3, consider giving Hyprland a shot. It's designed for Wayland and makes scaling much simpler! Plus, there are some good resources on their wiki for setting it up.
Honestly, the latest versions of GNOME or KDE on Wayland will give you the best HiDPI experience. Xorg just complicates things with scaling settings. It sounds like you've been running into issues by switching desktop environments and distros without the right setup for 4K.
Have you tried using Wayland? X11 isn't great for 4K displays from my experience. I switched to Plasma with Wayland on my 4K laptop and it works really well!
Have you considered trying Fedora? It runs well with either GNOME or KDE and tends to have better support for HiDPI displays.
You might want to check the display settings in KDE. There’s usually an option for how scaling is handled across apps. That might solve your cursor issue at least.
Thanks for the suggestion!