What is the best way to go about scaling only one monitor?
by d745fba1cb70ab9dc02a80ee from LinuxQuestions.org on (#52ZXS)
I'm using XFCE on Arch. My setup is two monitors: A 19 inch 1440x900 monitor is my main monitor and is mounted above my laptop's built in 1920x1080 15.6 screen. (My laptop screen is better than the external, but the external one is the primary so I can have my main monitor high and my keyboard low for ergonomics, something which using both the builtin monitor and keyboard on the laptop won't allow.) However, this difference in dpi creates a problem: using global font sizing and UI scaling, I can have everything be the right size on my laptop screen but way too big on the external screen, the right size on the external screen but way too small on the laptop screen, or I can compromise and have everything be the wrong size on both screens.
Obviously, that is annoying. I'd like to have everything be the same physical size on both screens. Also, I'd like the decision for which monitor to scale to be based on the monitor's serial number if possible, or at least to monitors on VGA, and not to whichever monitor is designated as the primary monitor. This is because when we're not in quarantine, I use my laptop on the go with just the built-in monitor, and I don't want my built-in screen becoming tiny when the VGA screen is gone.
If there's no way to actually make font and UI scaling different on different screens, is there at least a way to have that screen treated as if it has more pixels than it actually does (such as 2160x1350) and then scale it down before outputting it to the physical screen? I know this will be more GPU intensive, but it seems like it would require the least amount of configuration change.
Obviously, that is annoying. I'd like to have everything be the same physical size on both screens. Also, I'd like the decision for which monitor to scale to be based on the monitor's serial number if possible, or at least to monitors on VGA, and not to whichever monitor is designated as the primary monitor. This is because when we're not in quarantine, I use my laptop on the go with just the built-in monitor, and I don't want my built-in screen becoming tiny when the VGA screen is gone.
If there's no way to actually make font and UI scaling different on different screens, is there at least a way to have that screen treated as if it has more pixels than it actually does (such as 2160x1350) and then scale it down before outputting it to the physical screen? I know this will be more GPU intensive, but it seems like it would require the least amount of configuration change.