[Discuss] 4K (or 5K) resolution for Linux desktop

[richard.pieri at gmail.com (Rich Pieri)]

On 1/6/2016 10:05 AM, Mike Small wrote:
> Eh? I thought point meant point and that this only happened when
> you make the mistake of specifying your font size in pixels, e.g.
> pixelsize instead of size in fontconfig language. Though that

What point means is how large a typeface is in print. Points and picas
are absolute measurements like inches. An inch is an inch. A point is a
point.

When translated to computer screens the pixel size and density (ppi)
does matter because 100 pixels on one screen is not the same absolute
dimensions as 100 pixels on a different screen. Most contemporary
desktop environments have mechanisms for scaling so that a 1 inch line
is 1 inch regardless of the display's ppi -- but most also default to
96ppi which means you get the behavior I described.

Which brings me back to the point I made about screen size: you have to
upscale everything on a UHD screen in order to make everything appear to
be the same size as it would appear on a 1080p screen with the same
dimensions. Which is to say, the 4 times greater resolution of UHD is
wasted if you need to make everything 4 times larger in order to achieve
consistency.

Or you can use a physically larger display. A UHD display needs to be
about 4 times larger (twice as wide, twice as tall) as a 1080p display
to achieve identical (or close enough) absolute sizes of displayed
objects without scaling. If you are comfortable with a 17" display at
1080p then you will need a 35" UHD display to achieve a similar level of
comfort without scaling.

-- 
Rich P.