Difference between revisions of "HiDPI XQuartz"

Revision as of 14:13, 29 July 2020

XQuartz doesn't support HiDPI in any reasonable way, but you can sort of make it work on a temporary basis.

Assuming you want to run a remote X application, and you want that application to use HiDPI

install XQuartz
for example brew cask install xquartz
enable full screen mode in XQuartz
ssh -Snone -X z800.local
-Snone is important because session multiplexing doesn't work very well with X forwarding.
run xterm
we need an X (non-native) terminal for later.
in a native terminal run xrandr --output default --mode 5120x2880 --dpi 218
unfortunately we can't make this permanent, after this, you will be in high resolution full screen X, with a very tiny xterm.
run whatever application from that xterm
you might need to force HiDPI mode for that application, but it should have all pixels available.
to get out of X, press CMD+Opt+A
unfortunately this turns off the X resolution
to get back into X at the correct resolution, run xrandr --output default --mode 5120x2880 --dpi 218 again in the native terminal.

It's awful, but it works.

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 == Instructions ==
-# One
+Assuming you want to run a remote X application, and you want that application to use HiDPI
-# Two
+# install XQuartz
+#: for example <code>brew cask install xquartz</code>
+# enable full screen mode in XQuartz
+# ssh -Snone -X z800.local
+#: <code>-Snone</code> is important because session multiplexing doesn't work very well with X forwarding.
+# run <code>xterm</code>
+#: we need an X (non-native) terminal for later.
+# in a native terminal run <code>xrandr --output default --mode 5120x2880 --dpi 218</code>
+#: unfortunately we can't make this permanent, after this, you will be in high resolution full screen X, with a very tiny xterm.
+# run whatever application from that xterm
+#: you might need to force HiDPI mode for that application, but it should have all pixels available.
+# to get out of X, press CMD+Opt+A
+#: unfortunately this turns off the X resolution
+# to get back into X at the correct resolution, run <code>xrandr --output default --mode 5120x2880 --dpi 218</code> again in the native terminal.
+It's awful, but it works.