Feature Request: Windows-like Display Scaling / UI Sizing

[siyamsec-lab]

Feature Request: Windows-like Display Scaling / UI Sizing

Problem

As an AnduinOS user, I have noticed a display-scaling issue that can make the desktop feel noticeably smaller than Windows, even when both systems are using the same native display resolution.

For example, on a laptop with a 1920×1080 display, Windows may use a default scaling level such as 125%. When switching to Linux, the same display can appear significantly smaller if the desktop is effectively rendering at 100% scale.

The resolution itself is not the problem. The problem is the effective UI size.

On Linux, this can make:

• Text appear smaller than expected
• Application menus and controls feel undersized
• Window title bars and buttons become smaller
• GNOME interface elements feel less comfortable to use
• Touchpads/mice require more precise movement because UI targets are smaller
• Users migrating from Windows feel that the Linux desktop is visually "shrunk"

This is particularly noticeable on laptops and high-DPI displays.

Proposed Feature

I would like to suggest a Windows-like display scaling option in AnduinOS, ideally integrated into the Appearance or Display settings.

Instead of requiring users to understand DPI, fractional scaling, text scaling, and related Linux-specific concepts, AnduinOS could provide an easier experience such as:

Windows-like scaling

• 100%
• 125%
• 150%
• 175%
• 200%

The goal would not be to change the monitor's physical/native resolution. The goal would be to make the overall desktop UI size comparable to what users normally experience on Windows.

Automatic / Recommended Scaling

An even better implementation could detect the display characteristics and recommend an appropriate scale automatically.

For example:

Display detected
    ↓
Resolution: 1920 × 1080
    ↓
Physical display size / DPI estimation
    ↓
Current Linux scaling
    ↓
Recommended UI scale
    ↓
Windows-like preset

The user could then see something like:

Recommended: 125% — Windows-like

with an option to apply it.

Important Detail

I don't think this should simply be implemented as a hardcoded GNOME scaling value.

Different displays have different pixel densities, and fractional scaling can behave differently depending on the desktop environment and applications.

Ideally, the feature would provide a consistent effective UI size, including appropriate handling of:

• GNOME display scaling
• Fractional scaling
• Text scaling
• GTK application rendering
• XWayland applications where applicable
• Cursor size
• General desktop UI elements

Preview and Safe Revert

It would also be useful to have a temporary preview mechanism.

For example:

Apply 125% scaling?

[ Apply ]

You have 15 seconds to confirm.
If you don't confirm, the previous settings
will automatically be restored.

This would prevent users from accidentally applying an unsuitable scaling level and becoming stuck with an unusable desktop.

Why I think this would be useful for AnduinOS

One of AnduinOS's strengths is making Linux feel more approachable for users coming from Windows.

Display scaling is one of those areas where a technically correct Linux configuration can still feel wrong from a user's perspective.

A user may have:

Windows
1920×1080
125% scaling
→ comfortable UI

AnduinOS
1920×1080
100% scaling
→ noticeably smaller UI

Both systems are technically using the same resolution, but the perceived desktop experience is different.

Having a simple Windows-like scaling option would reduce friction for users migrating from Windows and make AnduinOS feel more familiar without requiring users to understand the underlying Linux display-scaling mechanisms.

Suggested UI

Something as simple as:

Display Scaling

○ 100%
● 125%   Recommended — Windows-like
○ 150%
○ 175%
○ 200%

[ Preview ]   [ Apply ]

An Advanced section could expose the actual GNOME/Linux scaling controls for users who want more control.

Scope

I would suggest initially targeting GNOME + Wayland, since that would keep the implementation manageable. Support for other environments could be considered later.

This request is primarily about improving the out-of-box display experience, rather than adding another complicated configuration interface.

Thanks for considering it.

[Anduin2017]

Isn't gnome control center already supports it?

[siyamsec-lab]

Yes, GNOME Control Center does support display scaling, and I may not have explained the problem clearly enough.

My request isn't about adding a basic scaling control that GNOME doesn't already have. The issue I'm referring to is the default/effective UI sizing compared with Windows, especially on laptop displays.

For example, on the same 1920×1080 laptop display, Windows may use 125% scaling and the desktop feels comfortable to use, while a fresh Linux installation can feel noticeably smaller at its default scaling. I can manually adjust GNOME's scaling, but my point is more about making the experience easier and more consistent for users migrating from Windows.

What I had in mind was an AnduinOS-level experience on top of GNOME, such as:

• Detecting the display and suggesting a comfortable scale
• Providing a simple "Windows-like" or "Recommended" option
• Making fractional scaling easier to understand
• Considering text/UI/cursor sizing together rather than expecting users to tune individual settings
• Providing a safe temporary preview/revert when testing a new scale

So I agree that the underlying scaling functionality already exists in GNOME. My suggestion is more about AnduinOS's default configuration and UX around scaling, rather than recreating GNOME Control Center's existing functionality.

The reason I raised this is because I personally encountered the issue while working with Linux/Kali in VMware, where the interface felt significantly smaller than what I'm accustomed to on Windows, despite using a similar resolution.

If AnduinOS already has a recommended scaling configuration that addresses this, I'd be interested to know how it is intended to work.

[Anduin2017]

Ack. So this affects default scaling. Will consider that!

[Anduin2017]

Hi @siyamsec-lab, thanks for the suggestion and for clarifying the experience you wanted to improve!

We have now added recommended display scaling to the AnduinOS OOBE app / Welcome Center. The implementation has been pushed to our package repository in commit d0c13b6e, with the OOBE package revision bumped to 2.0.2-9. It includes localization resources for all 28 supported languages.

Your request helped us identify a useful improvement: make a suitable UI size easy to discover during setup, with a recommendation based on the display itself.

What users will see

On the visual customization page, between the light/dark theme selection and the taskbar layout settings, there is now a compact Display Scaling control.

• The subtitle identifies the primary display and shows its recommended scale.
• The dropdown initially selects the display's actual current scale.
• The suggested entry is labeled 166.67% (Recommended), for example.
• Selecting an entry applies the scale immediately through GNOME's display configuration interface.

Opening this page does not change the user's settings. The recommendation is optional, and users can choose whichever supported scale feels most comfortable.

How we calculate the recommendation

1. Read the display's resolution and physical dimensions

We query GNOME's compositor, Mutter, for the primary display, its current pixel resolution, its current scale, and the scales supported by the current display mode.

For physical dimensions, we read the display's EDID—the information supplied by the monitor to the operating system. We prefer dimensions reported in millimetres over the less precise centimetre values. Where available, physical dimensions exposed by Mutter can also be used.

The calculation is:

Diagonal in inches = sqrt(width_mm² + height_mm²) / 25.4

Pixel PPI = sqrt(horizontal_pixels² + vertical_pixels²) / diagonal_inches

Effective PPI = pixel_PPI / scale_factor

Here, scale_factor is 1.5 for 150%, 2.0 for 200%, and so on. “Effective PPI” describes how many logical UI pixels fit into one physical inch. A lower effective PPI means larger text and controls. The panel's physical pixel density does not change.

We use the current pixel resolution for this calculation. At native resolution, the calculated pixel PPI corresponds to the panel's physical pixel density.

2. Estimate whether the primary display is a laptop panel

We use a small heuristic score:

Evidence	Score
The display is built in	+4
The firmware reports a portable chassis type, such as a notebook or convertible	+4
A system battery is detected, excluding batteries reported as belonging to peripheral devices	+2
The built-in display is smaller than 20 inches	+1

For built-in displays, a score of 6 or more selects the laptop target. External displays receive a score of zero: an external monitor attached to a laptop should not automatically be treated as a laptop panel.

Our initial targets are:

• 146 effective PPI for likely laptop panels.
• 96 effective PPI for other physical displays.

These are starting points for comfort, rather than universal standards. Laptop screens are commonly viewed more closely, so a higher effective density can be useful. Viewing distance, eyesight, and personal preference still matter. These values are our own recommendation policy; we are not claiming to reproduce Windows' scaling algorithm.

3. Choose an available scale

The theoretical scale is:

Theoretical scale = pixel_PPI / target_effective_PPI

We then evaluate the scales Mutter reports as supported and select the one whose resulting effective PPI is closest to the target:

Choose the supported scale that minimizes:
abs(pixel_PPI / scale - target_effective_PPI)

This means the menu follows the capabilities of the current display mode. It can include values such as 133.33% or 166.67%, rather than being limited to 25-percentage-point increments.

A real example

On my approximately 14-inch laptop, the panel reports 2880 × 1800 pixels over 302 × 189 mm, which works out to approximately 242.14 PPI.

Display scale	Effective PPI
150%	161.42
166.67%	145.28
200%	121.07

For the 146-PPI laptop target, the theoretical scale is approximately 165.85%. The closest supported option is 166.67%, so that entry receives the recommendation label. This also matches my own preference on this machine: 150% feels too small, while 200% feels too large.

What changes, and the current scope

The control changes GNOME's display scale while preserving the selected resolution and refresh rate. It lets users adjust the overall desktop UI size without first having to work through the density calculations above. It does not separately adjust text scaling or cursor settings; application rendering continues to follow GNOME and the application's own scaling support.

The implementation targets GNOME/Mutter, particularly Wayland. For multiple displays, it preserves secondary display scales and adjusts neighbouring screen positions as necessary to keep the layout connected. Mirrored displays use their common supported scales; we omit a density recommendation for a mirrored primary group because it may contain physically different screens.

Before applying a change, we ask Mutter to validate the configuration. If it fails, the dropdown returns to the actual current setting and shows an error. This first implementation does not add the separate 15-second preview/confirmation countdown proposed above.

If usable physical dimensions are unavailable, users can still select supported scales, but we do not invent a density-based recommendation. Your VMware example is particularly relevant here: a virtual display may not report dimensions that correspond to the host's real monitor, so an automatic recommendation may be unavailable or unsuitable.

The recommendation should also be understood as a useful starting point: depending on a laptop's size and resolution, it can still recommend 100%. Users remain free to choose a larger UI.

Thanks again for raising this and explaining the distinction between resolution and comfortable UI sizing. It has led to a concrete improvement in our setup experience, and feedback from more displays will help us refine the recommendation policy.

[siyamsec-lab]

Thank you so much for taking the time to implement this and for the detailed explanation! I really appreciate that you took my use case seriously and turned the suggestion into a concrete improvement in the OOBE/Welcome Center.

I’m especially glad to see the recommendation being based on the display’s physical characteristics and supported Mutter scales rather than simply using fixed scaling percentages. The handling of different displays and the VMware limitation is also a great touch.

Thank you again to everyone involved in the implementation, and for giving my suggestion the opportunity to contribute to AnduinOS. I’m looking forward to testing it on different displays and seeing how the recommendation behaves in real-world use cases. 🙏

[FromLinuxWithLove]

AnduinOS rocks. 🚀
Can't wait for Version 2.0.3.

[Anduin2017]

2.0.3 is released. Please test it again.

[FromLinuxWithLove]

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