I'm using Linux Mint Cinnamon on a macbook (with HiDPI display), the primary monitor looks great but the second one (which is not an HiDPI monitor) is terrible… by using xrandr
I forced it to scale 2x:
xrandr --output HDM-1 --scale 2x2
now it looks pretty good, but the pointer is limited to less than an half of the monitor (I can't move it to the right edge).
So I tried to specify a panning:
xrandr --output HDM-1 --panning widthXheight
now I can move the cursor correctly, BUT once I defined the panning the primary monitor get mirrored… WTF?? I don't want to mirror the main monitor, but instead to have an extra one… what should I do?
ps. moreover the pointer appears huge on the second monitor
UPDATE:
the full commands with related output are:
retrieving monitor info:
xrandr
which prints:
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 4800 x 1800, maximum 8192 x 8192
eDP-1 connected primary 2880x1800+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 331mm x 207mm
2880x1800 60.0*+
1920x1200 59.9
1920x1080 60.0
1600x1200 59.9
1680x1050 60.0
1400x1050 60.0
1280x1024 59.9
1280x960 59.9
1152x864 60.0
1024x768 59.9
800x600 59.9
640x480 59.4
720x400 59.6
640x400 60.0
640x350 59.8
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 connected 1920x1080+2880+278 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 531mm x 299mm
1920x1080 60.0*+ 50.0 59.9
1920x1080i 60.1 50.0 60.0
1680x1050 59.9
1600x900 60.0
1280x1024 75.0 60.0
1280x800 59.9
1152x864 75.0
1280x720 60.0 50.0 59.9
1440x576i 50.1
1024x768 75.1 60.0
1440x480i 60.1 60.1
832x624 74.6
800x600 75.0 60.3
720x576 50.0
720x480 60.0 59.9
640x480 75.0 60.0 59.9
720x400 70.1
VGA1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
VIRTUAL1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
apply the scaling+panning to the second monitor:
xrandr --output HDMI-1 --scale 2x2 --panning 1920x1080 --verbose
and this is the output:
screen 0: 6720x2438 1777x644 mm 96.05dpi
crtc 3: 1920x1080 60.0 +2880+278 "HDMI-1"
Best Answer
Only scaling and panning wont help. You have to specify the side of your external monitor. Please check my command, i am using external monitor to the right of my native laptop display. I have yoga 2 pro with resolution 3200x1800 and external FHD monitor. In my case i use xrandr panning option:
Basically if your hidpi monitor is AxB pixels and your regular monitor is CxD and you are scaling by [ExF], the commandline for right-of is: