Can Linux deal with ultra high resolution displays?
The Gnome / Wayland / X developers are working on this. As with OS X and Windows, the solution will probably involve decoupling applications' idea of a "pixel" from physical pixels. This is kind of silly, but solves the problem for software that makes assumptions about DPI and the relative size of a pixel.
There's an update on this from Gnome developer Alexander Larsson here: HiDPI support in Gnome.
Please excuse my poor English. I want to share the experience I had regarding the high screen resolution and linux OS, since the information on the internet is quite scarce so far. I am an happy owner of the Dell XPS 15 Haswell 9530, with a screen resolution of 3200x1800. I have tried Debian, Ubuntu (Kubuntu/Cinnamon/Mate/Unity/Cubuntu etc.) and Mint other the last week; all of them were not satisfactory even though I spent some time configuring them. I finally got a very nice display and experience with Gnome 3 (very beautiful) and since it really improves my computer experience, I think that I should share my configuration :
Here the steps I suggest :
-Use the UbuntuGnome distribution (I have tried to install Gnome 3 alongside with Unity but it was a disaster) : https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuGNOME/GetUbuntuGNOME. After installing it, update it (sudo apt-get dist-upgrade)
-Use the default Gnome 3 and not the classic one
Alt+F2 : "gnome-tweak-tool". Modify ONLY the text-scaling-factor (I personally use 2.5). Don't modify the other fonts. The window size will adjust automatically
Firefox : install the extension Default Full Zoom Level (extension). I personally use 250% No need to tweak the font, else it will distort webpages. The zoom solution is very clean.
Icon size for nautilus : use dconf-editor (org-gnome-nautilus) to tweak the size as you prefer (largest for me) and also the thumbnail size
To improve gnome 3 experience : using gnome-tweak-tool again, activate the gnome extensions "show applications", "show places" and download and activate "frippery bottom panel".
Generally speaking, try to use as much as possible the gnome applications (nautilus/evolution/etc.), as the font adjust automatically
I hope it will be useful.
Kind regards,
Romain