I have just fresh installed Lubuntu 20.04 (after failed upgrade from 18.04 that resulted in boot loop on auto login.) The (desktop) machine has basic 4K monitor (AOC U2790B), Nvidia GT710 video adapter, and I’ve installed nvidia-driver-470 (proprietary, tested.)
I want to run the monitor without font scaling, so the desktop and all applications work at the native resolution of the monitor.
I cannot see how to do this. I’ve tried making adjustments via Preferences > LXQt settings > Appearance > Font and I see no way to “just use the native monitor.” Is this possible? Coming from LUbuntu 18.04 (for which I don’t recall any such difficulties), I am at a loss as to how to recreate the apparently “lightweight” mode I am accustomed to.
If Lubuntu is no longer a good choice for lightweight, simple desktop environment, I’d be grateful for pointer to another distribution that is based on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
Sorry - don’t see a way to edit the post - the trigger for a fresh install of Lubuntu 20.04 was after a software update cycle (staying with 18.04) that produced the boot loop. I’m OK to transfer to 20.04 as long as I can tame the desktop back to native resolution (so all applications and the desktop “see” a 4K monitor.)
You should be able to edit your post; I’d look for a pencil type of icon which will say “edit this post” when you hover it.
I’m not sure from what you stated what release you’re actually running. Lubuntu 18.04 LTS was the last release using the deprecated LXDE desktop using deprecated GTK2 libraries, and it did not have an upgrade path without re-install.
If you look at release notes after it, eg. Lubuntu 20.04.2 it clearly states
Note, due to the extensive changes required for the shift in desktop environments, the Lubuntu team does not support upgrading from 18.04 or below to any greater release. Doing so will result in a broken system. If you are on 18.04 or below and would like to upgrade, please do a fresh install.
Lubuntu 18.04 LTS is no longer supported here, having reached its EOL some time ago. The 18.04 warning/reference wasn’t placed on Lubuntu 20.04.3 release notes as Lubuntu 18.04 LTS had already reached it’s EOL & thus it made no sense to include it.
Lubuntu is a good choice for “lightweight, simple desktop environment”; being light is the reason the port of LXDE from it’s deprecated GTK2 to more modern GTK3 was abandoned, and the dev team instead joined with Razor-Qt creating the replacement LXQt desktop Lubuntu now uses. Light is the meaning of the first letter in LXQt.
I used laptops with with only 1GB of RAM in QA-testing Lubuntu 18.10 & into the 19.04 cycle; though I upgraded to 2GB for later releases as a minimum (though most testing is done on 4GB or more). Light is a goal taken seriously by LXQt.
At this point with some time pressures, I’ve given up on Lubuntu as of 20.04 - it seems to have strayed too far from the lightweight model - and am installing Ubuntu 20.04 and will go with that.
I gave up and evicted Lubuntu 20.04; there were multiple font management problems - browser in particular looked like a ransom note with tiny fonts and other proportion problems. I shouldn’t have to decide a DPI in this case, I just wanted pixel-for-pixel rendering on a 4K monitor.
I’ve used and preferred Lubuntu since version 12 with good results, but the changes introduced in 20.04 were a show-stopper and I’ve migrated off to Ubuntu 20.04 which seems to have font scaling, application font delivery, and optional video drivers working well together.
The video drivers are identical for Ubuntu and all flavors (including Lubuntu) if it’s for the same release & you’re using the same kernel stack choice. Ubuntu LTS releases offer two kernel stack choices; with Lubuntu the default is chosen by ISO used to install (20.04 & 20.04.1 use GA, 20.04.2 & later use HWE); Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop uses HWE for all, though Ubuntu Server ISOs using subiquity allow you to change it at install time. Ubuntu and flavors all use the same repositories.
Ubuntu Desktop includes more on it’s ISO (thus is far larger), so more is setup at install time, where as with Lubuntu they are added post-install being downloaded from the Ubuntu repositories. The result though is the same.