---
title: "Adventures with my Pixelbook: Linux Scaling Mode"
subtitle: Be warned, it's kind of janky
unlisted: true
---

This is just a quick update on one of the largest issues I've had with the
ChromeOS Linux app support: display scaling.

ChromeOS has a display scaling mode for Linux applications that don't handle the
high-DPI screen very well, and it generally works okay.  It's a bit blurry, but
better than having a tiny UI in some applications.

The downside is that to enable this mode for an app, you need to pin that app
to your taskbar.

I'm not particularly fond of having a full taskbar, so I like to keep just the
essentials on there - and what about apps I need to launch with command line
parameters?  Those can't be pinned to the taskbar without losing that ability.

If you've run into this issue, then don't worry - there is a solution!

ChromeOS's Linux container is allowed to draw to the screen through a special
X11 server that is run _inside_ the container, and then forwards that image
to the Wayland server running in ChromeOS.  The magical screen scaling?  It's
just a second X11 server!

Therein lies the trick to start apps with window scaling,
simply set the `DISPLAY` environment variable to `:1`.

```shell
DISPLAY=:1 firefox
```

Enjoy running your Linux apps without needing a magnifying glass!