Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa is really around the corner: after the arrival of the beta in a few days we will be able to put our hand on the final release prepared by Canonical. An interesting novelty I haven't told you about yet is the arrival of fractional scaling in the system settings.
For the uninitiated, fractional scaling allows scaling to atypical resolutions (e.g. 125% or 150%) and is very useful for those with a HiDPI screen. Mind you, fractional scaling is not a new feature, it was already present in previous versions of Ubuntu, however, it will no longer be a hidden function, accessible only to those who know how to use the terminal and its commands.
Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa: new setting for Fractional Scaling
Support for this feature is not automatically active on Ubuntu: the system does not automatically detect the best setting. If you want to activate it you have to do it explicitly.
To facilitate the use of the operating system even for the less practical, Ubuntu should be usable by anyone, the developers have decided to insert a switch to enable fractional scaling in the panel Settings > Screen Display.
Now it's really easy to activate scaling between 100% and 200%:
Despite this novelty, the FS is still considered in an experimental state. By activating it, the system warns you that "it can increase energy consumption, reduce speed or reduce display sharpness". With the now wide spread of high-resolution displays it would be ridiculous to release Ubuntu 20.04 (LTS) without this setting. Certainly, in the coming months, the Canonical developers and the community will work to improve this feature by solving any problems (performance, consumption, etc). Surely those who have a 2K or even 4K display will find the use of intermediate values (e.g. 125%) optimal compared to the default setting.
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