Monitors¶
OmarOS assumes you're running on a 2x-capable retina-class display by default. This is what you need to get those nice, crisp programmer fonts. It's what almost all new premium laptops with high-resolution screens are optimized for. It's what you'd want to run on a 27" 5K Apple Studio Display/ProArt PA27JCV/Samsung S9/Kuycon G27P or 32" 6K Apple XDR/ProArt PA32QCV/Kuycon G32P.
But if you're not running a display with a PPI of 218 or above, you'll want to change the monitor settings. For example, if you have a 27" or 32" 4K, you can use fractional scaling by opening ~/.config/hypr/monitors.lua (via Setup > Monitors in the OmarOS menu) and switching to the recommendation for that combo:
If you're using a 1080p or 1440p display, you'll probably just want to use 1x scaling, so you can use:
Changes to GDK_SCALE apply to applications started after the change (and GTK only honors whole numbers, so keep it at the nearest integer of your monitor scale). So make sure you quit the windows that you have that are oversized after the change (or close all windows with Ctrl + Alt + Del!).
You can also quickly step through the major monitor scaling ratios (1x, 1.25x, 1.6x, 2x, 3x, 4x) using Super + / to go higher and Super + Alt + / to go lower. If you have the default configuration, these changes will also persist past reboot.
Making text bigger or smaller¶
Monitor scaling changes the size of everything. If all you want is bigger or smaller text, there's a single knob for that:
That takes a pixel size between 9 and 20, and moves the OmarOS shell, GTK applications, and your terminal together, so the whole desktop stays in proportion. Run it without an argument to see where you're at, and omaros display text size reset to go back to the default. Foot is the one straggler: it has no way to reload its config, so running terminals keep their old size until you open a new one.
Extending and mirroring laptop displays¶
When you connect an external screen to your laptop, the display is automatically extended. But you can change that to mirroring instead using Trigger > Hardware in the OmarOS menu or Super + Ctrl + Alt + Delete. This is especially helpful if that external screen is a projector, and you want to show something while working.
When you're extending, closing the lid on the laptop will automatically turn off the internal screen. Opening the lid will turn it back on. You can also control this manually using Trigger > Hardware in the OmarOS menu or Super + Ctrl + Delete.
Arranging multiple screens¶
Hyprland works great with multiple screens. Read more about how to lay them out in the Hyprland monitor documentation. In OmarOS, these go in ~/.config/hypr/monitors.lua as hl.monitor entries — the file ships with commented examples for pinning a specific monitor to a resolution, position, and rotation.
Every monitor has workspaces 1 through 10 of its own, so Super + 1 always means the first workspace of the monitor you're on. Behind the scenes, Hyprland still numbers workspaces across all monitors: your laptop screen (or first monitor) gets 1–10, the next monitor 11–20, and so on, and each monitor keeps its block every time you plug it in. Use those numbers if you write workspace rules or window rules for a specific monitor, so workspace 12 is the second workspace of your second monitor. ~/.local/state/omaros/monitor-workspaces lists which block each monitor has.
The arrow keys work across monitors that share an edge in your layout. Screens that only touch at a corner, or that have a gap between them, aren't neighbors, so use Ctrl + Alt + Tab to get between them.
| Hotkey | Across monitors |
|---|---|
Super + Arrow |
Moves focus to the monitor on that side once there's no window left in that direction |
Super + Shift + Arrow |
Swaps with a window on the monitor on that side |
Super + Alt + Arrow |
Moves the window into a group on the monitor on that side |
Super + Shift + Ctrl + Arrow |
Moves the window to the monitor on that side, onto the workspace it's showing |
Super + Shift + Alt + Arrow |
Moves the workspace to the monitor on that side, keeping its number if it's free |
Ctrl + Alt + Tab / Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Tab |
Moves focus to the next or previous monitor, whatever the layout |
Super + 1-0, Super + Tab, Super + Scroll Wheel |
Stay on the monitor you're on |
You can also checkout Hyprmon, if you'd like a TUI to help you with the positioning of multiple screens.
Controlling brightness¶
Monitor brightness is controlled by the dedicated function keys for brightness up/down. If you hold down shift while pressing these, you'll go to maximum or minimum brightness. The keys control the display you're focused on, so external monitors that speak DDC/CI are adjusted the same way as the laptop screen.
Apple Displays¶
If you're using an Apple display, the regular keyboard brightness keys will also automatically work, if you're focused on the Apple display. This is done through the asdcontrol command.
Note that if you're using an Apple 6K XDR display, you may see a phantom screen in your hyprctl monitors listing. You can turn this off with something like hl.monitor({ output = "DP-2", disabled = true }) via Setup > Monitors.
On Intel machines, you should be connecting to Apple displays using a regular Thunderbolt cable. On other machines without Thunderbolt, you'll typically have to use a DP + USB-A -> USB-C cable to make it work.