I am using arch linux and the X11 based i3wm.
My notebook have a native resolution of 2880*1800 pixels on – a less or more – small screen.
If I set the scree-resolution to 1440*900 pixels the result is a bit blurred. I think the monitor uses the bilinear scaling strategy on hardware level.
To get a sharp quarter resolution with little aliasing I run xrandr as followed:
xrandr --output <my_screen> --scale 0.5x0.5 --filter nearest
This creates a virtual screen but I opine that there is the native resolution still in background.
Is there any chance to get the real quarter resolution of any screen with nearest neighbor up scaling?
After some deliberations I am sure there is no possibility on computers software level. Every pixel orientated monitor have a native (sharp) resolution and every signal with lower resolution leave it to the monitor how to scale this lower resolution up to monitors native resolution and this will almost happen by bilinear scaling. Thats it.
The virtal screen is still a great strategy to keep a sharp screen on a high ppi display in the face of a lower resolution with better graphic performance.