Much of the text is too small

[MarjaE2]

Description

I opened Octave.app

By default, some text is standard-sized, which I have trouble reading, and some is even smaller.

I know there are preferences to change command window font sizes, and editor window font sizes. I can't read parts of the prefs for editor window font sizes, because they're too small. I can't read text in the editor window, because it's too small.

Environment and Diagnostics

Please run system env in Octave.app, and copy & paste the output here:

select all did not work, and without anything to copy, copy did not work.

If your problem is weird, please also run octave_app_diagnostic_dump in Octave.app and attach its output file to this issue.

If your problem is Octave.app freezing with a spinning “beachball” mouse cursor, if you can, please take a spindump, zip it, and attach it to this issue. (To create a spindump, open Activity Monitor while Octave.app is frozen, select the octave-gui process, click the “gear” button in the upper left, and choose "Spindump".)

[apjanke]

Hmmm. I'm guessing this is a "Retina"/"HiDPI" scaling issue.

Can you try running that octave_app_diagnostic_dump and attaching the output here? I'll need some system details to diagnose this, including exact macOS version.

Had you previously run an older version of Octave.app on this same machine? Might be related to old settings left around. Try exiting Octave.app, deleting the ~/Library/Application Support/Octave.app folder, and restarting Octave.app.

[apjanke]

Oh, and maybe a screenshot of the Octave.app window so I can see the mix of text sizes?

[MarjaE2]

No previous installation, no retina monitor.

If I run octave_app_diagnostic_dump, octave pops up an alert about needing Java, and crashes.

[apjanke]

Hmmmmm. That... should not happen. Java is bundled inside Octave.app. Something ain't right here.

What version of macOS are you running? And do you know what model Mac you're using?

[MarjaE2]

MacOS 10.14.6, 2018 Mac Mini. I sometimes use a Benq GW 2280, sometimes a downscaled Boox Max3. The screenshot was on the Benq 2280.

[apjanke]

I tried reproducing this a couple more times, and couldn't. Don't really know what's going on here.

It's been a couple years, and there's new Octave releases out, and I'm targeting those now, starting with the Octave 8.x series. There's a prerelease build up for 8.4; wanna give that a try and see if you still get this problem? https://github.com/octave-app/octave-app/releases/tag/v8.4.0_alpha1