multi-screen trouble

[Neal Becker]

My last laptop was fine, because it's native resolution matched my external 
monitor's.  But now I have a high-dpi laptop and having trouble.

Laptop is 2560x1440.  I manually set dpi to 125 by putting

#!/bin/sh
xrandr --dpi 125x125

into
/etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/77-setdpi.sh
(note to self - emacs leaves backup files in this dir which are stupidly NOT 
ignored by the X startup)

This setting seems pretty reasonable on this screen.

I plugin my external monitor which is 1920x1080.  Go to Display 
Configuration.  I'd prefer to have clone, but I guess that isn't a choice 
because of the difference in resolution.  So I put them next to each other.
Problem is, the dpi setting also affects the external monitor.  All the 
fonts are too big.

More problems: here I am typing in knode.  I placed it on the 2nd screen.  
When I choose 'post message', the window opens up with all the menus and 
window decorations off the top of the screen.  Very inconvenient.

Any suggestions how to make this a better experience?

-- 
Those who fail to understand recursion are doomed to repeat it