folks,

thanks for the tips and ideas! frankly, you are great.

I constructed a smarter google search string and found this solution:

export QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=0

for persistence across boots, some say to put this line in:

/etc/profile.d/gnome-qt.sh

I haven't tested that yet.

the OpenOffice problem is not fixed (menu items invisible except with 
mouse-over). one rabbit-hole at a time.

f.

-- 
Felmon Davis