Desktop linux has been late to the show with high dpi support, but gnome seems to be leading the pack. I decided to try again. It's worked fairly well out of the box. Here are my steps if anyone wishes to repeat.
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Download the iso from http://ubuntugnome.org/ubuntu-gnome-14-10-is-released/
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Insert usb stick, umount using diskutil and dd the image. (make sure to use the right devices when using dd, your setup may vary)