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#1 2013-08-26 02:49:28

hilltownboy
Member
From: Massachusetts
Registered: 2013-08-15
Posts: 100

[SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

xset provides a choice of 8 colors for xterm, but no shading.  For instance, you can have a deep yellow, but not a pale one; a dark green but not a light one.  How can one get around this restriction?

A related X configuration question (maybe): with firefox added to my new Arch, on many web pages I get hard to read serif-type fonts that I am not used to seeing on those pages. On the other hand some pages, for example Yahoo finance, retain their usual fonts.  Is there a simple explanation?

Last edited by hilltownboy (2013-08-30 02:31:40)

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#2 2013-08-26 03:25:44

rufus
Banned
From: san francisco
Registered: 2013-04-20
Posts: 153

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

no they arent related problems you need to be more specific with your Problems and take them one at a time and provide more info
the simple answer about firefox is to go to Mozilla and search for your problems there with firefox you need to tweak it
about xset ....are you going to use a DE or DM? there are many things you can do most of it is posted in the wiki
ya gotta read...there's ncurses there's this and that you can download it but youll have to read and make choices
......if you have a specific problem we're here but confine it to one problem to get results please...

Last edited by rufus (2013-08-26 03:26:58)


end ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     'the machine is not the end to the means., we are. In history, in board rooms and politic the greatest  decision and effort
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#3 2013-08-26 03:29:15

WonderWoofy
Member
From: Los Gatos, CA
Registered: 2012-05-19
Posts: 8,414

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

For xterm, see the man page.  The Arch package is compiled with 256 color support, so there is a section about color classes on the man page.  Using an .Xresources or .Xdefaults you should be able to set up the colors to your liking.

As for Firefox, that is an unrelated issue, but as a non-firefox user, I would imagine that you could set the font preferences somewhere (probably the preferences wink).  Slightly unrelated, but if you want better all around font configuration, see the thread about the infinality-bundle by bohoomil.  He provides a repo with customized infinality setups that really make fonts look pretty amazing.  I had a couple instances where I thought I needed different font families in dwb, but it turned out, I just had really really shitty font configuration.


@rufus, you should really learn to use punctuation and proper sentence structure.  Your posts are really a PITA to read.

Last edited by WonderWoofy (2013-08-26 03:33:17)

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#4 2013-08-26 03:39:51

rufus
Banned
From: san francisco
Registered: 2013-04-20
Posts: 153

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

Whatever! WonderWoofy.


end ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     'the machine is not the end to the means., we are. In history, in board rooms and politic the greatest  decision and effort
        evolves from passion, lust for life, and a common sense of humanity. Never forget what you are and why'.         -me

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#5 2013-08-26 17:52:54

hilltownboy
Member
From: Massachusetts
Registered: 2013-08-15
Posts: 100

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

Thanks for your replies.  It seems to me that I have presented two specific questions.  On xterm colors, one would think that people have configured them thousands of times and that one would not have to "reinvent the wheel".  Yet hours of reading up on this has provided no straightforward answer.  I read that using .Xdefaults is no longer recommended because it is succeeded by .Xresources.  I read that .Xresources is normally found in /etc/X11/ but I don't find it there.

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#6 2013-08-26 17:59:42

jasonwryan
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From: .nz
Registered: 2009-05-09
Posts: 30,424
Website

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

You are reading the wrong thing, clearly: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Xresources


Arch + dwm   •   Mercurial repos  •   Surfraw

Registered Linux User #482438

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#7 2013-08-28 14:44:17

hilltownboy
Member
From: Massachusetts
Registered: 2013-08-15
Posts: 100

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

Thanks, jasonwryan, for pointing me in the right direction.  Putting

xrdb -load ~/.Xresources &

into .xinitrc allowed xterm to be "permamently" configured in .Xresources.

However it does not establish the forground and background colors

xterm*foreground: steelblue4
xterm*background: grey88

although the similar commands in xterm itself (-fg and -bg) do bring up an
xterm (non-permanent) with those colors.

Other things such as size and font have changed. The X Resources article has
so many facets that a lot of experimenting will probably be needed to get it right.

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#8 2013-08-29 02:23:03

hilltownboy
Member
From: Massachusetts
Registered: 2013-08-15
Posts: 100

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

Frustrated newbie! Creating the .Xresources file definitely changed xedit, but I can't make the entries effective.  Error on foreground and background color: "color name is not defined".  Other hitches: bad font, xterm takes up most of the screen, pages won't Shift-PgUp or PgDown.  Is my .Xresources faulty? (It is partly copied from elsewhere.)

   ! Use a nice truetype font and size by default... 
    xterm*faceName:  Lucida
    xterm*faceSize: 11

    xterm*vt100*geometry: 80x50

    ! Every shell is a login shell by default (for inclusion of all necessary environment variables)
    xterm*loginshell: true

    ! I like a LOT of scrollback.. 1024 is default.
    xterm*savelines: 1024

    ! double-click to select whole URLs :D
   ! xterm*charClass: 33:48,36-47:48,58-59:48,61:48,63-64:48,95:48,126:48

    ! Recommended in Arch Xterm	
    xterm*termName: xterm-256color	
    xterm*locale: true

    ! DOS-box colours...
    xterm*foreground: rgb:a8a8a8
    xterm*background: rgb:36648B
    xterm*color0: rgb:00/00/00
    xterm*color1: rgb:a8/00/00
    xterm*color2: rgb:00/a8/00
    xterm*color3: rgb:a8/54/00
    xterm*color4: rgb:00/00/a8
    xterm*color5: rgb:a8/00/a8
    xterm*color6: rgb:00/a8/a8
    xterm*color7: rgb:a8/a8/a8
    xterm*color8: rgb:54/54/54
    xterm*color9: rgb:fc/54/54
    xterm*color10: rgb:54/fc/54
    xterm*color11: rgb:fc/fc/54
    xterm*color12: rgb:54/54/fc
    xterm*color13: rgb:fc/54/fc
    xterm*color14: rgb:54/fc/fc
    xterm*color15: rgb:fc/fc/fc

    ! right hand side scrollbar...not shown by default
   ! xterm*rightScrollBar: true
   ! xterm*ScrollBar: true

    ! stop output to terminal from jumping down to bottom of scroll again
    !xterm*scrollTtyOutput: false

(Had to fall back to Debian to copy it)

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#9 2013-08-29 03:06:16

dgz
Member
Registered: 2013-08-27
Posts: 98

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

not sure about the 'rgb:' and '/' in the hex codes. mine has (for example) '#ffffff'.

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#10 2013-08-29 09:04:41

thisoldman
Member
From: Pittsburgh
Registered: 2009-04-25
Posts: 1,172

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

@dgz, You are using an older format to specify colors.  Possible X color name formats are shown under 'man 7 X' in the section "COLOR NAMES".

@hilltownboy, You must be using a very old guide to Linux.  There are many better guides available rather than what you are currently using.

To correct your colors, change your background and foreground lines to these:

xterm*foreground: rgb:a8/a8/a8
xterm*background: rgb:36/64/8B

The size of the xterm window will depend on the font and font size and the number of rows and columns displayed.  Font size is controlled by the 'faceSize' resource.  Try reducing faceSize from 11 to 10 or 9 or 8.  Also, Lucida isn't a popular choice for the font.  Here are the lines that will make xterm use DejaVu Sans Mono at size 9:

xterm*faceName: DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Book
xterm*faceSize: 9
! To turn antialiasing off use this:
! xterm*faceName: DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Book:antialias=false

Xedit is a very old text editor.  There are many other more modern choices, including nano, vim, gedit, kate, leafpad or mousepad.

I'm not sure why the Shift+PageUp and Shift+PageDown aren't working for you.  Does scrolling with the mouse work?

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#11 2013-08-29 14:41:17

hilltownboy
Member
From: Massachusetts
Registered: 2013-08-15
Posts: 100

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

thisoldman, thanks, you have provided the final solution to my color problem.  Putting those "/"s in did it.

Reducing the xterm:faceSize: to 8 or 9 restored the Shift-PgUp and PgDn as well as Control-D to get out, but it still left xterm the full width of the screen, though foreshortened to 1/2 or 2/3 vertically.  Since you say that fonts determine size, this may be because whatever font is being used seems to be stretched horizontally.

The DejaVu Sans Mono had no effect.  I had tried Lucida because it is listed in some file as being installed, if I understood correctly.  This is a first installation; perhaps I have to install the fonts?

I also commented out the geometry and the login shell lines, which may or may not have helped.

As to editors, xterm seems very simple for a newbie, and I also use leafpad and nano. For a beginner, vim takes some getting used to.  As my limited setup is functioning from openbox, I am trying to avoid Gnome and KDE applications.

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#12 2013-08-29 22:53:57

thisoldman
Member
From: Pittsburgh
Registered: 2009-04-25
Posts: 1,172

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

I really like xterm too.

I would recommend installing the DejaVu fonts and the Liberation fonts.  They have good Western language glyph coverage and reasonable glyph sizing,  Both are good "vanilla" fonts.  The packages are 'ttf-dejavu' and 'ttf-liberation'.  If you need better UTF-8 coverage, urxvt is probably better.  I have both emulators installed but xterm is used 99 percent of the time.

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#13 2013-08-30 02:21:09

hilltownboy
Member
From: Massachusetts
Registered: 2013-08-15
Posts: 100

Re: [SOLVED}Can't configure color shades in xterm

In case anyone beginning an Arch installation is suffering from my same problem, the final objective (replacing a typical xterm terminal with one of different colors) has been achieved by commenting out these two lines in .Xresources:

!  xterm*faceName:  LucindaSans:antialias+false
!  xterm*faceSize:  9

and inserting:

  xterm:Font: 6x10.pcf.gz

This works because 6x10.pcf.gz is one of many Xorg built-in fonts provided in /usr/share/fonts/misc/, which is where Xorg looks for its fonts.  If you want fancier fonts you can use the commented-out way, but I gather that you have to set it up differently after learning about X, .Xresources, xorg.configure, etc., installing the fonts and connecting them with a path.

Last edited by hilltownboy (2013-08-30 02:25:46)

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