Squished text in Konsole [SOLVED]

FluffyCalmPanther · 2023-11-05 19:15:38

Please note that this is the first time I've posted something in the Arch forum. I'm also still very much green when it comes to software engineering and Arch. So please feel free to pass along any general tips or advice you have for me, especially when it comes to how I wrote this post. Thx!

What is the issue?

The text in my Konsole is smushed together. See screenshot for an example (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ahcXufYv-AVYwHGnkT18MFRtqdx3BiqY/view ; image may take ~15 seconds to appear).

Is there a workaround for this issue?

Yes. If I just click 'Open Menu' at the top right >> 'Switch profile', then choose the profile that I've already set as the default profile, then the text returns to normal.

But when I close Konsole and reopen it, the issue returns.

When did this problem begin?

Today. I've had Arch installed on my laptop for ~4 months now. This is the first time I remember this happening.

What changed between yesterday and today?

I had to disconnect my laptop from my docking station, to bring it to a meeting.

There were some other minor issues I experienced when plugging my laptop back into my docking station (such as my extra monitors not displaying anything). But eventually I found a way to resolve those other issues.

What troubleshooting steps have I already done?

Ran 'sudo pacman -Syu' and 'yay --aur'.
Restarted my laptop.
Deleted the Konsole profile I created a while ago and used the built-in profile.
Created a new Konsole profile.
Found a recent Manjaro Forum post (link) that suggested I check '/home/username/.local/share/konsole/' , to ensure my created Konsole profile was there.

Last edited by FluffyCalmPanther (2023-11-20 00:18:16)

seth · 2023-11-05 20:25:39

This looks like an issue between the bold and non-bold font?
What is that font specifically, does it happen w/ eg. adobe source code pro and are other TEs like xterm or alacritty affected?

I found a way to resolve those other issues.

You might want to elaborate on that…

FluffyCalmPanther · 2023-11-06 01:18:13

seth wrote:

>> What is the font specifically?

^ The font in Konsole is called 'Hack'.

seth wrote:

>> Does it happen w/ eg. adobe source code pro?

^ I ran 'pacman -S adobe-source-code-pro-fonts' just now and changed my font to 'Source Code Pro'. The issue persists.

seth wrote:

>> Are other TEs like xterm or alacritty affected?

^ I ran 'sudo pacman -S xterm' just now and opened xterm. The issue isn't there

---

FluffyCalmPanther wrote:

>> This is the first time I remember this [issue] happening.

^ Turns out I was wrong here. This issue always occurred on my laptop screen. I don't use Konsole on that screen, when I've got my other monitors working. My laptop screen is 17" and is set to 1920x1200 resolution, while my two external monitors are 24" and are set to 2560x1440 resolution. I also have the global scale for all three of my screens set to 150%.

My bad for forgetting these details. If I had remembered this, then I wouldn't have posted about it in this forum.

---

Seth, your post reminded me to try moving my terminal window from my extra monitor to my laptop monitor. The issue went away. Thx for that!

To 'fix' this issue (e.g., getting my laptop running like I had it before to), I had to open the Application Launcher >> Display Configuration >> Change Screen Priorities, and then move my laptop screen down the list. This changed my primary screen from my laptop to one of my external monitors.

Now the spacing in Konsole is too wide on my laptop screen, but I can live with that. This is what Konsole always did for me. I've left myself a note about this little quirk so that I don't forget it again.

I'm all ears if there's something I could do to get the spacing looking normal on my laptop screen. But if not, then cool. At least now my laptop is functioning like it always had.

Last edited by FluffyCalmPanther (2023-11-18 15:56:20)

FluffyCalmPanther · 2023-11-06 01:25:22

seth wrote:

>> You might want to elaborate on [the other issues you've experienced].

^ Ahhh I've forgotten the details about those other issues. My bad about that.

Last edited by FluffyCalmPanther (2023-11-18 17:22:23)

seth · 2023-11-06 08:39:14

Please use "quote" tags.
Then post the output of "printenv", notably interesting are https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI#Qt_5 and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI# … fixed_size

And assuming this is X11

xdpyinfo | grep reso
xrdb -q | grep -i dpi
xrandr -q

FluffyCalmPanther · 2023-11-06 19:21:55

seth wrote:

Post the output of "printenv", notably interesting are https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI#Qt_5 and https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/HiDPI# … fixed_size

# Key Qt_5 variables

QT_AUTO_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTOR=0
QT_ENABLE_HIGHDPI_SCALING={{printenv doesn't return this variable}}
QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS=eDP-1=1.5;DP-1=1.5;HDMI-1=1.5;DP-2=1.5;DP-3=1.5;DP-4=1.5;DP-5=1.5;
QT_SCALE_FACTOR={{printenv doesn't return this variable}}
QT_SCALE_FACTORS={{printenv doesn't return this variable}}

# Key HiDPI variable

PLASMA_USE_QT_SCALING={{printenv doesn't return this variable}}

seth wrote:

Assuming [your system] is X11

$ printenv 

XDG_SESSION_TYPE=x11 .

seth wrote:

xdpyinfo | grep reso

resolution:    96x96 dots per inch

seth wrote:

xrdb -q | grep -i dpi

Xft.dpi:        144

seth wrote:

xrandr -q

Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 7040 x 1440, maximum 16384 x 16384
eDP-1 connected 1920x1200+0+240 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 366mm x 229mm
   1920x1200     59.95*+  59.88    47.96  
   1920x1080     60.01    59.97    59.96    59.93  
   1600x1200     60.00  
   1680x1050     59.95    59.88  
   1400x1050     59.98  
   1600x900      59.99    59.94    59.95    59.82  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1400x900      59.96    59.88  
   1280x960      60.00  
   1440x810      60.00    59.97  
   1368x768      59.88    59.85  
   1280x800      59.99    59.97    59.81    59.91  
   1280x720      60.00    59.99    59.86    59.74  
   1024x768      60.04    60.00  
   960x720       60.00  
   928x696       60.05  
   896x672       60.01  
   1024x576      59.95    59.96    59.90    59.82  
   960x600       59.93    60.00  
   960x540       59.96    59.99    59.63    59.82  
   800x600       60.00    60.32    56.25  
   840x525       60.01    59.88  
   864x486       59.92    59.57  
   700x525       59.98  
   800x450       59.95    59.82  
   640x512       60.02  
   700x450       59.96    59.88  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
   720x405       59.51    58.99  
   684x384       59.88    59.85  
   640x400       59.88    59.98  
   640x360       59.86    59.83    59.84    59.32  
   512x384       60.00  
   512x288       60.00    59.92  
   480x270       59.63    59.82  
   400x300       60.32    56.34  
   432x243       59.92    59.57  
   320x240       60.05  
   360x202       59.51    59.13  
   320x180       59.84    59.32  
DP-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
HDMI-1 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-2 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-4 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-5 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)
DP-5-1 connected primary 2560x1440+1920+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 600mm x 340mm
   3840x2160     60.00 +  30.00  
   2560x1440     59.95* 
   1920x1080     60.00    59.94  
   1600x900      60.00  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1280x800      59.81  
   1280x720      60.00    59.94  
   1024x768      60.00  
   800x600       60.32  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
DP-5-2 connected 2560x1440+4480+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 600mm x 340mm
   3840x2160     60.00 +  30.00  
   2560x1440     59.95* 
   1920x1080     60.00    59.94  
   1600x900      60.00  
   1280x1024     60.02  
   1280x800      59.81  
   1280x720      60.00    59.94  
   1024x768      60.00  
   800x600       60.32  
   720x480       60.00    59.94  
   640x480       60.00    59.94  
DP-5-3 disconnected (normal left inverted right x axis y axis)

Last edited by FluffyCalmPanther (2023-11-18 16:00:08)

seth · 2023-11-06 19:59:12

Please use [code][/code] tags. Edit your post in this regard.

Your DPI settings are kinda all over the place.
You've 3 outputs at physical 133, 120 and 108 DPI, the server runs at 96, xft is set to 144 which is closest to the internal display.
You've disabled autoscaling, all outputs are set to scale at 150% and KDE ignores that.

What if you set the server to run at the "proper" DPI, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#S … I_manually (for your config, maybe try 120 DPI as global compromise), set the xft value to that as well (probably the KDE setting) and remove QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS ?

FluffyCalmPanther · 2023-11-18 20:58:05

My bad for the delay. Life got in the way ⊙˛̼⊙

----

seth wrote:

Please use {code} tags. Edit your post in this regard.

Done. Thanks for the reminder!

----

seth wrote:

What if you set the server to run at the "proper" DPI, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#S … I_manually (for your config, maybe try 120 DPI as global compromise), set the xft value to that as well (probably the KDE setting) and remove QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS ?

I did the following:

Went to Application Launcher >> Display Configuration, and changed the Global Scale from 150% to 100%.
Ran 'sudo pacman -S xorg-xrandr', and then 'xrandr --dpi 120'.

It worked!!! The font in Konsole was correctly spaced, regardless of which monitor that the Konsole was on.

Thx so much!

----

Just a heads up -- 'printenv' shows that QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS has some new values now:

eDP-1=1;DP-1=1;HDMI-1=1;DP-2=1;DP-3=1;DP-4=1;DP-5=1;DP-5-1=1;DP-5-2=1;DP-5-3=1;

You suggested I remove QT_SCREEN_SCALE_FACTORS. I couldn't find a way to do this safely (I'm still fairly new to Arch, and I didn't want to risk trying something that would've made my computer unusable for a lengthy period of time; I really need my laptop working right now).

Please feel free to post any suggestions or links to documentation for me. But if not, then cool. It appears that everything is working as is (except for my password manager, but I'll reach out to their customer support if I need to).

Thx again!

Last edited by FluffyCalmPanther (2023-11-18 21:23:48)

seth · 2023-11-18 21:59:56

KDE might actually set them - if you didn't in some https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Environment_variables context

And nb. that "xrandr --dpi" is transient, the wiki has a link on how to make this permanent but you might want to change the server value
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#D … ze_and_DPI and I'll guess https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/SDDM#DPI_settings ?

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.
Thanks.

FluffyCalmPanther · 2023-11-20 00:51:54

seth wrote:

Please always remember to mark resolved threads by editing your initial posts subject - so others will know that there's no task left, but maybe a solution to find.

^ Gotcha.

seth wrote:

And nb. that "xrandr --dpi" is transient, the wiki has a link on how to make this permanent...

^ I actually wound up following the instructions on the https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xorg#S … I_manually page you posted on November 6. These instructions have a link to https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Autost … rg_startup , and this On Xorg startup section has a link to https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Xprofile . This page explains how to make the DPI changes permanent for display managers (which is what I use).

FluffyCalmPanther wrote:

I [...] went to Application Launcher >> Display Configuration, and changed the Global Scale from 150% to 100%.
[...]
It appears that everything is working as is (except for my password manager, but I'll reach out to their customer support if I need to).

So when I said my password manager wasn't working, I meant to say the font in my password manager was small.

At first I thought it was just my password manager doing that (because the font was fine in my browsers, my text editor, and in LibreOffice).

But just now I opened VSCodium and the font was small there too. To fix the issue with the small font in these programs, I had to change the Global Scale back 150%. Now the font in these programs is large enough for me to see it comfortably, and the spacing in Konsole is also normal now too.

Arch Linux

#1 2023-11-05 19:15:38