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#1 2007-05-24 16:52:00

Janusz11
Member
Registered: 2007-05-16
Posts: 87

Help needed on setting fonts up

I've consulted my Linux books for this, I've read the Wiki, I've searched the forum and read dozens of different threads concerning this topic; I've searched the net and read tons of different stuff there as well; I've tried different configurations and to understand, what's really going on, but the only thing that helped a little bit in the end was adding the following in my xorg.conf (strange though, I never had to do this in Zenwalk and its not there in my xorg.conf either):

Option      "UseEdidDpi" "false"
Option      "DPI" "96 x 96"

Fact is, my fonts still look like crap and the only thing I haven't tried yet is editing the /etc/fonts/local.conf and ~/.fonts.conf, simply due to the fact that both files don't exist on my Arch system. Do I have to set them up myself?

And if you have any further recommendations what can be done to make fonts look good, they are very welcome!

Thanks in advance.

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#2 2007-05-24 18:09:04

Janax
Member
From: Iowa
Registered: 2007-05-21
Posts: 86

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

May I assume that you've read the wiki?

I'm new to Arch myself, but the real answer is making sure that your freetype library is setup correctly.  The Gentoo Xeffects Wiki has a process for doing so with Gentoo - if you're enough of an expert, you could work on converting those ebuilds to PKGBUILDs.

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#3 2007-05-24 22:17:43

broch
Banned
From: L.A. California
Registered: 2006-11-13
Posts: 975

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

maybe try freetype2-cleartype, cairo-cleartype and libxft-cleartype from AUR.
this helped me (plus enabled antialiasing in DE)

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#4 2007-05-25 11:57:29

Janusz11
Member
Registered: 2007-05-16
Posts: 87

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

Thank you!

But I guess I have to accept the fact that, for whatever reason (which is beyond my understanding), fonts look different in Arch Linux.

I've installed the ttf-ms-fonts, ttf-dejavu and ttf-bitstream-vera fonts already. I've also installed artwiz-fonts, but Xfce doesn't find them, so there must've been gone something wrong already. I've also consulted the Wiki already and read different entries there concerning fonts. I've also checked the Gentoo Linux Wiki Howto Xorg & Fonts. I've ran fc-cache, mkfontscale and mkfontdir. The only thing I haven't done yet is creating a soft link like this:

ln -s /usr/share/fonts/encodings/encodings.dir yourfontdirectory/encodings.dir

Because I don't quite understand this soft link (my font directory is /usr/share/fonts ?).

Finally, I have created a /etc/fonts/local.conf file. But neither this nor everything else I've tried up to now has helped really. Only adding the DPI stuff to my xorg.conf has changed the fonts to a reasonably size. But that's about it.

I add some screenshots to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

Zenwalk web page on Arch:
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7171 … ts1te9.png

...and on Zenwalk:
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/7651 … ts3el1.png

Ubuntu forums on Arch:
http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5857 … ts2ei3.png

...and again on Zenwalk:
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/3821 … ts1hq7.png

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#5 2007-05-25 13:45:39

broch
Banned
From: L.A. California
Registered: 2006-11-13
Posts: 975

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

I don't have your problem
http://img235.imageshack.us/my.php?image=ffrd4.png
1) install cleartype as suggested
2) open ff
about:config
search for
freetype change
font.FreeType2.autohinted true
font.FreeType2.enable true
font.FreeType2.unhinted false

antialiasing for your DE/WM settings depend on your DE/WM

Last edited by broch (2007-05-25 13:47:49)

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#6 2007-05-25 15:04:08

McQueen
Member
From: Arizona
Registered: 2006-03-20
Posts: 387

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

Janusz11 wrote:

I add some screenshots to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

Zenwalk web page on Arch:
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7171 … ts1te9.png

...and on Zenwalk:
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/7651 … ts3el1.png

Those are not the same font.


/path/to/Truth

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#7 2007-05-25 15:49:59

Janusz11
Member
Registered: 2007-05-16
Posts: 87

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

McQueen wrote:
Janusz11 wrote:

I add some screenshots to demonstrate what I'm talking about.

Zenwalk web page on Arch:
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/7171 … ts1te9.png

...and on Zenwalk:
http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/7651 … ts3el1.png

Those are not the same font.

Yeah, I had the same thought already. But then again, as broch's screenshot proves, it is possible to set fonts in Arch up in a way that they actually look good. Changing settings within Firefox didn't help, btw..

What about that soft link, could all have something to do with that? Where should I create it?

broch, maybe you can post what you did exactly to set your fonts up this way?

Thanks for your help guys, I really appreciate it! This thing turns me nuts!

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#8 2007-05-25 20:22:56

broch
Banned
From: L.A. California
Registered: 2006-11-13
Posts: 975

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

I installed from AUR
freetype2-cleartype
cairo-cleartype
libxft-cleartype

this was most important part

Then I set antialiasing with medium hinting (full hinting may work too). How you will set antialiasing depends on DE/WM used.

In FF
modified firefox config as above
and
I am using Bitstream Vera Serif
additionally, when you select "Advanced.."
you can set Proportional, Serif, Sans-Serif and Monospace

Make sure that the option
"Allow pages to choose their own fonts,, instead of my selections above"
is checked

However for me the main trick was the installation of cleartype.

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#9 2007-05-25 22:39:23

Janusz11
Member
Registered: 2007-05-16
Posts: 87

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

Thanks alot!

All done, still no go.

I'll stay with Zenwalk then.

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#10 2007-05-26 10:18:25

Bogart
Member
From: Madrid, Spain
Registered: 2005-06-22
Posts: 272

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

Are your fonts ok in the rest of the programs? I mean, are they ugly only inside web pages or they look bad in general?

If so, I'd try uninstalling ttf-ms-fonts and setting Firefox to use Bitstream Vera Sans or DejaVu Sans.

Zenwalk and Arch do have different fonts, because Arch enables BCI in Freetype, while Zen doesn't (as far as I know). However, I can set my fonts to look like non-BCI ones by setting medium hinting and like BCI ones by setting full hinting, so it shouldn't be a problem.

EDIT: I just payed more attention to your screenshots and I see fonts look good in the interface. Then I think the main problem is the chosen fonts for web pages. Just uninstall ttf-ms-fonts and configure Firefox to use the ones I mentioned above.

Last edited by Bogart (2007-05-26 10:23:40)

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#11 2007-05-26 14:45:55

Janusz11
Member
Registered: 2007-05-16
Posts: 87

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

Wow, Bogart, thanks a bunch! Removing ttf-ms-fonts from my system finally did the trick! My fonts still look a little different from what I'm used to, but finally they look alright in web sites! And maybe I can tweak the look of the fonts by fiddling around with BCI setting you mentioned.

Thanks again!

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#12 2007-05-26 15:27:50

Bogart
Member
From: Madrid, Spain
Registered: 2005-06-22
Posts: 272

Re: Help needed on setting fonts up

I'm glad to hear that helped. It's always a mystery to me why people insist in installing MS's fonts in Linux. Those fonts look bad in Windows and worse in Linux, but go figure...

To have Freetype without the bytecode interpreter (BCI) enabled, you'd ned to recomplile Freetype2. I don't recommend it unless it's really necessary. First try to play with the hinting options (chaning from full to medium should make a difference). It can be done through XFCE's control center, but you may need to restart your session to see the difference each time.

Good luck.

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