You are not logged in.

#1 2004-06-07 14:45:35

cjdj
Member
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: 2004-05-07
Posts: 121

wacky font spacing

I just recently re-installed arch on an Athlon-700 that my wife uses for internet and my 6yo son uses for games (gameboy emulator).

I was previously running arch on it, but wanted to change the way it was partitioned and it seemed it would be easier just to do a re-install.

Rather than install using the 0.6 iso and then do a pacman -Syu to update everything, I did an FTP install from the floppy disk. 

I basically installed everything from base (-lilo-vim +nano +wget).   I got pretty good download speeds and the actual install took very little time.  Booted up and then installed xfree86 and kde.

I ran xf86config and setup X and then edited the XF86Config file to allow the mouse scroll wheel to work.

Then I started X.  Imediately I noticed something weird when the little KDE wizard thing started and asked me what country I am in, etc.  There was a lot of space between each letter.   I stumbled thru it and started up Konquerer and the text in there was totally wacky also.  I did manage to get nice text by choosing the Monospace font instead of Helvetica, but I dont think it is just Helvetica that is broken.

I'm fairly new to using Linux as a desktop, and know little about fonts.

Can someone help me fix this?

Offline

#2 2004-06-07 15:03:33

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: wacky font spacing

Wonder if this is a xfree86 problem or a kde problem...

Post the font-related portions of your XFree86Config. Somebody might be able to find a problem.

Dusty

Offline

#3 2004-06-07 15:07:24

Zephirias
Member
From: Pennsylvania, USA
Registered: 2004-04-26
Posts: 179

Re: wacky font spacing

Dusty wrote:

Wonder if this is a xfree86 problem or a kde problem...

Post the font-related portions of your XFree86Config. Somebody might be able to find a problem.

Dusty

It's probably most likely an XFree problem...though I've never heard of anything like that happening...


"Technically, you would only need one time traveler convention."

Offline

#4 2004-06-07 15:24:05

jmull
Member
Registered: 2004-05-31
Posts: 14

Re: wacky font spacing

I had this problem myself yesterday.  All I did was go into the KDE Control Center andchanged all the fonts to Courier.  Worked out fine after that.

Offline

#5 2004-06-07 15:59:14

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: wacky font spacing

The point of interest here is that both courier and monospace are fixed-width fonts, obviously the problem is with the display of variable-width fonts. You guys are both using kde, which makes me think its probably kde related.

As a note, its always a good idea to keep a copy of an old XFree86Config when you go to do a reinstall because its finicky to get it set up perfect again. 

Dusty

Offline

#6 2004-06-07 17:20:43

cjdj
Member
From: Perth, Western Australia
Registered: 2004-05-07
Posts: 121

Re: wacky font spacing

I'm at work and dont have access to my home computer at the moment but will post the xfree config file when I get home.

I guess I could rename the config file and then start xfree using its defaults and see if the problem is still there.

I'm kind of conforted that I'm not the only one that has seen this. 

I have another question.  And I'm sorry if this sounds stupid, but in the previous install I didnt have a XFree86Config file.  When I started up KDE it worked with a pretty good resolution and all looked good (maybe there is another default XFree86Config file somewhere?).  The only thing that didnt work was the scroll-wheel on the mouse.  Which is what I tried to fix and I messed around with the mouse devices and some other stuff I shouldnt have, and the mouse quit working.  So instead of trying to fix it without the mouse, and because my wife would have complained if it had of taken me more than a few hours, I decided to just go and do a re-install.

I do have the scroll-wheel working in this install though, and I am using a X config file now (in /etc/X11) which was generated by xf86config (I think).

Thanks for the replies guys.

Offline

#7 2004-06-08 01:58:45

tyler
Member
From: Montreal
Registered: 2004-06-05
Posts: 35

Re: wacky font spacing

i just installed arch on my new box along with gnome 2.6 and the ms fonts. although most fonts are fine, some (Helvetica, new century school book, and others) are plagued with the mentioned funky spacing. so, not a kde problem but probably something about XFree, or who knows what.

also, why did they ruin monospace by putting an annoying dot in the middle of the 0 (zero)? it bugs me when i code.


Till human voices wake us, and we drown. -Eliot

Offline

#8 2004-06-08 02:05:22

jsutnoni
Member
Registered: 2004-02-07
Posts: 105

Re: wacky font spacing

I have the same problem. I am going to attempt to change each font. What  a pita though.


-=JsutNoni=-

Offline

#9 2004-06-08 03:53:32

jsutnoni
Member
Registered: 2004-02-07
Posts: 105

Re: wacky font spacing

An easier way I found ti fix it is to load up the KDE Wizard and choose a different style than the default one. it fixed about 90% of the weird font thing.


-=JsutNoni=-

Offline

#10 2004-06-08 04:26:02

Dusty
Schwag Merchant
From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada
Registered: 2004-01-18
Posts: 5,986
Website

Re: wacky font spacing

Is everybody having this problem using xfree86, or does it happen with x.org too?

Dusty

Offline

#11 2004-06-08 08:26:32

Zym0tiC
Member
Registered: 2004-01-17
Posts: 40
Website

Re: wacky font spacing

Dusty wrote:

Is everybody having this problem using xfree86, or does it happen with x.org too?

Dusty

I have the same problem with x.org running kde.

Offline

#12 2004-06-08 09:13:19

dpb
Member
From: Cyperspace?
Registered: 2004-04-11
Posts: 231

Re: wacky font spacing

I got the same problem with Xine!
All the fonts in menus and stuff are strange.
Using XFree86 4.4 and Fluxbox-devel. I don't have KDE.

Offline

#13 2004-06-08 13:20:32

Zym0tiC
Member
Registered: 2004-01-17
Posts: 40
Website

Re: wacky font spacing

Offline

#14 2004-06-08 15:07:38

jsutnoni
Member
Registered: 2004-02-07
Posts: 105

Re: wacky font spacing

It is also possible to work around the problem by editing ~/.qt/qtrc and changing the line
"enableXft=..." from true to false.

That works wonders. Thanks!


-=JsutNoni=-

Offline

#15 2004-06-08 18:54:48

dpb
Member
From: Cyperspace?
Registered: 2004-04-11
Posts: 231

Re: wacky font spacing

Zym0tiC wrote:

Hmm... If it's a kde problem, then why do I get it in Xine?  :?

Offline

#16 2004-06-08 20:07:39

Zym0tiC
Member
Registered: 2004-01-17
Posts: 40
Website

Re: wacky font spacing

dpb wrote:
Zym0tiC wrote:

Hmm... If it's a kde problem, then why do I get it in Xine?  :?

dunno, the strang thing is that I don;t have that problem on my laptop with the same software installed  :?

Offline

#17 2004-06-09 07:16:49

Zym0tiC
Member
Registered: 2004-01-17
Posts: 40
Website

Re: wacky font spacing

jsutnoni wrote:

It is also possible to work around the problem by editing ~/.qt/qtrc and changing the line
"enableXft=..." from true to false.

That works wonders. Thanks!

strange thing is that I don't have that rule in my qtrc file.
I tried to put it into but nothing happens.

Maybe you could post your .qtrc file?

Offline

#18 2004-06-09 11:59:32

super_duper_linux_guy
Member
Registered: 2004-05-28
Posts: 42

Re: wacky font spacing

I run it on fluxbox-devel and I have the same problem with the spacing, it's probably xfree.

Have no idea how to fix it.

Offline

#19 2004-06-09 12:04:51

dpb
Member
From: Cyperspace?
Registered: 2004-04-11
Posts: 231

Re: wacky font spacing

super_duper_linux_guy wrote:

I run it on fluxbox-devel and I have the same problem with the spacing, it's probably xfree.

What do you run on fluxbox-devel??

Offline

#20 2004-06-09 12:31:30

super_duper_linux_guy
Member
Registered: 2004-05-28
Posts: 42

Re: wacky font spacing

sorry I should have been more specific. I meant I run fluxbox on arch and not kde, but I have the same problem. so i think it's xfree86 and not as much kde.

I read it had to do with the anit-aliasing in xfree86 and that some mono type fonts had problems with it.

http://www.localhost.nl/stuff/handbook/x-fonts.html

Offline

#21 2004-06-09 12:52:01

super_duper_linux_guy
Member
Registered: 2004-05-28
Posts: 42

Re: wacky font spacing

the thing is though, in fluxbox the font get's a huge spacing only if I pick anti-aliasing, without it the font looks normal and the fonts are artwiz font's, so that might have something to do with it?

Offline

#22 2004-06-09 13:19:43

Zym0tiC
Member
Registered: 2004-01-17
Posts: 40
Website

Re: wacky font spacing

super_duper_linux_guy wrote:

sorry I should have been more specific. I meant I run fluxbox on arch and not kde, but I have the same problem. so i think it's xfree86 and not as much kde.

I read it had to do with the anit-aliasing in xfree86 and that some mono type fonts had problems with it.

http://www.localhost.nl/stuff/handbook/x-fonts.html

and which apps do have that problems

Offline

#23 2004-06-09 13:26:43

Zym0tiC
Member
Registered: 2004-01-17
Posts: 40
Website

Re: wacky font spacing

You may also find that the spacing for some monospaced fonts gets messed up when you turn on anti-aliasing. This seems to be an issue with KDE, in particular. One possible fix for this is to force the spacing for such fonts to be 100: add the following lines:

    match any family == "fixed"      edit family =+ "mono";
    match any family == "console"    edit family =+ "mono";

(this aliases the other common names for fixed fonts as "mono"), and then add:

    match any family == "mono" edit spacing = 100;

Supposing you want to use the Lucidux fonts whenever monospaced fonts are required (these look nice, and do not seem to suffer from the spacing problem), you could replace that last line with these:

    match any family == "mono"       edit family += "LuciduxMono";
    match any family == "Lucidux Mono"      edit family += "LuciduxMono";
    match any family == "LuciduxMono"       edit family =+ "Lucidux Mono";

(the last lines alias different equivalent family names).

Finally, you want to allow users to add commands to this file, via their personal .xftconfig files. To do this, add a last line:

    includeif  "~/.xftconfig"

Offline

#24 2004-06-09 13:34:47

super_duper_linux_guy
Member
Registered: 2004-05-28
Posts: 42

Re: wacky font spacing

Yes, but I want to use fonts that aren't exactly standard and still have them with normal space. I already tried what it said in the manual but it didnt work (I still have a try a few things though).

It's a really irritating problem this...  sad

Offline

#25 2004-06-09 16:46:53

colnago
Member
From: Victoria, BC
Registered: 2004-03-25
Posts: 438

Re: wacky font spacing

I have seen this on different installs.  A Xandros beta I had would do it every time, less frequently in other distros.  I am not sure of the root problem, but I find adding the display size to /etc/X11/XF86Config will fix it.   You need to measure your physical display dimensions, then add it to the Monitor section of the file. 

    DisplaySize 350 275 #width height in mm

There is also a font module line you should comment out if you have the nvidia drivers installed, see their documentation.

Kde 3.2.3 is out too, so you might try that first.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB