Arch Linux

Radfahrer

Member

Registered: 2008-04-29

Posts: 31

Fonts in Latex look ugly

Hi,
i am writing my bachelorthesis in latex. At home i compile it with latex running archlinux and at work i compile my thesis with latex running windows (using MikTex and TeXnicCenter).
I compile my thesis with pdflatex and the pdf compiled on windows has much nicer fonts then the linux one.
I have tried different settings but the windows version looks nicer no matter what is do. Has anyone made similar experiences?
Or am I just using the wrong setting to get nice fonts in linux?
Here are the packages I use:

\documentclass[12pt,a4paper]{scrreprt}
\usepackage[ngerman]{babel}
\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage{lmodern}
\usepackage{graphicx}

bender02

Member

From: UK

Registered: 2007-02-04

Posts: 1,328

Re: Fonts in Latex look ugly

Check the logfile, at the end there should be a list of included fonts. See whether they are included as bitmap fonts (<fontname>.pk) or as postscript fonts (<fontname>.pfb). Bitmaps tend to look uglier than postscript when previewed.

If the bitmap fonts are the problem, then run 'updmap --enable Map=lm.map' and try compiling again.

andre.ramaciotti

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2007-04-06

Posts: 649

Re: Fonts in Latex look ugly

You can set the font manually, also. Usually, I use \usepackage{times} .

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(lambda ())

dcrabs

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2008-10-03

Posts: 149

Re: Fonts in Latex look ugly

@andre.ramaciotti
Actually that's what he does with \usepackage{lmodern}

Could you be more specific with "look ugly". Because I think it is a problem of your pdf-viewer and not latex.
If it's the same viewer (acrobat for example) it could be that in linux antialiasing/subpixel hinting is not configured.

andre.ramaciotti

Member

From: Brazil

Registered: 2007-04-06

Posts: 649

Re: Fonts in Latex look ugly

Oh, thanks. I didn't know lmodern was a font.

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(lambda ())

dcrabs

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2008-10-03

Posts: 149

Re: Fonts in Latex look ugly

It is generally a good idea to use it instead of the standard font since it is an improved computer modern.

Radfahrer

Member

Registered: 2008-04-29

Posts: 31

Re: Fonts in Latex look ugly

thanks for all the hints. I checked the log file and latex uses the  <fontname>.pfb fonts.
I view the pdf with Okular (Kde 4.2.2) and the fonts look different depending on how much I zoom in. In normal view (without zoom) the fonts look really thin (looks like certain characters like "o" have holes in them),  but when I zoom in the fonts start looking better. I switched on subpixel hinting in the KDE systemsettings so I think that should work.
I will check the pdf generated by linux with the acrobat reader on windows and see if it looks better.