Arch Linux

DeletedUser201201

Banned

Registered: 2010-02-27

Posts: 73

X11: Font Rendering

I did a search on the forums and I know that people are aware of the problem but I would like a thread with a discussion about font rendering. I am working in a MacBook Pro, after a long time on another OS from arch, and fonts are much clearer and beautiful than my kde machine. The same applies for the sound. I know patents make font rendering difficult to evolve on linux but why is there such a big gap. I mean patents where there even when Microsoft and Apple (the patents of one another) and they did a different but great job. At a first look I said to myself it must be my eyes but on the second try I failed to support xorg and gnu/linux font rendering in general.

So yeah what are the facts and your opinions on the matter. It's not intended for a flame war just the technical side of the problem considering font rendering only on Gnu/Linux. Is there a solution to the problem or a work in progress?

Last edited by DeletedUser201201 (2010-03-07 19:11:20)

austin.rbn

Member

Registered: 2010-01-23

Posts: 77

Re: X11: Font Rendering

Hmmm. What do you mean by "much clearer and beautiful", exactly? By enabling anti-aliasing, hinting, and installing the packages patched for LCD displays, then by playing around with the fontconfig file a bit... I was able to achieve fonts that look (to me) as beautiful as any that I've seen on Mac OS X or any other Linux distribution. Just look over the excellent wiki page (http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Font_Configuration) and discern what you would like changed about your own configuration.

... Or perhaps there's something that isn't available to Arch users, which I am not aware of?

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"Computer Science is embarrassed by the computer." -- Alan J. Perlis

DeletedUser201201

Banned

Registered: 2010-02-27

Posts: 73

Re: X11: Font Rendering

I didn't speak specifically for archlinux but rather than xorg's general behavior to font rendering. I have read the wiki page and I also have played with the configs but in the end I left everything default (couldn't get what I wanted). The is a debate, I know some people find the fonts good enough on linux but what about the root of the problem and the comparison to windows and mac os x rendering?

tlvb

Member

From: Sweden

Registered: 2008-10-06

Posts: 297

Website

Re: X11: Font Rendering

Personally, I find the font rendering in linux fine. Unless you are talking about lack of antialiasing and hinting, which are configuration errors or because of bitmapped (I think) fonts, it is quite difficult to know what you mean without screenshots. What exactly is it that you find lacking?

Last edited by tlvb (2010-03-08 05:25:05)

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SiC

Member

From: Liverpool, England

Registered: 2008-01-10

Posts: 430

Re: X11: Font Rendering

I've spent ages configuring my fonts on Arch, i've got them to the point now when I think they look better than Windows, not sure about OSX, not used it in a while.

thisoldman

Member

From: Pittsburgh

Registered: 2009-04-25

Posts: 1,172

Re: X11: Font Rendering

I find each of the three major font rendering systems has its faults.  But unless I'm doing page layouts, I mostly ignore a text's presentation and instead concentrate on the text's content.

Windows distorts glyphs, sacrificing form for clarity.  And Cleartype, with rainbow fringes around the glyphs, can be eye straining.  Apple's system often results in fuzzy glyphs – they sacrifice clarity but preserve the glyphs' forms.  Freetype, uncorrected, results in lumpy glyphs, as if the ink has pooled in places, particularly where two lines meet. 

My personal opinion is that we won't see accurate glyph rendering unless the standard for monitor displays is increased to something closer to what is achieved on a printed page.  Heck, my dirt cheap ten-year-old printer defaults to 600 dpi resolution but my eighteen-month-old LCD monitor defaults to only 96 dpi.

I found an article some months ago, by Maxim Shemanarev, that discusses some of the shortcomings of the three rasterization methods and makes a few proposals for Freetype's improvement:  Texts Rasterization Exposures.  The changes proposed are beyond my level of technical skill, but the examples used show definite improvements over the plain vanilla Freetype.

DeletedUser201201

Banned

Registered: 2010-02-27

Posts: 73

Re: X11: Font Rendering

I just finished studying the above article and I must say that his work is admirable. Although, he dictates that Gnu/Linux handles font rendering the worse way possible; he also states that all three are far from perfection and gives light to most of the major flaws.

The problem with the essay is that he is not proposing any, possible by the user at the moment, solution for the loosy font rendering. Non the less a nice read indeed.

I know that some people find the font rendering good enough but in my eyes it's not that way. However, I didn't intend to start this on how to fix the problem for my self but rather than for proposing solutions or stating barriers at the work of the developers. So the thread was not opened for my problems or what I find lacking on font rendering but for the community to show their frustration and recommendations.