very pretty linux fonts, but...

[slave]

And make sure to get the xft version of mozilla!

http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.2.1/Red_Hat_8x_RPMS/xft/

[ December 07, 2002: Message edited by: Linux User #5225982375 ]

[voidmain]

I just downloaded the RedHat source RPM freetype-2.1.2-7.src.rpm. I found something interesting out, in the "freetype.spec" file there is a simple way to turn this on. I will add these instructions to my FAQ when I finish.

At any rate if you have "apt" installed you could just:

# apt-get source freetype
# cd /usr/src/redhat/SPECS
# vi freetype.spec

The first line in that file should be changed from:

Code: [Select]

to

Code: [Select]

Then build and install the rpm:

# rpmbuild -bb freetype.spec

which will make your binary RPMs, then install them with:

# rpm -Uvh ../RPMS/i386/freetype* --force

[voidmain]

Actually, after doing just the above addition and adding the section to the fonts.conf file my system fonts now look like crap (the ones used on folder ICONs on the desktop, etc). I am pretty sure that mostly has to do with the addition to the /etc/fonts/fonts.conf because I took that section back out and my fonts look better, I don't think as good as with the bytecode option turned off though. Hmmmm.....

So far I've only been able to make my fonts look worse, not better. But then I think they already look pretty damn good and are enhanced just by adding the TTF fonts so nazi web sites and documents look like the owners intended.

[ December 07, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]

[choasforages]

i know, what i was trying to do was update the version of freetype and axe the damned toggles in the first place

[voidmain]

Now I'm pissed. I thought my fonts were near perfect before. They looked nothing like the fonts in Linux Users first couple of pics. I think I have set everything back to the way it was but my fonts are still screwed up. I have the original freetype packages installed and took the lines back out of /etc/fonts/fonts.conf. They are still screwed. I removed the ~/.font*cache* files, restarted xfs and X and still ugly fonts. I wish I knew how to get them back to the way I had them. :0

[edit]
Ok, got them back. I'm not exactly sure how but I went into the font config in preferences on the menu and changed the terminal font to something else and then back, logged off and back on and they magically corrected themselves (whew!). It wouldn't have been too bad but it was the fonts in my terminal windows that were the worst, and I *certainly* can't have that.  
[/edit]

[ December 07, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]

[slave]

quote:Originally posted by void main:
Actually, after doing just the above addition and adding the section to the fonts.conf file my system fonts now look like crap (the ones used on folder ICONs on the desktop, etc). I am pretty sure that mostly has to do with the addition to the /etc/fonts/fonts.conf because I took that section back out and my fonts look better, I don't think as good as with the bytecode option turned off though. Hmmmm.....

So far I've only been able to make my fonts look worse, not better. But then I think they already look pretty damn good and are enhanced just by adding the TTF fonts so nazi web sites and documents look like the owners intended.

[ December 07, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]

Make sure under Preferences > Font Prefernces you have font rendering set to "best shapes", smoothing set to grayscale, and hinting set to medium.  Also, that code I said to add to fonts.conf tells it to not AA fonts smaller than 14, which works for me fine but I'm not sure about all of your personal settings.  My DPI is set to 85 because 96 was too big.  My fonts are Arial for the desktop and applications, Verdana for the window title font, and courier new for the terminal font.  Make sure not to use those old fonts that came with redhat like sans and stuff because they look like ass with this hack at small sizes     Truetype fonts only!

Here is a screenshot of my desktop:

mydesktop.jpg

[slave]

quote:Originally posted by void main:
Now I'm pissed. I thought my fonts were near perfect before. They looked nothing like the fonts in Linux Users first couple of pics. I think I have set everything back to the way it was but my fonts are still screwed up. I have the original freetype packages installed and took the lines back out of /etc/fonts/fonts.conf. They are still screwed. I removed the ~/.font*cache* files, restarted xfs and X and still ugly fonts. I wish I knew how to get them back to the way I had them. :0

[edit]
Ok, got them back. I'm not exactly sure how but I went into the font config in preferences on the menu and changed the terminal font to something else and then back, logged off and back on and they magically corrected themselves (whew!). It wouldn't have been too bad but it was the fonts in my terminal windows that were the worst, and I *certainly* can't have that.    
[/edit]

[ December 07, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]

Sorry I caused you all that trouble void main    
I guess some things work for some people and some don't.

[voidmain]

Don't worry, I wasn't pissed at you, I was pissed at RedHat and at myself for not knowing within a second why something wasn't working exactly as I entended.      And I looked over your desktop closely and to be honest I see very little if any difference in quality of the fonts you are using vs the ones I am using. It appears you are not using the default font on the desktop ICONs though. Mine are nice and sharp just like yours. In fact this is the first version of RedHat I have used that had this nice of font quality out of the box. Hmmmm. What I can say is the only time my fonts looked as mucked up as the ones you posted in your original note was today when I started messing with them. Maybe I've been lucky?

Either that or my eyes are getting as bad as my ears...

[ December 07, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]

[slave]

Really the only reason I did what I did was so I could turn off AA at small sizes for mozilla.  The bytecode interpreter makes little difference when it comes to  antialiased fonts but when you turn AA off they look horrid without it.  Now in mozilla the fonts look the same as the non-xft version when small, but larger fonts are nice and smooth.  Previously I either had to have ALL the fonts AA or none at all, which bugged me.

[voidmain]

I see. The default installation of RedHat 8.0 is much better at smaller fonts than previous versions were. I do know that when I go to some web pages the fonts look tiny and messed up but I just press <CTRL>+ or <CTRL>- in Mozilla to increase or descrease the font size to my liking. I should probably just set the minimum font size in Mozilla. I had tried the xft version of Mozilla a while back and I ran into some reason where I switched back. I just wasn't happy with it for some reason.