Date: 05 Nov 2002 22:41:44 -0800 From: Steve Wingate <stevew@velosystems.net> To: "Scott I. Remick" <siremick@yahoo.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: XFree86, Anti-aliasing, Truetype, Freetype Message-ID: <1036564906.5192.95.camel@daemon.velosystems.net> In-Reply-To: <20021105142917.89954.qmail@web41110.mail.yahoo.com> References: <20021105142917.89954.qmail@web41110.mail.yahoo.com>
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On Tue, 2002-11-05 at 06:29, Scott I. Remick wrote: > > a few more specifics here *might* be somewhat helpful. > > Well, bear with me... if I knew exactly what specific info you needed to > solve the problem, I'd probably already know the answer myself. ;) Extra > info happily provided as-requested... > > > you mention > > mozilla, so are you getting not-so-purdy fonts just in mozilla, just in > > gtk apps, just in openoffice, or all-around? > > This is a new setup, and until I nail this I've been trying to keep the > number of installed apps to a minimum. Currently the only two X apps I've > installed are OpenOffice and Mozilla. I do not get ANY anti-aliasing in > Mozilla. I DO get AA and Truetype fonts in OO but they look poor. While the > same TT font from Windows looks great. I've heard XFree86 TT fonts can looks > just as good, so that's what I'm pursuing. > > If we needed to test something, I could certainly install some other > program. > > > are you actually selecting the truetype fonts > > to be used on said apps? this is relatively important, because while > > you may be using truetype fonts, anti-aliasing may not actually be > > working for you. > > Yes... I have tried choosing one of the TTF fonts that only appeared once I > added the Fontpath line in XF86Config which pointed to the TTF folder. I > have done this in both OO and Moz. In Moz I can see the font visibly change > to a non-AA version of it. In OO it is AA but the quality of the AA job is > poor. > > > for instance, to have anti-aliased fonts with gtk12 > > ports, you need to install and configure gdkxft. > > Please excuse my ignorance here, but are Moz or OO gtk apps? > > > concerning openoffice, though, it doesn't handle microsoft-based fonts > > very well, from what i've noticed, even on windows systems. it seems to > > me that this is a problem with openoffice (at least when dealing with > > the .doc format voodoo), not your configuration. > > Well, for what its worth, I have OO on my Windows system as well. I am > looking at the exact same text in the exact same font in the same point size > on each in OO Writer. On the Windows system, it looks clean and even. On the > X system, the letters are thicker in uneven ways.. almost like an artificial > bolding job gone bad (no, I don't have bold selected on either). > > It might be worth getting The Gimp installed so I can do some comparison > screenshots and put them online. > > What's the significance of the fact that TT fonts don't appear when I have > the line in XftConfig but not XF86Config like the handbook says I should do? > Is this the sign of a problem which is playing a role here? > I'll try to tackle this one, since nice-looking fonts are something I've spent alot of time trying to achieve (not that mine are anything to write home about. First, a couple of screenshots. http://members.cox.net/s.wingate/misc/ss-mozilla-01.jpg (that one would be even sharper but I shrunk it down to 1400x1050) http://members.cox.net/s.wingate/misc/ss-mozilla-02.jpg http://members.cox.net/s.wingate/misc/ss-openoffice-01.jpg My XF86Config-4 file http://members.cox.net/s.wingate/misc/XF86Config-4.txt My XftConfig file (this is for Xft1.x, Xft2 is different) http://members.cox.net/s.wingate/misc/XftConfig.txt I'll tell you what I've done...just be aware that I've done so many things that some steps may not be necessary. For the record I'm using Gnome 2.0, Mozilla-1.2beta compiled with Xft2 support, 1600x1200 screen on 19" monitor in X11. I have the following Xft-related ports installed: [steve@daemon]:/home/steve> pkg_info | grep Xft Xft-2.0_1 A client-sided font API for X applications gdkxft-1.5_1 An anti-aliased font support for gtk+ 1) You don't mention which window manager you are using. This is important since KDE (3.x at least) has AA font support built in while Gnome does not. KDE has a simple button to click for AA font support somewhere. For Gnome you have to install the port gdkxft-1.5_1 then set: setenv QT_XFT 1 (csh shell syntax) somewhere before X11 starts, .xinitrc is a likely candidate. 2) There are different steps for configuring Xft1 or Xft2. Xft2 is easier but you need Mozilla 1.2 (beta obviously) compiled with "--enable-xft". This is NOT the default. I initially configured everything for Xft1 then read somewhere that Xft2 configuration was much simpler but not widely supported yet. Deadrat 8.0 is the first linux distro to include it. 3) I don't believe OpenOffice is a GTK app but Mozilla can be built with GTK and/or QT support. Quote me and I'll deny everything. 4) I took the shotgun approach to fonts and installed every font port that sounded cool. I have no idea which ones are really needed since I get my main fonts from Windows anyway. 5.) It's late and I'm tired so here are some links I've used to get things setup. I'll post more stuff when I'm lucid. XFree86 Font De-uglification Howto http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/mini/FDU/ FreeBSD Gnome website http://www.freebsd.org/gnome/docs/faq2.html Gnome Theme Website http://art.gnome.org Fontconfig.org http://www.fontconfig.org To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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