View Source: FontNotes - Waikato Linux Users Group

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!!! [Microsoft]’s TrueType fonts

Nowadays, almost all LinuxDistribution~s provide a [Package] that installs them. F.ex., on [Debian]/[Ubuntu], you get them by installing the <tt>msttcorefonts</tt> package.

!!! Enable or disable hinting

Put the following into your <tt>/etc/fonts/local.conf</tt> or <tt>~~/.fonts.conf</tt> to enable or disable automatic hinting. If you set it to false, fonts don't scale very well (it often defaults off for patent reasons). Set it to true and the fonts look smoother.

<verbatim>
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
  <match target="font">
    <edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
      <bool>true</bool>
    </edit>
  </match>
</fontconfig>
</verbatim>

!!! Substituting a nicer font for uglier ones

BitstreamVera is a free TrueType font specifically developed for FreeSoftware by [GNOME] and Bitstream (a company that makes fonts).  They look much nicer than the default Luxi fonts (especially sans-serif) that RedHat use, so you can replace them with a simple substitution, either system wide in <tt>/etc/fonts/local.conf</tt> or <tt>~~/.fonts.conf</tt> for your user alone. ([Google], find this page on <tt>how to change the default KDE font</tt> please!)

<verbatim>
<alias>
    <family>sans-serif</family>
    <prefer>
        <family>Bitstream Vera Sans</family>
        <family>Luxi Sans</family>
        <family>Albany AMT</family>
        <family>Verdana</family>
        <family>Nimbus Sans L</family>
        <family>Arial</family>
        <family>Helvetica</family>
    </prefer>
</alias>
</verbatim>

Change the ordering to suit!

!!! Miscellaneous Technical Notes

In the <tt>fonts.dir</tt> file, you can point different encodings (charsets) to the same physical file, __BUT ONLY FOR SCALABLE FONTS__. I spent quite a while trying to determine why my characters were wrong when I tried to do this for a bitmap font (eg a 75dpi one). It is the scalable font backends that do the magic here, not X itself.

!!! [KDE] fonts

With [Debian] (and possibly other LinuxDistribution~s), fonts can be working fine in [GNOME] but not in [KDE]. Install the <tt>xfstt</tt> package ([X] font server for TrueType) and it will then use TrueType fonts.

!!! See also

* AntiAliasedFonts
* SubPixelAntiAliasing for laptop and [TFT] users
* UnicodeNotes, for hints about font support for [Unicode] applications
* OpenOfficeNotes, on installing new fonts under [OpenOffice.org]
* MacromediaFlash on fixing problems with fonts in Flash
* The [XFree86 Font De-uglification HOWTO | http://feenix.burgiss.net/ldp/fdu/]: probably the most up-to-date/relevant infomation for setting up fonts
* [Font HOWTO | http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/Font-HOWTO/] for lots of background and overview about the different kinds of fonts ([Type1], TrueType), faces (<tt>serif</tt>, <tt>sans-serif</tt>), and basically everything you ever wanted to know.
* [Introduction to Fonts in Linux | http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=04/10/08/1916222] for an overview of font systems
* [TrueType Fonts with XFree86 4.x mini-HOWTO | http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/TT-XFree86.html] describes setting up your [XServer] to use true type fonts, such as those used by MicrosoftWindows
* [TrueType Fonts in Debian mini-HOWTO | http://www.tldp.org/HOWTO/TT-Debian.html] describes TrueType fonts for [Debian] users, including viewing on screen via applications such as [X], [groff(1)] and tex, as well as printing via GhostScript

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[CategoryXFree86Notes]
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Last edited on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 10:56:59 pm by AristotlePagaltzis
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