Hi all,

I am a Linux newbie (naturally), and have been digesting the contents of this web site like a sponge over the last few days.

This is my first return to *nix after about ten years, and so far I am enjoying my explorations.

I have already done a search and read tens of articles in a vain attempt to find an answer to my problem.

I am running Red Hat 8.0 on a Dell Latitude notebook computer with an ATI Rage Mobility video chip and a 14" LCD display. I am using the default window manager, (which I think is KDE), with the new Bluecurve style.

Almost all fonts are displayed very fuzzy. See exhibit 1: OpenOffice with various fonts:


My font settings are as follows:


I have tried turning anti-aliasing off and on, and restarting the window manager, but to no avail.

Any ideas?
Thanks!

As an update:

My screen resolution is set at 1024x768. I changed the color depth from 24 bits down to 16 bits, it made no difference.

My monitor is set up to be a generic laptop color display. The contents of my XF86Config file are below:

# File generated by anaconda.
#

Section "ServerLayout"
#
Identifier "Anaconda Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection

Section "Files"
# The location of the RGB database. Note, this is the name of the
# file minus the extension (like ".txt" or ".db"). There is normally
# no need to change the default.
# Multiple FontPath entries are allowed (they are concatenated together)
# By default, Red Hat 6.0 and later now use a font server independent of
# the X server to render fonts.
RgbPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
EndSection

Section "Module"
Load "dbe"
Load "extmod"
Load "fbdevhw"
Load "dri"
Load "glx"
Load "record"
Load "freetype"
Load "type1"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
# Option "AutoRepeat" "500 5"
# when using XQUEUE, comment out the above line, and uncomment the
# following line
# Option "Protocol" "Xqueue"
# Specify which keyboard LEDs can be user-controlled (eg, with xset(1))
# Option "Xleds" "1 2 3"
# To disable the XKEYBOARD extension, uncomment XkbDisable.
# Option "XkbDisable"
# To customise the XKB settings to suit your keyboard, modify the
# lines below (which are the defaults). For example, for a non-U.S.
# keyboard, you will probably want to use:
# Option "XkbModel" "pc102"
# If you have a US Microsoft Natural keyboard, you can use:
# Option "XkbModel" "microsoft"
#
# Then to change the language, change the Layout setting.
# For example, a german layout can be obtained with:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# or:
# Option "XkbLayout" "de"
# Option "XkbVariant" "nodeadkeys"
#
# If you'd like to switch the positions of your capslock and
# control keys, use:
# Option "XkbOptions" "ctrl:swapcaps"
#Option "XkbOptions" ""
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbRules" "xfree86"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us" #Option "XkbVariant" ""
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "TouchpadMouse"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "IMPS/2"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mouse"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "Monitor Vendor"
ModelName "Generic Laptop Display Panel 1024x768"
DisplaySize 288 216
HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5
VertRefresh 40.0 - 70.0
Option "dpms"
EndSection

Section "Device"
# Uncomment the following line to enable external display
# Option "crt_screen"
#BusID
Identifier "ATI Rage Mobility"
Driver "ati"
VendorName "ATI Rage Mobility"
BoardName "ATI Rage Mobility"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "ATI Rage Mobility"
Monitor "Monitor0"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection

it may not be the font directly. The pics look ok to me. Sometimes TFT's have trouble displaying fonts.

I believe it is called Font Smoothing. It is the equivalent of Microsoft's ClearType and Mac OS's font antialiasing (which they had for years). Supposedly it is easier to read.

http://osnews.daemon.be/img/1842/redhat1.jpg

Trey,

Thanks for your response. Strangely enough, though I am running RedHat 8.0, my Font Preferences dialog boxes do not look like anything on the screenshot! I do not have any options for Details or Smoothing or anything like that. The only Font settings that I am able to find are in:


Is there any other place where I can find more font dialogs? I am running KDE, perhaps I should try GNOME?

ckapsl
You should change your font first , try this font :Helvectia , also with the fonts size.
the next step is -->contral center-->system--> fonts installer-->antialias ,select the second check box, then remember to save it.
restart your xwindow, I think it will works.

use the font installer and install MS true type fonts for ma MS disk this should do the trick, linux fonts bite!

pardon my lack of knowledge,

how do you use font installer with the MS fonts?

also, trey007, i cannot get to the screen of control -> system -> font installer
i don't have that options..

If you r using Mandrake 9.0 , the Fonts installer is hidden by default. You should edit your menu ,and shou the submen.
From the "Hidden Menu", system->....->fonts installer, just drag it to another place . Then you'll find it in your system menu.

Here is a link to a good article about adding fonts (and other stuff) for Red Hat 8.0 and KDE

http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=1890

It basically say you need to create a .fonts folder in your home directory and copy the fonts you want there. You need to restart X, but after that, KDE will be able to pick up those new fonts.

i'm having the same problem, i believe. got dual xeon 2Ghz, geforce3, 1g RAM, viewsonic p95f+ monitor...

fonts, icons, images are all just a bit fuzzy. enough to give you eye strain after a little while.

i did note that if i go into the monitor's menu and crank up "moire", whatever that is, i can make the effect worse. so if you don't know what we're talking about, turn up your moire a bit and you'll see. unfortunatley this setting won't go any lower

i have carefully configured my vid card and my monitor in X. no changes seem to make any difference at all. always slightly fuzzy. extremely annoying.

i have a much more modest computer at home, and it renders sharp, clear text and graphics, no problem.

i thought it was a bad monitor and got a new one from the vendor, but same problem with new monitor.

i'm out of ideas at this point.

Hi all

I have been exploring the font issue for some time. I used to use redhat 8 and also found the fonts very fuzzy - to the point of irritating. Sub-pixel hinting is what you need to mess with to get them to render sharper on a TFT. Unfortunately, KDE 3.0 does not provide for that and thats what is shipped with RH 8. If you dont mind gnome, you can find a tool in the gnome control center under fonts that allows you to change the pattern of the sub-pixel hinting. I personally do not like gnome and switched distros to the latest SuSE - which I have always found to render a sharper desktop than RH (my opinion). KDE 3.1 does allow changes to sub-pixel hinting and upgrading may help you - particularly if you find that the tools in Gnome help you get a clearer picture.

Also as some one mentioned above, choosing fonts wisely helps as does disabling antialiasing for fonts below a certain size. I personally feel tho that RedHats antialiasing in 8.0 was a bit over the top. I don't know if that makes any sense but I know that there is a clear difference with SuSE on the same machine.

no pun intended

you need MS truetype fonts first.
copy tahoma.ttf ,tahomabd.ttf, verdana.ttf, verdanabd.ttf,verdanaz,verdanai,arial.ttf and....the fonts you want to be installed to you RH to a folder.
1.Normally, I use /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype,
mkdir myfonts
cp tahoma.ttf ,tahomabd.ttf, verdana.ttf, verdanabd.ttf,verdanaz,verdanai,arial.ttf /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype/myfonts
2.cd myfonts
3.ttmkfdir -o fonts.dir
4.cp fonts.dir fonts.scale
5.vim /etc/X11/XF86Config
find : Section "Files"
add this 2 lines to the end of this section
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype/myfonts"
FontPath "unix/:7100"
6.
Section "Module"
Load "xtt"
Load "dbe"
#Load "type1"
Load "speedo"
#Load "freetype"
Load "extmod"
Load "glx"
Load "v4l"
Load "dri"
EndSection
7. change fonts name in kcontrol-pannel to tahoma or verdana
8,restart your X.
it should works!

good luck

a note on this. if you put all that stuff in ~/.fonts you don't have to do any fancy config editing.

i did that on the system in question and was able to use a bunch of MS fonts after restarting X.

the fonts do improve readability, but they don't fix the blurriness problem. but selecting some of those MS fonts gets rid of some of the eye strain. i think i use MS lucida I for default font, and it's a little better than the linux lucida.