a quick guide to getting 100 dpi fonts in X

Bruce Hill · 07-13-2006, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Old_Fogie

Hi all,

I spent alot of time trying to figure this out, and just wanted to put it here for any newcomers to slack.

background: slackware and most gnu/linuci's use 75dpi x 75 dpi fonts. windows uses 96 dpi x 96dpi by default. gnu/linux fonts never looked right to me and as I am new didnt have time to get into the fonts thing. obviously most webpages, etc are built with 96x96 in mind, so to render your webpages better and cleaner, you might find this helpfull.

I found that many people recommend 96x96. Now I got 96x96 to work just fine by my how to below, but found that console fonts were a little wierd looking on my eyes. Knowing that Pat gives you the "100 dpi package" in "X" section when you install slack 10.2 I decided to try out 100 dpi x 100 dpi and so now my KDE, fluxbox look really nice as do my terminals.

Okay, Old_Fogie, help me out. I've tried this before, and it's never worked. So here's my info...

First, the native Slackware resolution:

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ xdpyinfo | grep "resolution"
  resolution:    85x86 dots per inch

Now, for the changes suggested...

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ ls -l /var/log/packages/x11-fonts-*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 105262 2006-07-06 09:01 /var/log/packages/x11-fonts-100dpi-6.9.0-noarch-4

So I have the 100dpi fonts installed.

What about the display size?

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ xrandr
 SZ:    Pixels          Physical       Refresh
*0   1280 x 1024   ( 382mm x 302mm )  *60

So, a little math...
25.4 divided by 100 = 0.254 x 1280 = 325.1 (that's my milimeters for my width)
25.4 divided by 100 = 0.254 x 1024 = 260.1 (that's my millimeters for my height)
(but that's not what "xrandr" reports...)
So, the change to "/etc/X11/xorg.conf"

Code:

root@silas:~# cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -i display
    DisplaySize    325.1  260.1

And checking the font path:

Code:

root@silas:~# cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -i 100dpi
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled"
    FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"

Restart the X server, and:

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ xdpyinfo | grep "resolution"
  resolution:    85x86 dots per inch

No, it didn't change.

Well, let's try with the sizes "xrandr" reports:

Code:

root@silas:~# cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -i display
#    DisplaySize    325.1  260.1
    DisplaySize    382  302

Restart the X server, and:

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ xdpyinfo | grep "resolution"
  resolution:    85x86 dots per inch

No, it didn't change.

Restart the OS:

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ xdpyinfo | grep "resolution"
  resolution:    85x86 dots per inch

No, it didn't change.

Why not? What did I do wrong?

I've tried this little tweak many times over the past few years, and it has never changed in my systems. Not with the old XFree86 whateveritwas, nor with Xorg.

sl4ckw4re · 07-13-2006, 09:40 AM

maybe you should try putting in the exact number you get from the math, and not round it up.... don't know just a tought of a newbie like i am, but i tried this tutorial and could see the difference from the first time. so .. it is a very valid guide.

Bruce Hill · 07-13-2006, 10:32 AM

Code:

root@silas:~# cat /etc/X11/xorg.conf | grep -i display
    DisplaySize    325.12  260.096
#    DisplaySize    382  302
root@silas:~# logout
mingdao@silas:~$ xdpyinfo | grep "resolution"
  resolution:    85x86 dots per inch

Old_Fogie · 07-14-2006, 12:07 AM

do you have your

Quote:

DisplaySize 325.12 260.096

typed with that many spaces between the numbers? there should only be "one space bar key push" between your numbers...

e.g.

Quote:

DisplaySize------325.12 260.096
-----------------------------^---one space here

quick edit to line up

Old_Fogie · 07-14-2006, 12:13 AM

oh chinaman,

what type of monitor do you have? Is it possible, that your monitor sends DCC information, which is, basically the monitor telling the pc what the monitor's specification is and what it can handle.

take a look in your /var/logs and see if you get any DCC info, or if your video card when booting up is givig any info related to it.

Bruce Hill · 07-14-2006, 03:55 AM

First, I had two spaces. So I changed that. Quick restart of X, and ...

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ xdpyinfo | grep "resolution"
  resolution:    85x86 dots per inch

And some information:

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ hwinfo.static > hwinfo.log
mingdao@silas:~$ less hwinfo.log
<snip>
32: PCI 100.0: 0300 VGA compatible controller (VGA)
  [Created at pci.273]
  Unique ID: VCu0.gMig1Xegjs8
  Parent ID: vSkL.CP+qXDDqow8
  SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0
  SysFS BusID: 0000:01:00.0
  Hardware Class: graphics card
  Model: "Micro-Star International GeForce FX 5200 (0x0322)"
  Vendor: pci 0x10de "nVidia Corporation"
  Device: pci 0x0322 "GeForce FX 5200 (0x0322)"
  SubVendor: pci 0x1462 "Micro-Star International Co., Ltd."
  SubDevice: pci 0x9980
  Revision: 0xa1
  Driver: "nvidia"
  Memory Range: 0xfc000000-0xfcffffff (rw,non-prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0xe0000000-0xe7ffffff (rw,prefetchable)
  Memory Range: 0xfd600000-0xfd61ffff (ro,prefetchable,disabled)
  IRQ: 17 (4569402 events)
  I/O Ports: 0x3c0-0x3df (rw)
  Driver Info #0:
    XFree86 v4 Server Module: nv
  Driver Info #1:
    XFree86 v4 Server Module: nvidia
    3D Support: yes
    Color Depths: 16
    Extensions:
    Options:
  Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
  Attached to: #13 (PCI bridge)
<snip>

And my monitor is a Samsung 930B -- a 19" digital LCD.

What about those logs?

Code:

root@silas:~# cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/Xorg.0.log.old | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/acpid | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/btmp | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/debug | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/debug.1 | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/dmesg | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/faillog | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/lastlog | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/maillog | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/maillog.1 | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/messages | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/messages.1 | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/nvidia-installer.log | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/secure | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/secure.1 | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/spooler | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/spooler.1 | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/syslog | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/syslog.1 | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~# cat /var/log/wtmp | grep -i DCC
root@silas:~#

They're all empty.

Now let's try restarting the OS ...

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ xdpyinfo | grep "resolution"
  resolution:    85x86 dots per inch

Yes, sports fans; every screwy thing that doesn't work anywhere, doesn't work in my Slackware.

I've also changed my horizontal sync, vertical sync, and monitor display area to match the published specs from Samsung:

Quote:

Model Name SyncMaster 930B
LCD Panel
Size 19" Diagonal
Display area 376.32 (H) x 301.056 (V)
Pixel Pitch 0.294mm (H) x 0.294mm (V)
Type a-si TFT active matrix
Synchronization
Horizontal 30 ~ 81 kHz
Vertical 56 ~ 75 Hz
Display Color
16.7M Colors
Resolution
Optimum resolution 1280 x 1024@60 Hz

Old_Fogie · 07-15-2006, 03:51 PM

chinaman, I'm going to dump my laptop and put in xfree server on their and give it a shot to see if any differences to what I said here.

hopefully xfree go in nicely for me, i'm using slack 10.2 on it

hopefully get back to you soon.

-fogie

Bruce Hill · 07-17-2006, 11:01 PM

Old Fogie,

This morning I decided to look at the Nvidia driver's README file to see what I could find. And shore nuff, right in the Dots Per Inch Appendix, them fellers had the answer:

Quote:

Appendix Y. Dots Per Inch

DPI (Dots Per Inch), also known as PPI (Pixels Per Inch), is a property of an X screen that describes the physical size of pixels. Some X applications, such as xterm, can use the DPI of an X screen to determine how large (in pixels) to draw an object in order for that object to be displayed at the desired physical size on the display device.

You can query the DPI of your X screen by running:

% xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot

which should generate output like this:

dimensions: 1280x1024 pixels (382x302 millimeters)
resolution: 85x86 dots per inch

That's exactly what I'm getting:

Code:

mingdao@silas:/server2/Chinese_study$ xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot
  dimensions:    1280x1024 pixels (382x302 millimeters)
  resolution:    85x86 dots per inch

and here's why:

Code:

mingdao@silas:/server2/Chinese_study$ less /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i DPI
(**) FontPath set to "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic/"
(--) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (85, 86); computed from "UseEdidDpi" X config option

Furthermore, them fellers tell several ways to change it.

At the moment I'm out of time, and also, I don't know why I would want it to be 100 x 100 dpi.

I'll try it later and see what happens.

Old_Fogie · 07-18-2006, 06:57 AM

Hey chinaman,

FWIW, I got my laptop to use xfree86 and do this too.

That's interesting to see that nvidia is overriding the xorg. As I do not have an nvidia card to experiment with, it would be nice if you OR another nvidia user were able to experiment and post your results back so we could share with others. I will add it to the first post then.

Regarding your question about why you'd want to, check out my post #8 here again if you have more questions try me

b3rx · 07-18-2006, 07:09 AM

I have an nVIDIA driver and here's my output

Code:

b3rx@zu:~$ xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot
  dimensions:    1600x1200 pixels (406x305 millimeters)
  resolution:    100x100 dots per inch

Code:

b3rx@zu:~$ less /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i DPI
(**) FontPath set to "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/local/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/:unscaled,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/CID/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/,/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/cyrillic/"
(WW) NVIDIA(0):     DPI from EDID.
(**) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (100, 100); computed from "DisplaySize" Monitor section option

Old_Fogie · 07-18-2006, 01:39 PM

nice, thank you b3rx

Bruce Hill · 07-18-2006, 07:38 PM

Here I go again, reading the docs...
Appendix D. X Config Options:

Quote:

Option "DPI" "string"

This option specifies the Dots Per Inch for the X screen; for example:

Option "DPI" "75 x 85"

will set the horizontal DPI to 75 and the vertical DPI to 85. By default, the X driver will compute the DPI of the X screen from the EDID of any connected display devices. See Appendix Y, Dots Per Inch for details. Default: string is NULL (disabled).

Since that seemed like the most sensible way to do this, I put it in my "/etc/X11/xorg.conf" file:

Code:

    Identifier     "Samsung 930B"
    HorizSync       30 - 81
    VertRefresh     56 - 75
    Option "DPI" "100 x 100"
#    DisplaySize    376.32 301.056
#    DisplaySize    382 302

So I tried that:

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ less /var/log/Xorg.0.log | grep -i DPI
<snip the font stuff>
(**) NVIDIA(0): Option "DPI" "100 x 100"
(**) NVIDIA(0): DPI set to (100, 100); computed from "DPI" X config option

and got this result:

Code:

mingdao@silas:~$ xdpyinfo | grep -B1 dot
  dimensions:    1280x1024 pixels (325x260 millimeters)
  resolution:    100x100 dots per inch

And nothing looks any different at all to me.

I've looked at Firefox, Thunderbird, GAIM, GKrellM, Xterm, Konsole,
KWord, Kate, AmaroK, Xfce settings manager ... they're either the
same, or not as good. On my TO-DO list is build OOo-2.0.3, so I have
not looked at it; nor printed in Slackware and Windoze.

Otherwise, I seem to be missing the boat. Or perhaps my monitor does
not need any of this tweaking.

Old Fogie, I should swap nicks with you.

Old_Fogie · 07-19-2006, 09:09 AM

chinaman,

for kicks and giggles, with those settings for dpi that you have for 100x100 what if you dropped down from let's say 24 color to 16 and see what happens. Or try a slightly smaller display resolution of 1152x864 in lieu of what you have and see.

Bruce Hill · 07-19-2006, 09:46 AM

Okay, tomorrow whilst I'm working on some fubared Windoze boxen of customers I'll try those.

Bruce Hill · 07-19-2006, 08:31 PM

Okay, mate, I tried your suggestions. They looked much worse.

I posted some images for you, but I think they don't look proper. I'm going to
do some other things to make my fonts look good. But I still don't see what this
100x100 dpi has over my default 86x85 dpi set by my monitor.

NB: I'm running the Xfce desktop atm, and used KSnapshot for those screenshots.
If you'd like, I could redo them with imagemagick using this command:
import -w root -quality 100 <location_to_save>
which would make better quality shots. I despise KDE (Krummy Desktop Excuse) and
just about all the K apps.

And btw, my monitor won't run at 1152x864 at all. Not that it matters, because I
am only going to use it at 1280x1024. I'm looking for more screen real estate,
not less.