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Is this different than rebuilding freetype with the subpixel rendering patch enabled? I'm still not terribly happy with my fonts on 14.2 after rebuilding freetype (but I might be missing more options -- I'll have to look at that over this weekend).
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It depends, IMO you basically have two options with 14.2. You can use infinality, or you can take the freetype slackbuild from -current and build freetype-2.7.1 with the subpixel rendering patch enabled and doing steps 2, 3, and 4 from this post. https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ml#post5744886. Either way will give you basically the same results. Keep in mind you can't use freetype 2.8 or 2.8.1 from current because they don't build on 14.2, but the slackbuild from -current will build 2.7.1 just fine.
I still use infinality on 14.2, but did the second option on -current since infinality is now obsolete. Both ways looks 99% identical to me.
But to answer you original question if you just rebuilt freetype-2.6.3 from 14.2 and nothing else, then yes, it would not look as good as infinality. 2.7.0 was the first release to have the infinality patches merged into the source.
I just updated through slackpkg [chose Prompt and then overwrote] and I noticed a number of font update changes. On rebooting I think that Infinality isn't working any more. As well as that, I can't find any packages like six or html5lib using slackpkg search. I can't find lxml either.
Looks like I may have to reinstall lxml and Infinality.
EDIT: reinstalled, all is good now.
Last edited by Lysander666; 01-07-2018 at 03:55 PM.
But to answer you original question if you just rebuilt freetype-2.6.3 from 14.2 and nothing else, then yes, it would not look as good as infinality. 2.7.0 was the first release to have the infinality patches merged into the source.
That would explain it... I rebuilt 2.6.3 with it enabled and not 2.7.1. I also apparently never created the .Xresources file (although, I did setup those symlinks). I just compiled 2.7.1 and created my .Xresources, so next time I reboot my computer, hopefully things will be looking better.
I just updated through slackpkg [chose Prompt and then overwrote] and I noticed a number of font update changes. On rebooting I think that Infinality isn't working any more. As well as that, I can't find any packages like six or html5lib using slackpkg search. I can't find lxml either.
Looks like I may have to reinstall lxml and Infinality.
EDIT: reinstalled, all is good now.
Yes you will need to edit /etc/slackpkg/blacklist and blacklist freetype,fontconfig,cairo. Otherwise slackpkg will overwrite them to the stock slackware packages.
Yes you will need to edit /etc/slackpkg/blacklist and blacklist freetype,fontconfig,cairo. Otherwise slackpkg will overwrite them to the stock slackware packages.
Thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I'll read up on how to do it.
That would explain it... I rebuilt 2.6.3 with it enabled and not 2.7.1. I also apparently never created the .Xresources file (although, I did setup those symlinks). I just compiled 2.7.1 and created my .Xresources, so next time I reboot my computer, hopefully things will be looking better.
Thanks!
Let us know if it works ok. Here is a screenshot for people to see, one side in 14.2 with infinality and the other is 14.2 with just freetype-2.7.1 with the symlinks and .Xresources file. Ill let people guess which is which.
Let us know if it works ok. Here is a screenshot for people to see, one side in 14.2 with infinality and the other is 14.2 with just freetype-2.7.1 with the symlinks and .Xresources file. Ill let people guess which is which.
/* By undefining these, you get rendering behavior like on Windows */
/* without ClearType, i.e., Windows XP without ClearType enabled and */
/* Win9x (interpreter version v35). Or not, depending on how much */
/* hinting blood and testing tears the font designer put into a given */
/* font. If you define one or both subpixel hinting options, you can */
/* switch between between v35 and the ones you define (using */
/* `FT_Property_Set'). */
/*
AFAIU If a user want to get interpreter_version_v35
/* By undefining these, you get rendering behavior like on Windows */
/* without ClearType, i.e., Windows XP without ClearType enabled and */
/* Win9x .
But what does this mean ? /* ... If you define one or both subpixel hinting options, you can
/* switch between between v35 and the ones you define (using `FT_Property_Set').
How to "define one or both subpixel hinting options" ?
How to "switch between between v35 and the ones" the user defines ?
AFAIU If a user want to get interpreter_version_v35
/* By undefining these, you get rendering behavior like on Windows */
/* without ClearType, i.e., Windows XP without ClearType enabled and */
/* Win9x .
But what does this mean ? /* ... If you define one or both subpixel hinting options, you can
/* switch between between v35 and the ones you define (using `FT_Property_Set').
How to "define one or both subpixel hinting options" ?
How to "switch between between v35 and the ones" the user defines ?
I am going to assume you are using -current? Freetype-2.9.1 won't compile on 14.2. You can set which interpreter version you want by editing /etc/profile.d/freetype.sh. By default is uses version 40, if you want to use 35 or 38, then you simply have to uncomment the line you want to use. However this won't enable subpixel rendering. To enable that you either have to do it in your Desktop Environments font settings or this is how I enable subpixel rendering on -current
Let us know if it works ok. Here is a screenshot for people to see, one side in 14.2 with infinality and the other is 14.2 with just freetype-2.7.1 with the symlinks and .Xresources file. Ill let people guess which is which.
I basically did the comparison to show people that infinality is more or less obsolete, however there is still people who swear by infinality.
I'm one of them - I use Infinality with every install. I can certainly tell the difference.
I think it's relative to who's using the setup. For instance, the font rendering on my dad's Mint machine looks dreadful to me, but he doesn't seem to notice. I suppose it just depends what you're used to.
Depends on the hardware too. On a Dell XPS with HiDPI display the stock setup looks great with no tweaking at all. Certainly no worse than either of the examples posted above.
I use 14.2 but I want to understand how 2.9.1 (current=>slackware-15) works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daedra
Freetype-2.9.1 won't compile on 14.2. You can set which interpreter version you want by editing /etc/profile.d/freetype.sh. By default is uses version 40, if you want to use 35 or 38, then you simply have to uncomment the line you want to use.
Ok, I see
Code:
#!/bin/sh
# Configure Freetype properties. Here this is used to set the default mode
# for font hinting. Other controllable properties are listed in the section
# 'Controlling FreeType Modules' in the reference's table of contents.
#
# Three hinting settings are available:
# This is the classic hinting mode used in Freetype 2.6.x:
#export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=35"
# This is Infinality mode, which was never enabled by default. It is slower
# than the new subpixel hinting mode, but said to be more accurate:
#export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=38"
# This is the new default subpixel hinting mode used in Freetype 2.7.x. It is
# derived from the Infinality code base stripped to the bare minimum with all
# configurability removed in the name of speed and simplicity:
#export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=40"
AFAIU if a user want to get v35, he should uncomment the line
Code:
# This is the classic hinting mode used in Freetype 2.6.x:
export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=35"
But should the user (he want to get v35) make changes to the source code i.e. should the user recompile freetype with
/* By undefining these, you get rendering behavior like on Windows */
/* without ClearType, i.e., Windows XP without ClearType enabled and */
/* Win9x (interpreter version v35). Or not, depending on how much */
/* hinting blood and testing tears the font designer put into a given */
/* font. If you define one or both subpixel hinting options, you can */
/* switch between between v35 and the ones you define (using */
/* `FT_Property_Set').
/* #define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING 1 */
#define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING 2
/* #define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING ( 1 | 2 ) */
I use 14.2 but I want to understand how 2.9.1 (current=>slackware-15) works.
Ok, I see
Code:
#!/bin/sh
# Configure Freetype properties. Here this is used to set the default mode
# for font hinting. Other controllable properties are listed in the section
# 'Controlling FreeType Modules' in the reference's table of contents.
#
# Three hinting settings are available:
# This is the classic hinting mode used in Freetype 2.6.x:
#export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=35"
# This is Infinality mode, which was never enabled by default. It is slower
# than the new subpixel hinting mode, but said to be more accurate:
#export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=38"
# This is the new default subpixel hinting mode used in Freetype 2.7.x. It is
# derived from the Infinality code base stripped to the bare minimum with all
# configurability removed in the name of speed and simplicity:
#export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=40"
AFAIU if a user want to get v35, he should uncomment the line
Code:
# This is the classic hinting mode used in Freetype 2.6.x:
export FREETYPE_PROPERTIES="truetype:interpreter-version=35"
But should the user (he want to get v35) make changes to the source code i.e. should the user recompile freetype with
/* By undefining these, you get rendering behavior like on Windows */
/* without ClearType, i.e., Windows XP without ClearType enabled and */
/* Win9x (interpreter version v35). Or not, depending on how much */
/* hinting blood and testing tears the font designer put into a given */
/* font. If you define one or both subpixel hinting options, you can */
/* switch between between v35 and the ones you define (using */
/* `FT_Property_Set').
/* #define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING 1 */
#define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING 2
/* #define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_SUBPIXEL_HINTING ( 1 | 2 ) */
Yes you are correct, just uncomment the line for the interpreter you want to use. And you do not have to recompile anything on -current/15.0. The code you are referring to is simply saying you can choose at compile time a single interpreter you want to use or you can enable them all and choose the one you want. Pat has enabled them all and allows you to choose the one you want by editing the /etc/profile.d/freetype.sh file.
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