LinuxQuestions.org
Share your knowledge at the LQ Wiki.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Distributions > Slackware
User Name
Password
Slackware This Forum is for the discussion of Slackware Linux.

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 10-04-2012, 04:47 AM   #361
dsotm
Member
 
Registered: Mar 2012
Distribution: Slackware64-current, Fedora 33
Posts: 90

Rep: Reputation: 2

Quote:
Originally Posted by D1ver View Post
I set KDE to force anti-aliasing and set hinting to slight and things look a bit better now. Why do I always make progress after asking for help? :P
Just did this myself and it fixed my konsole font issue!
 
Click here to see the post LQ members have rated as the most helpful post in this thread.
Old 10-07-2012, 04:11 AM   #362
dc_eros
Member
 
Registered: Nov 2006
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 294

Rep: Reputation: 39
Using Source Sans Pro and Source Code Pro with slight hinting. Looks good on Firefox, dolphin, konsole and Sublime text but the text on desktop icons are ugly. Please see attached.
Attached Thumbnails
Click image for larger version

Name:	snapshot2-cropped.png
Views:	113
Size:	117.7 KB
ID:	10888  
 
Old 10-07-2012, 12:23 PM   #363
dugan
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Nov 2003
Location: Canada
Distribution: distro hopper
Posts: 11,200

Rep: Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307
I don't see anything actually wrong with the font rendering, but KDE lets you specify a different or larger font for desktop icons. It also lets you turn off hinting for fonts that are below a certain size.

I would also ask whether use have autohinting turned on (/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-autohint.conf present). EDIT: I always remove that file.

Last edited by dugan; 10-07-2012 at 12:51 PM.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 10-07-2012, 12:43 PM   #364
dc_eros
Member
 
Registered: Nov 2006
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 294

Rep: Reputation: 39
I'll check that settings and see if there's an improvement.

Thanks
 
Old 10-07-2012, 08:33 PM   #365
Miranden
Member
 
Registered: May 2012
Distribution: Slackware 64 14.2
Posts: 213

Rep: Reputation: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daedra View Post
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subpixel_rendering

Basically the patches just enable the subpixel rendering feature that is built into freetype, it is disabled in the stock Slackware package because its patented code by Microsoft so your only really supposed to enable it if you have a license to do so. An end user doesn't really have to worry about this but someone like Pat who owns the distribution and does sell it can get into trouble for enabling it.
If this has already been mentioned in the past 25 pages I apologise (I only read about half because much was about 12.1), but would someone mind explain to me please why this is only a problem for slackware? Ubuntu's default font rendering looks fine. So does mint. Every other distro I've run on live cd looks good enough so it didn't strike me one way or another. Even gparted looks normal. By that I mean polished, professional, like it belongs on a computer in this decade.

But when I first installed Slackware, I couldn't believe how bad it looked. I'm not trying to insult Slack or anything because I am learning to like it, but this is pretty horrible. I would like to understand why.
 
Old 10-07-2012, 08:49 PM   #366
dugan
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Nov 2003
Location: Canada
Distribution: distro hopper
Posts: 11,200

Rep: Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miranden View Post
would someone mind explain to me please why this is only a problem for slackware?
I think it's because the distributions that you're comparing Slackware to are, unlike Slackware, not commercial products.

To elaborate:

What you perceive as "horribleness" is likely the combined result of two specific technical decisions. These two decisions are: a) not turning on subpixel rendering in Freetype, and b) using Liberation fonts in the place of Microsoft's Core Fonts for the Web.

Pat on not turning on subpixel rendering:

Quote:
Originally Posted by volkerdi View Post
As far as optimizing LCD font display, I believe the Microsoft patents still prevent that so you'll have to make those changes yourself. I mean, don't do that, but if you do I take no responsibility for your actions.
(There's also a note in the Freetype SlackBuild that says the same thing).

Alien Bob on not including Microsoft's Core Fonts for the Web:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Alien Bob View Post
The for-sale and the downloadable Slackware versions are no different. The font EULA explicitly forbids re-distribution as part of a commercial offering which Slackware is (notwithstanding the fact that Pat makes everything freely available for you to download).

Last edited by dugan; 10-07-2012 at 09:07 PM.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 10-07-2012, 09:42 PM   #367
Miranden
Member
 
Registered: May 2012
Distribution: Slackware 64 14.2
Posts: 213

Rep: Reputation: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by dugan View Post
I think it's because the distributions that you're comparing Slackware to are, unlike Slackware, not commercial products.
Technically I made no comparison. The point was not to compare Slackware to other distributions, but to ask why it seems to be unique in this way among Linux distributions as a whole. At least every one I've tried. I regret if this offends anyone, but I like to try to understand things I choose to deal with, and pretending things are different than they are does not help me do that. Again, I like Slackware and mean no offense.

Thanks for the information.

P.S. I appreciate you going back and editing your post to address my actual question, and correcting your miquote of my statement.
 
Old 10-07-2012, 10:02 PM   #368
dugan
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Nov 2003
Location: Canada
Distribution: distro hopper
Posts: 11,200

Rep: Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307
Relax, Miranden. Your question didn't offend anyone. I do hope it's been answered to your satisfaction.

I mean, the whole point of this thread is to make Slackware's fonts look (at least) as good as Ubuntu's, right?
 
Old 10-07-2012, 10:04 PM   #369
D1ver
Member
 
Registered: Jan 2010
Distribution: Slackware 13.37
Posts: 598
Blog Entries: 3

Rep: Reputation: 194Reputation: 194
Quote:
Originally Posted by dugan View Post
Relax, Miranden. Your question didn't offend anyone. I do hope it's been answered to your satisfaction.

I mean, the whole point of this thread is to make Slackware's fonts look (at least) as good as Ubuntu's, right?
He asked something I've been wondering myself

All very interesting. Thanks to contributors to this thread, my fonts look pretty great. Cheers
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 10-07-2012, 10:35 PM   #370
trademark91
Member
 
Registered: Sep 2009
Distribution: Slackware -current x64
Posts: 372

Rep: Reputation: 74
Here's something interesting. I was taking screenshots earlier today, and when I got home, I built the infinality packages for slackware, so I conveniently have two screenshots of the exact same desktop with both the vanilla slackware rendering as well as the infinality patched one. You can really notice a difference, especially in the menus. I changed nothing besides the renderer in these screenshots, so you can see what a difference it makes in all the fonts.

here is vanilla: http://imageshack.us/a/img201/3739/snapshot21s.png

and here is patched: http://imageshack.us/a/img805/796/snapshot23.png
 
Old 10-08-2012, 05:14 AM   #371
GazL
LQ Veteran
 
Registered: May 2008
Posts: 6,882

Rep: Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988Reputation: 4988
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miranden View Post
But when I first installed Slackware, I couldn't believe how bad it looked. I'm not trying to insult Slack or anything because I am learning to like it, but this is pretty horrible. I would like to understand why.
I agree defaults in slackware have been ugly as hell for a couple of releases now.
Code:
cd /etc/fonts/conf.d && ln -s ../conf.avail/10-autohint.conf .
is all that I find necessary to make things bearable.
 
2 members found this post helpful.
Old 10-08-2012, 09:32 AM   #372
Miranden
Member
 
Registered: May 2012
Distribution: Slackware 64 14.2
Posts: 213

Rep: Reputation: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by dugan View Post
Relax, Miranden.
Actually I'm not sure how much calmer I could have said it. You on the other hand might want to take a few deep breaths.

I'm posting a few screenshots so everybody can see "what I perceive as horribleness."

This first batch is without any hinting change from the defaults under XFCE:

http://imageshack.us/a/img841/2396/linuxdefault1.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img839/2125/linuxdefault2.png

And here are some with antialiasing and full hinting enabled under the XFCE settings. It really helped the desktop considerably, but the web still needs a lot of work. I guess this is because I still need the web fonts?

http://imageshack.us/a/img96/1765/linuxhinting1.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img440/1958/linuxhinting2.png

And just to see what my screen is capable of here are some shots of the same computer under windoze:

http://imageshack.us/a/img231/4750/windows1.png

http://imageshack.us/a/img607/3413/windows2.png

So if I am following the information in this thread correctly, the only things needed to get from the quality in set two of these images to the quality in set three are the ability to do subpixel rendering and a different set of fonts? Or to at least get as good as (or better than) Ubuntu?

Last edited by Miranden; 10-08-2012 at 09:54 AM. Reason: typo
 
Old 10-08-2012, 11:14 AM   #373
dugan
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Nov 2003
Location: Canada
Distribution: distro hopper
Posts: 11,200

Rep: Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307Reputation: 5307
Quote:
Actually I'm not sure how much calmer I could have said it.
Context, Miranden, context. The point was that you didn't need to worry about offending people or being perceived as insulting Slack. That should have been clear from the sentence that followed the one you quoted. You did, after all, state very explicitly that you were in fact worried about offending people and/or being perceived as insulting Slack. And there was no need to be.

Quote:
So if I am following the information in this thread correctly, the only things needed to get from the quality in set two of these images to the quality in set three are the ability to do subpixel rendering and a different set of fonts?
That's correct. It takes several minutes on a modern computer.

Check out the "Optimizing Slackware Linux's Fonts" link in my sig.

To summarize:
  • either rebuild Freetype for subpixel rendering, or install enhanced packages provided by me or Daedra
  • install the webcore-fonts from slackbuilds.org
  • remove /etc/fonts/60-liberation.conf, which replaces Microsoft's fonts (e.g. Arial) with Liberation fonts (e.g. Liberation Mono)

That should cover it. Your fonts will then look at least as good as Ubuntu's, and the horriblness will be gone.

They will, in fact, look something like this:

http://duganchen.ca/wordpress/wp-con...x800_scrot.png
Quote:
You on the other hand might want to take a few deep breaths.
I do not agree that this barb was justified. I have provided all the information you asked for, spoken for everyone when I said that no offence was taken, and never questioned your motives or character. You can expect this standard of behavior from all of us.

Last edited by dugan; 10-08-2012 at 11:34 AM.
 
Old 10-08-2012, 11:37 AM   #374
Miranden
Member
 
Registered: May 2012
Distribution: Slackware 64 14.2
Posts: 213

Rep: Reputation: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by dugan View Post
Context, Miranden, context. The point was that you didn't need to worry about offending people or being perceived as insulting Slack. That should have been clear from the sentence that followed the one you quoted. You did, after all, state very explicitly that you were in fact worried about offending people and/or being perceived as insulting Slack. And there was no need to be.



That's correct. It takes several minutes on a modern computer.

Check out the "Optimizing Slackware Linux's Fonts" link in my sig.

To summarize:
  • either rebuild Freetype for subpixel rendering, or install enhanced packages provided by me or Daedra
  • install the webcore-fonts from slackbuilds.org
  • remove /etc/fonts/60-liberation.conf, which replaces Microsoft's fonts (e.g. Arial) with Liberation fonts (e.g. Liberation Mono)

That should cover it. Your fonts will then look at least as good as Ubuntu's, and the horriblness will be gone.

They will, in fact, look something like this:

http://duganchen.ca/wordpress/wp-con...x800_scrot.png


I do not agree that this barb was justified. I have provided all the information you asked for, spoken for everyone when I said that no offence was taken, and never questioned your motives or character. You can expect this standard of behavior from all of us.
Oh, good grief. Forgive me if I skim over some of the haughtier parts of this. Tone, Dugan, tone.

Thanks to everyone else who responded showing the standard of behavior I can ACTUALLY expect from the majority of Slackware users.
 
Old 10-08-2012, 11:40 AM   #375
Miranden
Member
 
Registered: May 2012
Distribution: Slackware 64 14.2
Posts: 213

Rep: Reputation: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by dugan View Post

They will, in fact, look something like this:

http://duganchen.ca/wordpress/wp-con...x800_scrot.png
I do like the Solarized theme, though. I was just in the process of installing it myself.
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
If I were to recompile & arch-optimize Slackware, where to begin? GrapefruiTgirl Slackware 124 06-22-2007 09:46 PM
How to Optimize Slackware 10.2? zeroz52 Slackware 23 10-04-2005 06:42 PM
How to fully optimize Slackware? Introx Slackware 4 05-30-2004 04:23 AM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Distributions > Slackware

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:51 PM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration