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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.
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.
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.
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
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
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).
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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