What locale/codeset do you run your slackware box on?

GazL · 08-05-2014, 06:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

I've got locale set to en_GB. On my laptop, anyway, (where I am now). But I'm pretty sure I've got en_GB.UTF-8 on my desktop - I'll check later.
I'm using a unicode font in the console (Lat2-Terminus16), because it looks better than the default. Nothing bad has happened yet. But it probably will now I've mentioned it.

A Lat1 font would be more appropriate for that locale, and as long as you stick to the Terminus family shouldn't look any different.
Give "ter-116b.psf.gz", or "ter-116n.psf.gz" a try. I prefer the look of the bold font myself.

brianL · 08-05-2014, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GazL

A Lat1 font would be more appropriate for that locale, and as long as you stick to the Terminus family shouldn't look any different.
Give "ter-116b.psf.gz", or "ter-116n.psf.gz" a try. I prefer the look of the bold font myself.

Ok, I'll try those. Thanks for the tip.

Didier Spaier · 08-05-2014, 06:49 AM

In the console, I'd suggest using a true type font like DejaVu through fbterm. You can size it at will [1] and it's good looking.

[1] as long as each glyph can fit individually in the screen, to be accurate

brianL · 08-05-2014, 06:57 AM

On my desktop, I'm using the NVidia driver, so I can't use the VESA framebuffer. As a result the console font is rather large, so I'll try ter-114n(or b) or ter-112n(or b).

audriusk · 08-05-2014, 07:16 AM

My locale is UTF-8 for at least five years, if not longer. It allows me to work with multilingual text, e.g. read email written in Lithuanian (my native tongue) and Russian in Mutt (can occur at work). If some program doesn't support it, I consider it broken and obsolete, as this program most likely was abandoned by its author(s).

Didier Spaier · 08-05-2014, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

On my desktop, I'm using the NVidia driver, so I can't use the VESA framebuffer. As a result the console font is rather large, so I'll try ter-114n(or b) or ter-112n(or b).

That's not an issue at all. If FbTerm can't find a framebuffer, it just fall back to using a VESA driver if available.

For instance here I use a NVIDIA driver too and fbterm relies on the VESA VGA driver that is built in all Slackware kernels. That's makes no difference in the rendering.

tronayne · 08-05-2014, 08:03 AM

UTF-8 for working with multiple languages' character sets.

Only utility I have trouble with is gv (I do have PostScript documents).

For example, displaying the GNU Scientific Library documentation

Code:

gv ./Documents/gsl-ref.ps
Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion
Warning: Cannot convert string "-efont-biwidth-medium-r-normal--16-*-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1,-gnu-unifont-medium-r-normal--16-*-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1,-adobe-helvetica-medium-r-normal--14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,-jis-fixed-medium-r-*--16-*-*-*-*-*-jisx0208.1983-0,-*-*-medium-r-*--16-*-*-*-*-*-*-*,*" to type FontSet
Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion
Warning: Unable to load any usable fontset
Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion
Warning: Unable to load any usable fontset

Displays fine, but pretty much any PostScript file does the above.

I do have the Adobe Type Library and have no problem printing any PostScript file (or converting PostScript to PDF and the like) so it's no big deal but gv is just one of those older utilities that don't like UTF-8 it seems. Haven't noticed any problems with any other utilities, just gv.

Just a little weirdness, no big deal.

GazL · 08-05-2014, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by audriusk

If some program doesn't support it, I consider it broken and obsolete, as this program most likely was abandoned by its author(s).

A big part of the reason I posted this thread (other than general curiosity about UTF-8 uptake amongst slackers) was to identify which programs still don't support utf-8.

So far, I have:

elvis (slackware's default vi).
ash (no surprise here).

brianL · 08-05-2014, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Didier Spaier

That's not an issue at all. If FbTerm can't find a framebuffer, it just fall back to using a VESA driver if available.

For instance here I use a NVIDIA driver too and fbterm relies on the VESA VGA driver that is built in all Slackware kernels. That's makes no difference in the rendering.

Ah, I was going off the warning (forget exactly what it says, something about stability?) that appears if using anything other than vga = normal with the NVidia driver.

Didier Spaier · 08-05-2014, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

Ah, I was going off the warning (forget exactly what it says, something about stability?) that appears if using anything other than vga = normal with the NVidia driver.

Here I have "vga = 791" but IIRC even with "vga = normal" fbterm can use the VESA VGA driver. I'll check later because I can't reboot now.

GazL · 08-05-2014, 08:33 AM

Yeah, like brian I stick with vga=normal because the NVIDIA blob driver used to have problems with framebuffer consoles. Haven't tried it in a long time though and things may have improved by now.

It'd be nice if nvidia actually included a framebuffer console driver in their kernel module so we don't have to rely on generic things like vesafb though, though I guess like everyone else, they consider consoles a thing of the past.

Didier Spaier · 08-05-2014, 08:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GazL

It'd be nice if nvidia actually included a framebuffer console driver in their kernel module.

Try this

Code:

modprobe nvidiafb
lsmod|grep nvidiafb

And that:

Code:

modinfo nvidiafb

brianL · 08-05-2014, 08:56 AM

From a quick googling, you can't use nvidiafb with the NVidia driver. You can use uvesafb.

P.S.
Found this LQ thread from 6 years ago:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...vesafb-654739/

brianL · 08-05-2014, 10:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brianL

I'm pretty sure I've got en_GB.UTF-8 on my desktop - I'll check later.

Yes, I was right.

irgunII · 08-05-2014, 11:02 AM

I *think* I have utf8 setup on my system, but not sure, though it *is* in use in my bash console.

When I do this though, it show's nothing is utf8.

Code:

me@home:~$ locale
LANG=en_US
LC_CTYPE="en_US"
LC_NUMERIC="en_US"
LC_TIME="en_US"
LC_COLLATE=C
LC_MONETARY="en_US"
LC_MESSAGES="en_US"
LC_PAPER="en_US"
LC_NAME="en_US"
LC_ADDRESS="en_US"
LC_TELEPHONE="en_US"
LC_MEASUREMENT="en_US"
LC_IDENTIFICATION="en_US"
LC_ALL=

Somehow or another I'm sure I've got utf8 setup for use on my system. I has given me trouble in only very few places, unfortunately I can't remember any of them at the moment as I just more or less ignore when I get a weird symbol instead of the character I was expecting to see.