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neenee
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Joined: 20 Jul 2003
Posts: 1786
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 Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2003 3:48 pm Post subject: pretty fonts for your desktop |
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hi my fellow gentooers,
this short guide allows you to have nice
fonts using freetype2(.1.4).
short history: i was a slackware user before
i switched to gentoo when 1.4 final was released.
my time with slackware has learned me many things,
including how to use the bytecode interpreter
with freetype libs and microsoft (truetype) fonts
to really improve fonts on the graphical desktop.
i do not know if this all works with kde, but
i know it works for gnome, or to be precise the
gnome-settings-daemon wich will apply the font
settings made in gnome to the current running
window-manager so you can have pretty fonts
without running the whole gnome desktop with
a slim and sleek window manager such as the
*boxes, and *wms.
since i am aware that people stay skepic until
they see something for themselves, i will include
a small comparison screenshot of fonts as shown
by mozilla:
[img:1d464e2c4a]http://cos.evilforums.com/~neenee/images/exhibits_2.png[/img:1d464e2c4a]
this is a shot made up of three smaller shots,
made with three different font settings.
left: anti-aliased non-microsoft fonts w/o byte-intperpreter
middle: anti-aliased non-microsoft fonts w/ byte-interpreter
right: anti-aliased microsoft (truetype) fonts w/ byte-interpreter
to me, the holy grail of these three is the
picture on the right. very smooth and slim
fonts, hardly any smudging at small size and
no messy hinting as with freetype fonts.
anyway, on with how to make it all happen.
step 1 - enable the bytecode interpreter
a) get freetype2 here.
b) open a console
$ tar xvzf freetype-2.1.4.tar.gz
$ cd freetype-2.1.4
$ vi +381 include/freetype/config/ftoption.h
after your editing line number 381 shoulld look like:
#define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_BYTECODE_INTERPRETER
instead of:
/* #define TT_CONFIG_OPTION_BYTECODE_INTERPRETER */
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/X11R6 && make
$ su
# make install
(note: make install will replace your current freetype2;
to restore your unmodified files, re-emerge freetype2)
restart X to have the modified freetype2 loaded.
step 2 - make your gnome font settings
now it is time to configure fonts in gnome so that
gnome-settings-daemon will load the correct settings
for you.
a) run 'xdpyinfo | grep resolution' to get your dpi
b) run gnome-font-config (gnome-font-properties in gnome 2.4)
c) click 'details'
d) set your dpi to what you just found at a)
e) set smoothing to grayscale
f) set hinting to full
g) leave subpixel order at rgb
h) click close twice to leave gnome-font-config
now your font settings are complete and will be
loaded when gnome-settings-daemon is loaded.
now, choose the gtk2 theme (controls) by running
gnome-theme-manager you want to have for your
windows, dialog-boxes and windows; these control-
settings will loaded as well with your fonts - get more
at art dot gnome dot org.
step 3 - install truetype fonts
microsoft (truetype) fonts are very good looking fonts.
i have tried the bitstream vera fonts, the truetype fonts
which come with first installing a dsitro, and others.
microsoft (truetype) 'wins' out of all i have come across.
get microsoft (truetype) fonts by emerging them (core-
fonts i believe), or get some windows machine and copy
your fonts from there to your system (i can highly
recommend tahoma, which is what you have seen in
the third part of the screenshot at the start of
this post).
put your truetype fonts in /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF
and make sure that dir is not commented out and exists
in your etc/X11/XF86Config, like this:
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF"
do the following to have your font cache rebuilt:
$su
#fc-cache -fv
(you should see your fonts being added)
step 4 - load your font-settings with startx
to have your new font settings loaded without
running the whole gnome-desktop, add a line to
your ~/.xinitrc, before the line of your window
manager of choice; here is an example:
exec gnome-settings-daemon &
exec pekwm
this will load gnome-settings-daemon in the back-
ground and will then load pekwm, so that pekwm will
use your nice fonts for applications.
end-bit.
i hope i have not forgotten to mention anything
and i wish you all a lot of joy with some very
pretty fonts.
ps. thanks to the people at dropline-gnome forums
for helping me to set this up on slackware, which
allowed me to tell others about this.
Last edited by neenee on Wed Nov 12, 2003 11:45 am; edited 3 times in total |
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zhenlin
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 6:01 am Post subject: |
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| TrueType is the technology. FreeType is the implementation. So, do replace 'freetype' with 'free fonts' and 'truetype' with 'Microsoft fonts' |
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neenee
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Joined: 20 Jul 2003
Posts: 1786
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:53 am Post subject: |
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| please check if it's better now. |
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zhenlin
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Joined: 09 Nov 2002
Posts: 1361
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 12:46 pm Post subject: |
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Much better... But, for some reason, I think the one on the left looks better. The middle one looks worst.
By the way:
| Code: |
use bindist || append-flags "${CFLAGS} -DTT_CONFIG_OPTION_BYTECODE_INTERPRETER"
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And
| Code: |
if [ -z "`grep TT_Goto_CodeRange ${S}/objs/.libs/libfreetype.so`" ]
then
ewarn "Bytecode Interpreter is disabled."
fi
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Suggests that the Gentoo people have tried to enable the bytecode interpreter. The test returns true on my system.
Perhaps you could post the source of your samples - so that we can see how our systems are configured too.
By the way, for enhanced readability, I suggest Capitalizing some of your words, like GNOME for instance, FreeType for another, etc. |
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neenee
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Joined: 20 Jul 2003
Posts: 1786
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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the three shots were taken at the dropline forums.
hmm.. as for increasing readability of my posts;
i already have split my posts up in sections and
used some colors.. i really do not like to use caps
in posts :|
nonetheless, thank you for your suggestion. |
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Kesereti
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Joined: 07 Nov 2002
Posts: 520
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 7:14 pm Post subject: |
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| neenee wrote: | i really do not like to use caps in posts  |
Well, in terms of readability...it *is* standard English to capitalize the first letter of each sentence, as well as the first letter of proper nouns...so if you're trying to make this tip look clean, professional, and readable, then you're missing a major part of it by not following basic capitalization rules... |
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Vyper
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 18 Apr 2003
Posts: 81
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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| neenee wrote: | i really do not like to use caps
in posts |
noproblemidontliketousespacesandpunctuationinposts |
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neenee
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Joined: 20 Jul 2003
Posts: 1786
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2003 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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kesereki, i am aware of standards. i have no need for
making my tip look professional, and i myself doubt that
its current state is not clean nor readable.
i strive for usability myself. and i think my post is usable.
i enjoy how i am able to write how i want online without
conforming exactly to standards; if i were allowed to write
official documents and communicae in the same manner
without being frowned upon, i would gladly do so.
i enjoy the small things i can change when writing online
without being berated for it too much; it gives me a feeling
of freedom in a sense.
i hope that you now understand why i write how i do.
as always, thank you for your suggestion. |
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Kesereti
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Joined: 07 Nov 2002
Posts: 520
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 2:08 am Post subject: |
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I think Vyper put it best...
Standards like that exist to make a language readable and unambiguous; there is, for example, a very significant difference between "united states" (any collection of state governments in an alliance) and "United States". In the anonymity of the Internet, your typed words are your avatar, in lieu of appearance, bearing, style of dress, manner of speech, and all the other things that would (in a face-to-face meeting) determine the "you" that you present to the rest of the world. If that's the image you want to project, that's fine, that's none of my business; however, I'll just warn you that many people will see such as a sign of laziness and lack of attention to detail, much the same as blatant, easily correctable misspellings. The purpose of a documentation and tips forum is to share information amongst the community, in a format that is clear and easily interpreted by all.
Otherwise, why shouldn't I just say that I think that spaces are useless, and that the vowels should be shifted to the left one space (a->u, e->a, i->e, o->i, u->o)? It's still English, just the way I think it should be perhaps:
| Code: |
Emaun,thay'rajoststundurdsundurajostrastrectengmyubeletytiaxprassmysalf,ni?
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Present yourself as you will; as I said, it's none of my business...I just know that many people tend to have more faith in documentation and information that is presented in a more professional manner. At any rate, this is getting off-topic. =)
(And incidentally, before someone argues back with "Well, some people don't speak English as their first language..." -- neither do I. I learned English in school, as it was required, but I certainly didn't speak it at home growing up, or amongst my friends until I moved to the U.S...for a language so far removed from my first (Japanese), if I can learn it, anyone can ^_^) |
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neenee
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Joined: 20 Jul 2003
Posts: 1786
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 5:40 am Post subject: |
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interesting.
this is the first time ever people have voiced
such concern over how i write posts or texts
in general online. i appreciate the attempt at
making clear why it would be better if i would
use correct capitalization, since that is the
only thing i choose to omit, and i fail to see
the relevance of giving the example of leaving
out spaces, as i see it as a drastic and un-
realistic one.
if i would not know better, i would see the
examples given of removing spaces and shift-
ing vowels as mockery. however i will see it
as a colorful way of proving a point, which i
believe it was meant as.
as for signs of laziness and lack of attention
to detail; i hope those who read my posts,
read my posts for their content, and not to
be able to berate me on my way of writing.
all in all, thank you kindly for the words of
warning, and i hope that i may encounter you
both in some more productive situation in the
future. |
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grygor
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Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Posts: 17
Location: switzerland
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 8:25 am Post subject: |
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hi neenee!
could you please tell me which gnome packages i have to emerge in order to get this thing running?
i don't want to emerge a whole gnome environment because i'm using wm...
thanks!
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"Imagination is more important than knowledge" [Albert Einstein] |
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neenee
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Joined: 20 Jul 2003
Posts: 1786
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 11:56 am Post subject: |
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i don't have a clue grygor... try checking dependencies
of gnome-settings-daemon. |
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nico--
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Joined: 29 Jul 2002
Posts: 59
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 3:27 pm Post subject: |
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gnome-settings-daemon is a part of 'gnome-base/control-center'
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Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum viditur. |
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grygor
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Joined: 17 Aug 2003
Posts: 17
Location: switzerland
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 4:55 pm Post subject: |
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well...
i emerged some gnome stuff. don't know what i need it for but no witch emerge gconf-editor it works, at least i chan run:
step 2 b) gnome-font-properties
i'll try now if the rest is working as well...
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"Imagination is more important than knowledge" [Albert Einstein] |
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dedeaux
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Joined: 19 Jun 2002
Posts: 183
Location: Nairobi, Kenya
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 9:26 pm Post subject: real feedback |
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Wasting time bashing someones use or not of cApS is silly. The guide is clear as it is.
I have a question though... On adding fonts. I have yet to search the forums for this but as I tried this guide I wanted to ask here.
Anyhow. I have a WinXP (like the caps people?) partition and I pulled the fonts from there to the given TTF directory. When I run fc-cache -fv it does not list that dir or show my fonts being added. Furthermore, I decided to copy them to the dir that the corefonts was installed in and run fc-cache still with no success. Is there an easy solution to this?
Thanks. |
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neenee
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| Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2003 9:50 pm Post subject: |
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put your fonts in your fontdir, then do:
fc-cache -fv /path/to/fonts/
add this path to your /etc/X11/XF86Config config
FontPath "your_font_dir/"
and fontconfig config file (eg. /etc/fonts/local.conf)
<dir>your_font_dir</dir>
finally, restart x |
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Kesereti
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Joined: 07 Nov 2002
Posts: 520
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| Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2003 12:14 am Post subject: |
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| neenee wrote: | if i would not know better, i would see the
examples given of removing spaces and shift-
ing vowels as mockery. however i will see it
as a colorful way of proving a point, which i
believe it was meant as. |
I apologize if it seemed like mocking; I just decided to take another totally arbitrary portion of the language (just as spacing or capitalization is; in German, for example, all nouns are capitalized from what I understand...) I was just trying to show how a disregard for standards can lead to unreadable language. If any of this seemed like an attack directly on you, again, I'm sorry -- in my sometimes caustic way, I was just trying to improve the readability of your tip =)
For a counter-example, and interesting bit of cultural trivia...(to change the subject away from this unpleasantness ^_^)...there are no spaces in my native language (Japanese)...but there are other means of making sentences readable. For one, many words are written using Chinese characters, as opposed to our native symbols (which are complete syllables, as opposed to individual letters that form syllables, as in English) -- as Chinese characters are easy (assuming you know them =P~) to break into words, spacing is not necessary. Then again, we don't really have capital letters, either...but there is a way to indicate something similar to TYPING IN ALL CAPS LIKE THIS ^_~
At any rate, it's all silly and arbitrary, but standards exist for a reason, from what I can tell... |
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Kesereti
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Posts: 520
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| Posted: Mon Aug 18, 2003 12:19 am Post subject: Re: real feedback |
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| dedeaux wrote: | Wasting time bashing someones use or not of cApS is silly. The guide is clear as it is.
I have a question though... On adding fonts. I have yet to search the forums for this but as I tried this guide I wanted to ask here.
Anyhow. I have a WinXP (like the caps people?) partition and I pulled the fonts from there to the given TTF directory. When I run fc-cache -fv it does not list that dir or show my fonts being added. Furthermore, I decided to copy them to the dir that the corefonts was installed in and run fc-cache still with no success. Is there an easy solution to this?
Thanks. |
Another thing that you may want to try is adding the path to the fonts to /etc/X11/Xftconfig (I think that's the file, I'm not at my Linux box at the moment =\...it's /etc/X11/Xft(something), though!) ... I messed with fonts for a long time, and this fixed it for me... |
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bennerstul
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Joined: 30 Aug 2003
Posts: 23
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 1:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | Well, in terms of readability...it *is* standard English to capitalize the first letter of each sentence |
are you calling e.e. cummings a bad writer?  |
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GentooBox
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Joined: 22 Jun 2003
Posts: 1168
Location: Denmark
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| Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2003 1:59 pm Post subject: |
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Are you sure that you use standard mozilla settings and fonts ?
i was just looking at http://www.dropline.net/forums/
and my fonts is like the your eksample on the left, but slimmer.
really nice compared to your eksample.
i dont need your guide, but man thanks for makeing such a nice guide to people that like M$ fonts 
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neenee
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| Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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you might be using the bitstream vera fonts,
which many seem to like as well. |
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lurid
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Joined: 12 Mar 2003
Posts: 595
Location: Florida
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| Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 10:19 pm Post subject: |
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Excuse me for going OT again. neenee, the angst shown here isn't fully aimed towards you, but to anyone reading that decides that language isn't important. This is a sore spot for me, and even if its OT I must reply.
| bennerstul wrote: | | are you calling e.e. cummings a bad writer? |
Yes.
Look at it this way: Where would Linux, Open Source, or even the Internet be without standards? We'd have a million Microsofts running around with a million different ways of doing things. The end result? Confusion. Why do tech companies fight amoungst themselves over who gets to set the standard for new tech? Because they realise there needs to be one (1) way to do things that everyone understands and can work with, and within.
Standards are important. Now maybe the capitalization of a word is seen as minor and deemed unimportant, but what happens when everyone does it? The same thing thats happened to the English language ever since ebonics was adopted. I shouldn't need to say this, but that is in no way a racist comment, I am simply pointing out that no one under 20 bothers to enunciate clearly anymore. Young people sound like they're talking with marbles in their mouth. Typing has become painful to read lately because no one bothers to spell correctly or use any standards of the english language that make these silly symbols make sense. Generally the answer I get when its pointed out is "why bother?". Heh. Because I can't read it, thats why. ;)
Anyway, the point is that sloppy habits create sloppy people. Its easy to say that speech is primarily about communicating an idea and that as long as the idea itself is communicated, the method of doing so doesn't matter. I believe this simply isn't the case. I find it harder and harder to have successful communication with people on the internet due to that "Why bother. What, are you an English teacher?" mentality. And once communication begins to suffer, the ultimate goal of language itself becomes worthless.
For me, this tip wasn't that hard to read. I've seen much worse. Still though, it irks me to see things typed that way.
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bcore
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Joined: 09 Apr 2003
Posts: 59
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2003 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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Christ. Who cares about the capitalization? This isn't the Gentoo opensource anal-retentive dictionary forums.
Anyhow..
Thanks for the tips, man!
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vbenares
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Joined: 13 Aug 2003
Posts: 205
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 3:51 am Post subject: |
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| What do you think about the difference between anti-aliased fonts and aliased (?) fonts? Does it matter whether one is using a flatscreen or a crt? |
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mlang
Tux's lil' helper
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
Posts: 82
Location: Near Pittsburgh, PA
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| Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2003 4:56 am Post subject: |
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Pardon me for going off topic.
| lurid wrote: |
| bennerstul wrote: | | are you calling e.e. cummings a bad writer? |
Yes.
<snip>
For me, this tip wasn't that hard to read. I've seen much worse. Still though, it irks me to see things typed that way. |
I take it that the first item was tounge-in-cheek. Standards in language and artistic license are two quite different things.
I do agree on your second point, though.
It wasn't hard to read, but it was annoying. When I write notes to myself, I write without caps in mostly incomplete sentences that have an unusually high number of ellipses. But when I write things that will be read by other people, like, for example, a post such as this, I think it important to present yourself clearly and in a standard way. Wrapping lines at ~50 characters and writing without caps at all, even when they are nescessary, don't fit into that category.
Neenee -- I don't think that you should take the OT discussion going on here as an attack on you or people not appreciating your contribution and time. I think that the suggestion to make it more readable was benign and the resulting discussion is just an "exploration" of forum, as well as language, etiquette. |
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Documentation, Tips & Tricks
