Improving Font rendering to reach Ubuntu quality

[gatewayasteroid]

This seems relevant:

http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php? ... 15#p231061

[phayz]

I really like Salix OS because if offers (almost) everything I could ask for in a Linux distribution. One thing worried me though: the fonts looked fuzzier than they do using my "usual" distribution of choice - Frugalware Linux. I read others' forum entries and tweaked settings but nothing got the fonts looking quite as I knew they could.

After reading another posting in this thread I downloaded packages for the following from the Frugalware Linux web site, renamed them with an ".xz" extension and, with the archives in the root directory, entered the command "tar xvJf <package>", which extracted their contents, including their directory structure. Having done this and restarted X (OK, having rebooted) fonts are now sharp and look great on my MSI Wind U200 13" laptop's screen.

I must stress that I would NOT recommend this method to anyone but I have included it here for others to comment on and in case someone is as desperate as I was. I have no idea what I might do in the long-term since as soon as these packages are upgraded, my manually installed files will be overwritten.

For the record, I don't know just which of these packages were actually required to achieve the result I wanted.

Packages downloaded and installed:
freetype2
fontconfig
libxft
cairo

[gatewayasteroid]

I really like Salix OS because if offers (almost) everything I could ask for in a Linux distribution. One thing worried me though: the fonts looked fuzzier than they do using my "usual" distribution of choice - Frugalware Linux. I read others' forum entries and tweaked settings but nothing got the fonts looking quite as I knew they could.

[CUT]

Thank you for this post.
And at least you confirmed me that fonts in Salix (except under KDE) are not as good as in other distributions, and that I'm not visually impaired or mad

[mimosa]

To prevent updating the packages you have changed, add them to the line in /etc/slapt-get/slapt-getrc beginning EXCLUDE, presumably like this:
^freetype2,^fontconfig,^libxft,^cairo,^aaa_elflibs...

That's what I did on gapan's suggestion when I upgraded hp's printer software to a higher version than was available in the repos.


... always assuming this solution continues to work for you without causing any unwanted effects. It is strange that a few people get these fuzzy fonts, and it would be interesting to work out what's causing the problem. On my machines, it's as good as any distro I've seen.

[phayz]

Thanks for the replies that were posted in reply to my post. I have recently reinstall SalixOS on the same hardware but using the Xfce 13.1.2 installation CD. I believe that last time I did the installation from a live USB key. Oddly enough the fonts are not as bad as they had been before. I simply can't understand because I now have the same SalixOS version installed as before and the hardware is the same.

I'm going to go ahead and try my adjustments again because although the fonts look much better, they still don't look as good as I know they can can.

[phayz]

For the record the only Frugalware Linux package I downloaded and installed this time was "freetype2". Again the results are what I want - nice clear, crisp fonts.

Again I don't recommend this approach to anyone else. If I understand correctly, the Frugalware freetype2 package has the bytecode interpreter enabled and that in the latest Slackware release - and hopefully SalixOS - it is also enabled by default.

[gatewayasteroid]

For the record the only Frugalware Linux package I downloaded and installed this time was "freetype2". Again the results are what I want - nice clear, crisp fonts.

Again I don't recommend this approach to anyone else. If I understand correctly, the Frugalware freetype2 package has the bytecode interpreter enabled and that in the latest Slackware release - and hopefully SalixOS - it is also enabled by default.

I don't think the issue is related to freetype2, for bytecode has been enabled since a while now. It's cairo related IMHO.

[phayz]

gatewayasteroid,

Sorry - you might be right. I am not running SalixOS at the moment so can't be absolutely sure which package it was that I installed. I do know that on Frugalware Linux a patch was applied to the cairo package which improved the appearance of fonts on LCD screens, which is what my laptop has.

[gatewayasteroid]

gatewayasteroid,

Sorry - you might be right. I am not running SalixOS at the moment so can't be absolutely sure which package it was that I installed. I do know that on Frugalware Linux a patch was applied to the cairo package which improved the appearance of fonts on LCD screens, which is what my laptop has.

No need to be sorry
It's only a pity that to really enjoy beautiful fonts on Salix (and Slackware) you need to use KDE and KDE apps
Unfortunately I don't have time to play with it and try to figure out what can be done, I suppose it's just a matter of applying some patches that i.e. Ubuntu already has.

Salix remains a great distro anyway!

Thanks!

[phayz]

Ultimately (read "when I can find time between about 100 others To Do items: ) I plan to propose a patch to the applicable package so that everyone can enjoy clearer fonts. If the experience of others is different then the proposal may be rejected. It's worth trying anyway.