XFree86 Font Deuglification HOWTO Hal Burgiss          hal@foobox.net        Original Author: Doug Holland          meldroc@frii.com        v1.70, 18 April 2001 How to improve ugly and unreadable X Window fonts. Various tips for improving font handling for XFree86, including sections on font servers, TrueType fonts, Netscape, and related topics. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents 1. Introduction 1.1. Conventions Used in this Document 1.2. Change Log and What's New 1.3. New Versions 1.4. Copyright 1.5. Credits 1.6. Translations 2. X Server Configuration 2.1. Setting The FontPath 2.2. X Server Command Line Options 3. TrueType Fonts (One of the few things Windows is good for) 3.1. Making TrueType Fonts Available 3.2. Font Servers 3.2.1. xfstt 3.2.1.1. Installation 3.2.1.2. Adjusting the Default Font Size 3.2.2. Redhat's xfs 3.2.2.1. Setting the xfs FontPath 3.2.2.2. Getting the Fonts Ready 3.3. xfsft 3.4. The fonts.alias File 4. XFree86 4.x 4.1. Anti-aliasing 4.1.1. Requirements 4.1.2. Installation 4.1.3. Configuration 4.1.4. Afterword 4.2. Redhat 7.0 Differences 5. Adjusting Fonts in Specific Applications 5.1. KDE 5.1.1. Applying KDE Fonts and Colors to non-KDE Applications 5.2. Netscape 6. Odds and Ends 6.1. Notes 6.2. Links 1. Introduction One of the most annoying problems many of us are faced with is the poor default fonts and font settings of X as implemented by many distributions. I'm talking specifically about [http://www.xfree.org] XFree86, other versions of X may be better. Many programs use fixed width default fonts when a variable width font would be more appropriate. Other programs use fonts that are so small as to be practically unreadable. The fonts that are bundled with XFree86 are not of the same quality as found on some other platforms. XFree86 does come with a halfway decent courier font, but its Times and Helvetica fonts are simple bitmap fonts that pixelize when they are scaled. Yuck! This HOWTO attempts to show how to adjust various font settings, install new fonts, and do other things that should greatly improve the appearance and readability of fonts on the X Window Desktop. This is done by adjusting the FontPath in the XF86Config file, by adding switches to X server command line in startx or xdm (and variants), by adding new fonts, and by installing a TrueType font server and fonts. TrueType does indeed make a huge difference. Comments, corrections, additions and critiques are always welcome. You can reach the authors at , or . Contributions are also welcomed. Especially anyone who really stays current with KDE and/or Gnome issues! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.1. Conventions Used in this Document   * Where examples of commands are used, a "#" character is used to denote where typically the command would be run as the root user. A "$" is used where typically a non-root user would be executing the command.   * The examples use /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts as our TrueType font directory. There is no magic to this location, and could conceivably just as well be in any number of other locations.   * References to "xfs" are to the xfs as packaged by Redhat for versions 6.x and later. This differs significantly in some respects from the stock XFree86 xfs.   * References to "Netscape" are to the entire suite of programs from Netscape: Communicator, Navigator, Messenger, etc. For all intents and purposes, font configuration in Mozilla is very similar.   * 'XF86Config' is the X configuration file. For Redhat based distros, as of Redhat 7.0, this is now 'XF86Config-4' for XFree86 4.x. For the most part, we'll just use 'XF86Config' here. Also, while some aspects of XFree86 4.x configuration are the same as 3.3.x, there are some significant differences. We'll only highlight the differences. So unless noted otherwise, any comments or examples will apply to both 3.x and 4.x versions.   * File system layout varies somewhat from distribution to distribution. It is impossible to stay on top of every conceivable variation of who keeps which files where. So take the examples here with a grain of salt if the PATHs don't seem to match your system. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2. Change Log and What's New   * 1.70: April 18, 2001: Added links for converting Mac TrueType Fonts (thanks to Karl A. Krueger), links to Unicode TrueType fonts (thanks to Tzafrir Cohen for suggestions and URLs), and added a section on anti-aliasing with X 4.0.2 (or greater). Also, included a reference to [http://www.kyz.uklinux.net/cabextract.php3] cabextract, a utility that is now available for extracting Win32 Fonts (among other things) from a Window's "cab" archive.   * 1.60: March 21, 2001: A few very minor changes. Most notable news is anti-aliasing support now in XFree 4.02 (referenced in the Notes section only). Chinese translation URL added.   * 1.55: Oct 11, 2000: Additional info on XFree86 4.x, especially Redhat's changes for RH7.0. A few other minor updates and additions. Also adding a neglected credit to Kristin Aanestad for his insight into much of what this document is all about.   * 1.5: July 25, 2000: New sections added on fonts.alias, XFree86 4.x, and xfsft. Miscellaneous other changes and additions. Also, includes new Links and Notes sections, as well as a rewrite of the xfs sections. Various other changes and additions.   * 1.0: Nov. 23, 1999: Converted document to SGML, for submission to the Linux Documentation Project. Removed Plea for Help.   * 0.1: Feb. 21, 1999: First release. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3. New Versions The pre-release versions of this document can be found at [http:// feenix.burgiss.net/ldp/fdu/index.html] http://feenix.burgiss.net/ldp/fdu/ index.html. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.4. Copyright Copyright © 1999 by Doug Holland. Unless otherwise stated, Linux HOWTO documents are copyrighted by their respective authors. Linux HOWTO documents may be reproduced and distributed in whole or in part, in any medium physical or electronic, as long as this copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would like to be notified of any such distributions. All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works incorporating any Linux HOWTO documents must be covered under this copyright notice. That is, you may not produce a derivative work from a HOWTO and impose additional restrictions on its distribution. Exceptions to these rules may be granted under certain conditions; please contact the Linux HOWTO coordinator for more information. In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright on the HOWTO documents, and would very much like to be notified of any plans to redistribute the HOWTOs, this one in particular! Web page authors are free to link to this HOWTO without restriction, though the author would appreciate an email informing him of this, just so he can boost his ego by knowing who else reads and links to this document. Many of the terms mentioned in this document are trade names. Unless otherwise stated, all trademarks are property of their respective owners. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.5. Credits  Created by Doug Holland.   Email: [mailto:meldroc@frii.com] meldroc@frii.com   WWW: [http://www.frii.com/~meldroc/] http://www.frii.com/~meldroc/      Updated and maintained by Hal Burgiss.   Email: [mailto:hal@foobox.net] hal@foobox.net   WWW: [http://feenix.burgiss.net/ldp/fdu] http://feenix.burgiss.net/ldp/fdu/   Special thanks go to:   * The developers of the [http://www.xfree86.org] XFree86 Project, for all the hard work and time they have given. Also, Juliusz Chroboczek for his work with xfsft, and XFree86 4.x to help bring TrueType to the hungry masses. And Keith Packard for his anti-aliasing, and other work. This is not to slight the many, many other XFree86 volunteers.   * Font wizard Kristin Aanestad, whose legwork and insight on much of the xfs, TrueType, Netscape, and especially, the fonts.alias sections are much appreciated. More from Kristin at [http://home.c2i.net/dark/ linux.html] Some Linux for Beginners on a wide range of topics.   * The folks at [news:comp.os.linux.x] comp.os.linux.x who gave me a hand in figuring all of this out in the first place.   * The Linux community in general who made all of this possible in the first place. Especially those who have offered suggestions and comments that help to make this HOWTO a better resource.   * Microsoft and Apple: for providing the fonts that adorn my desktop. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.6. Translations Chinese: [http://www.linux.org.tw/CLDP/mini/FDU.html] http:// www.linux.org.tw/CLDP/mini/FDU.html by Yu-Chia Chang. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. X Server Configuration There are a few easy steps that can be taken that will help X do its job better. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1. Setting The FontPath The first place to look for curing font problems is the XF86Config file. /usr /X11/lib/X11/XF86Config or /etc/X11/XF86Config are the common locations. (This may be XF86Config-4 for XFree86 4.x.) If you haven't guessed already, the most important part of this file relating to fonts is the FontPath. Before we get into that, this would be a good time to check the other parts of your X configuration. Bad monitor settings can be even more of a headache than bad fonts, so make sure your refresh rate is as high as your monitor can handle (85 Hz is great, 75 Hz is OK, 60 Hz is painful.) Use your favorite text editor and edit XF86Config. Near the top of the file in the "Files" section, you should see something vaguely like this: FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"     This much should be the same, or at least similar, for both XFree86 3.x and 4.x. The FontPath tells X where to find the fonts it uses to render text on your display. Order is important -- when an X application asks X to render some text, the X server usually has some leeway to choose the font that is used. The X server then goes through the FontPath and grabs the first font it sees that matches the X client's criteria, and then displays. (Note that Redhat's xfs for versions 6.x and later has a different way of setting the FontPath. See the Section 3.2.2 below for more on xfs.) If the 100dpi fonts are not listed, they probably did not get installed for whatever reason, so you may want install them now. Default installations may put 75dpi fonts before the 100dpi fonts. If you have a high resolution display (1024x768 or higher), this means very tiny fonts. If this is the case, the first tweak you'll use is to switch the 75dpi and 100dpi FontPath lines: FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"      Next, specify that you prefer to use unscaled bitmap fonts. If you've ever used Netscape or any other program that displays titles using big fonts, you'll likely notice that those fonts are pixelized. This is ugly and needs to be corrected. So add :unscaled to the ends of the misc, 100dpi and 75dpi fonts. You can even use both unscaled and scaled fonts if you want, just put the unscaled FontPath lines first to tell X you prefer unscaled fonts if possible: FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"      After making these changes, restart X. Doesn't the desktop look better already? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.2. X Server Command Line Options The next thing you need to do is adjust the command line options for the X server. You'll want to use the -dpi switch which specifies the display resolution in dots per inch. As a lot of systems use high resolution displays these days, chances are they'll be working at 100 dpi. If you start X from the console command prompt, type: $ startx -dpi 100 -depth 16 -bestRefresh Or these options can be stored in ~/.xserverrc. See the startx and xinit man pages for more on this. If you use xdm (or friends such as gdm) for graphical logins, you'll want to edit your /usr/X11/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers file (or possibly /etc/X11/xdm/ Xservers) which will have the command line for the Xserver in it. Mine has the line: :0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X -dpi 100 -gamma 1.6 Note that there is no magic to "-dpi 100". Choose something higher if your hardware will support it -- like "-dpi 120". More information is in the X, Xserver, xdm, xinit, and startx man pages. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. TrueType Fonts (One of the few things Windows is good for) Because the boys at Redmond are very concerned with the appearance of their software (as opposed to the internal workings ;) they built TrueType font support into Windows. And of course no big surprise, but they got the idea from Apple. In fact, TrueType is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Windows 9x and nearly every other incarnation of Windows comes with Arial, Times New Roman, and Courier New, which are roughly equivalent to Helvetica, Times and Courier. TrueType fonts are scalable, so they look good in large sizes, and they are well hinted, so they are readable at small sizes. Many windows applications come with dozens more TrueType fonts. Don't microwave your Windows CD yet, you'll want to get those fonts first! Unfortunately, XFree86 3.x does not come with built in TrueType support, so you'll have to add it yourself (see below). This will mean installing a font server that does support TrueType and, of course, installing the fonts themselves. XFree86 4.x does have built in support however (see Section 4). You won't find many decent TrueType fonts included with any distribution. The likely reason is that there are not many quality TrueType fonts available under a suitable license at this time. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.1. Making TrueType Fonts Available Let's start with the fonts first. Any TrueType font included with the various MS Windows incarnations should work. Don't forget word processors and other apps that may include their own fonts. MacOS fonts will only work if converted to a usable format. (See the links section for converter packages.) There are also some 'free' TrueType fonts available for download if you have already nuked that CD (see links section). In order to use TrueType, the fonts will have to be always accessible to the font server. This means they will have to be on a filesystem that is always mounted. This can conceivably be a Windows partition on a dual boot system. Alternately, the fonts can be copied to Linux. First su to root:  # su -  # mkdir -p /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts     Now, change to the new font directory:   # cd  /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts     Then, add the fonts to this directory, either by copying them from your Windows system:  # cp /mnt//*ttf  .     or by downloading those available directly from [http://www.microsoft.com/ typography/fontpack/default.htm] Microsoft. These fonts are in self-extracting zip archives. The ones labeled for use with Windows 3.1 can indeed be unpacked under Linux with the Linux zip utility:  # ls *exe | xargs -n 1 unzip -L     The '-L' option will convert to lower case font names (this may be necessary for some versions of xfsft and Redhat's xfs). Note that the current Linux zip utility does not work with the 32 bit Win9x font archives. (It also looks like Microsoft no longer has the 16 bit Arial, Courier and Times-Roman on this site.) But these can be unarchived under Linux with cabextract, which can be found [http://www.kyz.uklinux.net/cabextract.php3] http:// www.kyz.uklinux.net/cabextract.php3. This would now seem to be the best way to go since there is a better selection of fonts. Or you can get an RPM of WebFonts that contains some of the MS TrueTypes [http://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/contrib/noarch/noarch/webfonts-1-3.noarch.html] here. This has enough basic fonts to keep Netscape and other web browsers happy. You will also have to include the new TrueType directory(s) in the X server's fontpath. So with your text editor of choice add the line(s) as appropriate: FontPath        "/usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi" FontPath        "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"      ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2. Font Servers There are several font servers available that will do the job: xfstt, xfsft, and Redhat's patched version of xfs based on xfsft. While these names are all too similar, these are different packages. One, or more, of these should be included with any recent Linux distribution, and you may have one installed already. Historically, font servers were used to serve fonts over a network. Font resources could then reside on one host, and clients could access them as needed. But, the developers have enhanced these to include features such as the ability to render TrueType fonts. (XFree86 4.x has this ability included already, and thus an additional font server is not really needed solely for the purpose of having TrueType support.) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2.1. xfstt One such font server is xfstt. xfstt was designed specifically with TrueType fonts in mind. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2.1.1. Installation xfstt is very easy to install and configure. If it isn't already installed, you'll want to download the tarball, or check your CD. The most current version can be found at [http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/X11/fonts/] http:// metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/X11/fonts/ Once you have the tarball, unpack it:  $ tar -zxvf xfstt-*tgz     Then build and install it. Read the INSTALL file for quick instructions, but it's a no brainer. From the xfstt directory is all you have to do.  # make  # make install     Then start xfstt with:  # xfstt --sync            # updates xfstt's font database  # xfstt &                 # runs xfstt in the background.      xfstt should be started before the X server starts. Once you have this working correctly, you can add the above lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local, or other suitable start up file. Then type:  $ xset +fp unix/:7101     #  tells X about xfstt, and where to look for fonts.      or add: FontPath "unix/:7101" to your XF86Config to tell X about the font server. Rerun xfstt --sync any time the FontPath, or contents, change. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2.1.2. Adjusting the Default Font Size If your TrueType fonts appear to be very tiny, the following commands may help. Add the -dpi switch to your X server command line (see section 3 above to do this.) Use the --res switch to tell xfstt to increase the default resolution. Use the following command line.  # xfstt --res 120      ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2.2. Redhat's xfs As of Redhat Linux 6.0, Redhat based distributions (Mandrake, etc) have included a specially patched version of xfs, the XFree86 Font Server, and patched X servers as well. Redhat's xfs includes the xfsft patch set which in turn is built upon the FreeType Font library. Redhat's xfs provides similar functionality to xfstt. xfs is able to serve both TrueType and Type 1 fonts, as well as legacy X fonts. If you are using a Redhat based distro, you should have xfs installed already. If not, it is in the XFree86-xfs*rpm. To make sure it runs as one of the default services, either use ntsysv or: # chkconfig --add xfs Now xfs will start every time you boot. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2.2.1. Setting the xfs FontPath The default Redhat installation of xfs serves fonts via a Unix Domain Socket. We'll need to tell the X server where to look for xfs, and thus fonts. The FontPath in /etc/X11/XF86Config must include for Redhat 6.x:  FontPath   "unix/:-1"       This is changed for Redhat 7.x to:  FontPath   "unix/:7100"       At least for a default configurations. This is a reference to the socket where xfs is listening. You may include additional FontPaths, but these will be handled by the X server, and not xfs. A clean install of Redhat 6/7 should have this already set up, but if you are upgrading from an older version, you may have to change this yourself! xfs then has its own, separate FontPath stored in /etc/X11/fs/config. This is where it will look to find fonts. This is over and above the X server's FontPath in XF86Config. You can either add the new path(s) with a text editor, or use the chkfontpath command: # chkfontpath --add /new/font/path The FontPath must exist before running chkfontpath. The relevant section of / etc/X11/fs/config should now look something like this: catalogue = /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled,             /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,             /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled,             /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1,             /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo,             /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc,             /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi,             /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi,             /new/font/path      When adding a new FontPath for TrueType fonts, you will want to do this step after installing and preparing the fonts. See the next section. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.2.2.2. Getting the Fonts Ready We still have a bit of work to do before we can actually use any TrueType fonts. xfs requires a few things to be in order. First, all font files must have lower case names for xfs. Secondly, they shouldn't have embedded spaces. And then, we will need to create a couple of files to make things go. Su to root, and change to the directory where the TrueType fonts are.  # su -  # cd /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts     If there are any upper case font names, you can use the following script to convert all names to lower case:    #!/bin/sh  #  ## -------- convert upper to lower case ---------    ls * | while read f   do     if [ -f $f ]; then       if [ "$f" != "`echo \"$f\" | tr A-Z a-z`" ]; then        #Note that 'This' will overwrite 'this'!        mv -iv "$f" "`echo \"$f\" | tr A-Z a-z`"       fi     fi   done  ## eof       Note the punctuation -- the backquotes are important! Remove any spaces from font names too. Once the TrueType fonts are properly installed, you must create both fonts.dir and fonts.scale files. The following commands do this:  # ttmkfdir -o fonts.scale  # mkfontdir     You should now have fonts.dir and fonts.scale files in your TrueType font directory. ttmkfdir is in the Freetype RPM, and must be run before mkfontdir. With Debian based distros, there is a similar utility called mkttfdir, and is in the fttools Deb package. Though this apparently does not generate as many encodings as ttmkfdir. These commands may not always report errors, so verify that they were created and are not empty files:  $ ls -l fonts.*   -rw-r--r--  1 root   root    11657 Aug 17 10:31 fonts.dir   -rw-r--r--  1 root   root    11657 Aug 17 10:31 fonts.scale     If you encounter any problems, try ttmkfdir with the - m switch. This will discard bad characters from the font file. Specify a number such as 50 or l00 (ttmkfdir -m 50). The files themselves are text files. Have a look:    $ less  fonts.dir   114   webdings.ttf  -microsoft-Webdings-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-microsoft-symbol   verdanaz.ttf  -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-ascii-0   verdanaz.ttf  -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-fcd8859-15   verdanaz.ttf  -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-15   verdanaz.ttf  -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-9   verdanaz.ttf  -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1  [...]     Next, update the FontPath and xfs:  # chkfontpath --add /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts  # /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfs restart     You should now be in business. You can check which fonts are available to X: $ xlsfonts | less or check them out further with xfontsel, or gfontsel. If they are visible to xlsfonts, then they are available to X and vice versa. If they are not there, try restarting X with Ctrl-Alt-BS. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.3. xfsft [http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jec/programs/xfsft/] xfsft is a TrueType solution from Juliusz Chroboczek. xfsft is based on the FreeType font library as developed by Mark Leisher and others. It is essentially is a patch for XFree86's xfs and related libraries -- xfs + ft. Redhat's xfs is essentially xfsft with a few minor modifications. Also, XFree86 4.x includes the freetype font module which is also the result of Juliusz's work, and is one of the TrueType solutions available for XFree86 4.x. Building xfsft requires having at least some of the XFree86 source available, in addition to xfsft itself, so this is not for the faint of heart. Instructions for building and configuring xfsft are in the tarball, so I won't go into details here. They are pretty straight forward. There are links to binaries available at the xfsft home page (see above). Note that you must also create fonts.scale and fonts.dir files for xfsft. fonts.scale can be created manually (ugh!), or with the ttmkfdir utility. This is not included with xfsft but you can get it here: [http:// www.joerg-pommnitz.de/TrueType/ttmkfdir.tar.gz] http://www.joerg-pommnitz.de/ TrueType/ttmkfdir.tar.gz, or probably on many Linux archives sites too. Redhat has this as part of the Freetype RPM. And for Debian it is called mkttfdir and is in the fttools package. You will also need a configuration file. Here is a sample: ----------------------------------------------------- clone-self = off use-syslog = off client-limit = 20 catalogue = /usr/local/share/font/ttfonts error-file = /home/jec/fonts/xfs.errors # in decipoints default-point-size = 120 # x,y default-resolutions = 100,100,75,75 -----------------------------------------------------      You can then run start xfsft: # xfs -port 7100 -config /path/to/your/config/file & You can then add xfsft to the X server's FontPath: $ xset +fp tcp/localhost:7100 If all goes well, you could then add this FontPath to XF86Config. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3.4. The fonts.alias File fonts.alias is yet another font configuration file that can be used to tweak how fonts are handled. Like fonts.scale and fonts.dir, fonts.alias must be in the same directory as the fonts you are aliasing. It is not mandatory however, but does solve certain potential problems.Here is an example from the first line of/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/fonts.alias on a Redhat system:  fixed    -misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--13-120-75-75-c-60-iso8859-1     fixed is the 'alias' here. Any time this is requested, we actually get the font definition from the second column. Font too small? Just change the definition. (Warning: this is a critical file, at least on Redhat.) The same principle applies to all fonts, including TrueType. In fact, if you don't have TrueType, you could conceivably use this trick to have a comparable Type 1, or other, font aliased as a TrueType. fonts.alias is important for some applications that don't handle the data provided by fonts.scale well. Most notably here is Netscape. Without a fonts.alias you will find that Netscape will only show point sizes of 0 and 12 available. fonts.alias fixes this. You might also find that if you a specify another size with the scalable font option under Preferences, Netscape will not remember this setting. Annoying! This is also fixed. So we really need this file. Sample excerpt from a fonts.scale:    arial.ttf   -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-ascii-0  arial.ttf   -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-fcd8859-15  arial.ttf   -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-15  arial.ttf   -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1     These are scalable so we don't get any predefined point sizes. We will need to create our fonts.alias something like this excerpt for Arial:  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--6-60-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--9-90-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--7-70-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--9-90-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--8-80-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--9-90-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--11-110-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--10-100-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--11-110-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--12-120-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--13-130-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--13-130-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--14-140-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--14-140-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--15-150-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \              -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--15-150-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--18-180-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \             -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--18-180-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1  -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--24-240-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \             -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--24-240-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1     (Please note that I have split each line for readability. There should be two columns all on one line, without the "\", and separated by at least one space.) This will keep Netscape happy. Also, if font names should have embedded spaces, then you should enclose the filename in quotes. You might also note the pointsize discrepancy between the first and second columns of the first few rows. The first column of the first entry has a '6', whereas this is aliased to a '9' in the second column, and thus '9' point. This is by design and is an excellent way to overcome the Netscape 'damn tiny fonts' syndrome. Adjust to suit your tastes, resolution, and eyesight. This file can be created manually with a text editor, or conceivably with some fancy sed or awk scripting. There is an excellent discussion of this file, and other font related topics at Kristin Aanestad's site at [http:// home.c2i.net/dark/linux.html#ttf] http://home.c2i.net/dark/linux.html. There is also a link to a python script which can reportedly automatically generate a fonts.alias file at this same site. Thanks to Kristin whose work and insight was the inspiration for this section! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. XFree86 4.x [http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/] XFree86 4.0 introduced native support for TrueType fonts, along with other new features. The enhanced font support is based on xfsft from Juliusz Chroboczek, which in turn is based on the FreeType font library originally from Mark Leisher, so the configuration is similar to xfsft and Redhat's patched xfs. As of 4.0.2, XFree86 begins to support anti-aliasing which is a technique for smoothing font outlines (see section below). The FontPath is still in XF86Config, as always. For Redhat 6/7 using a stock XFree86 4.x (i.e. NOT the Redhat 7.x supplied version), this will mean moving the Redhat xfs FontPath from /etc/X11/fs/config back to XF86Config. A separate font server is no longer needed just for TrueType support. You may disable it, unless it is needed to serve fonts to other clients in a network environment. See the section below for Redhat 7.x specific configuration issues.  Section "Files"   FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"   FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"   FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"   FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"   FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"   FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"   FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/default/Type1"   FontPath "/usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts"   FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"   FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"  EndSection      In order to use TrueType, you must also specify which font module the X server should be using in the "Module" section:  Section "Module"   Load  "freetype"   Load  "speedo"   Load  "type1"     EndSection      Note that there can be only one 'Module' section, so include any other modules here as well. You also must to create fonts.scale and fonts.dir file for each TrueType font directory, just like for xfsft and Redhat's xfs. [http:// www.joerg-pommnitz.de/TrueType/ttmkfdir.tar.gz] ttmkfdir will come in handy for fonts.scale. See the xfs Section 3.2.2 above for more details and examples. xtt is another available TrueType module that is best known for supporting ideographic (Oriental) type fonts. You can use either, but only one at a time. X server command line options are still the same as previous versions of X: $ startx -dpi 100 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1. Anti-aliasing Anti-aliasing is a technique for producing even smoother, crisper looking fonts by subtly softening the sharp, jagged edges. This has long been a feature of Apple and Microsoft font rendering, and is now making it's way into X via the X Rendering Extension specification thanks to Keith Packard. The new extensions provide other benefits as well. This is all still somewhat experimental at this time (April 2001), and no distributions have released binary packages that support anti-aliasing with their stable/official versions yet (AFAIK!). But it shouldn't be long. That is the good news. The bad news is that not all drivers support anti-aliasing yet. This is a moving target, so you will have to dig around to find whether your chipset is supported or not. By the time 4.1 is out, near universal support should be available. More not-so-good news is that few applications are actually taking advantage of this yet. If you are reading this long after the publication date (April 2001), hopefully most of these shortcomings will have been overcome. All hardware will eventually be supported, mainstream distros will have shipped releases that include the new extensions, and they will be enabled by default. Many apps will look better since they will be "AA" aware, and we won't have to jump through any configuration hoops just to make it work. In the meantime, read on ... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.1. Requirements Minimum requirements for anti-aliasing:   * XFree86 4.0.2 or later.   * You graphic card's driver has to support anti-aliasing. If 4.0.2 (or greater) is already installed, you can get this information direct from the driver with xdpyinfo. Run this and look for "Number of Extensions:". If this lists "RENDER" among them, then you should be good to go. If not, well, it isn't going to work, and you will have to wait for an updated driver.   * The Freetype2 library available from [http://www.freetype.org] http:// www.freetype.org, and also now bundled with XFree86. XFree needs to be linked against this, so install and build first if building from scratch. Your distro should have Freetype packages as well. Just make sure it is freetype-2.   * TrueType fonts are best for display purposes. See above sections.   * For KDE users, KDE supports anti-aliasing as of 2.x. This will require QT-2.3.0 or later, and built with Xft support. A nice font HOWTO from Troll Tech for KDE and QT can be found: [http://trolls.troll.no/~lars/ fonts/qt-fonts-HOWTO.html] http://trolls.troll.no/~lars/fonts/ qt-fonts-HOWTO.html. Gnome does not support anti-aliasing at this time (as of 1.4). Awaiting GTK implemention (probably for GTK 2.o). Apparently this will be available later this year, so stay tuned.   * Applications that "know" about anti-aliasing. Not necessarily at the individual application level, but the libraries and toolkits (gtk, TK, etc.) that the application are built against, must be able to use the new features. At this time, there are scant few. KDE/QT is perhaps first out of the box. Also, xterm supports the new extensions.   * The new rendering extensions configuration file, XftConfig, must be configured for the fonts you want to use. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.2. Installation Keith Packard has brief summary of the steps required for building, installing and configuring from source at [http://www.xfree86.org/~keithp/ render/aafont.txt] http://www.xfree86.org/~keithp/render/aafont.txt. No need to reprint it here. Also, most distros that have unstable, or pre-release, versions are likely to have the foundation support for anti-aliasing available now. Redhat, for instance, has it in their 'rawhide' release. So this would be a good approach to take at this time if you want to be on the cutting edge, and may be more palatable for some than building each package from source. To verify the necessary components, first make sure the "freetype" module (and any others) are loaded. Check the X server output:  (II) LoadModule: "freetype"  (II) Loading /usr/X11R6/lib/modules/fonts/libfreetype.a  (II) Module freetype: vendor="The XFree86 Project"         compiled for 4.0.3, module version = 1.1.9         Module class: XFree86 Font Renderer         ABI class: XFree86 Font Renderer, version 0.2  (II) Loading font FreeType Then verify if the "RENDER" extension is available, either check with xdpyinfo, or check the X server log, typically /var/log/XFree86.0.log:    (II) Initializing built-in extension MIT-SHM  (II) Initializing built-in extension XInputExtension  (II) Initializing built-in extension XTEST  (II) Initializing built-in extension XKEYBOARD  (II) Initializing built-in extension LBX  (II) Initializing built-in extension XC-APPGROUP  (II) Initializing built-in extension SECURITY  (II) Initializing built-in extension XINERAMA  (II) Initializing built-in extension XFree86-Bigfont  (II) Initializing built-in extension RENDER If "RENDER" is there, anti-aliasing and the other advanced rendering extensions should be enabled. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.3. Configuration The rendering engine that provides the advanced rendering features is configured with the XftConfig file. This would typically be installed as /usr /X11R6/lib/X11/XftConfig. This file provides Font Path information, etc., and is a requirement over and above XF86Config. If your PATH to your TrueType or Type1 fonts is different, be sure to modify as needed. And of course, you need to have XFree86 configured for TrueType support (see the above section). Keith Packard's sample configuration file:   #   # XftConfig   #   # Use with Type1 and TrueType fonts   #   dir "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"   dir "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype"   #   # alias 'fixed' for 'mono'   #   match any family == "fixed" edit family =+ "mono";   #   #Check users config file   #   includeif "~/.xftconfig"   #   # Substitute TrueType fonts for Type1 versions   #   match any family == "Times" edit family += "Times New Roman";   match any family == "Helvetica" edit family += "Verdana";   match any family == "Courier" edit family += "Courier New";   #   # Use TrueType fonts for defaults   #   match any family == "serif"  edit family += "Times New Roman";   match any family == "sans"  edit family += "Verdana";   #   # Use monotype.com (andale) face where possible   #   match         any family == "mono"         all slant == roman         all weight < bold   edit        family += "monotype.com";   #   # otherwise, use courier   #   match any family == "mono" edit family += "Courier New";   #   # Alias between XLFD families and font file family name, prefer local fonts   #   match any family == "Charter" edit family += "Bitstream Charter";   match any family == "Bitstream Charter" edit family =+ "Charter";   match any family == "Lucidux Serif" edit family += "LuciduxSerif";   match any family == "LuciduxSerif" edit family =+ "Lucidux Serif";   match any family == "Lucidux Sans" edit family += "LuciduxSans";   match any family == "LuciduxSans" edit family =+ "Lucidux Sans";   match any family == "Lucidux Mono" edit family += "LuciduxMono";   match any family == "LuciduxMono" edit family =+ "Lucidux Mono";          #   # TrueType font aliases   #   match any family == "Comic Sans" edit family += "Comic Sans MS";   match any family == "Comic Sans MS" edit family =+ "Comic Sans";   match any family == "Trebuchet"  edit family += "Trebuchet MS";   match any family == "Trebuchet MS"  edit family =+ "Trebuchet";   match any family == "Monotype"  edit family =+ "Monotype.com";   match any family == "Andale Mono" edit family += "Monotype.com";   match any family == "Monotype.com" edit family =+ "Andale Mono";     ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.1.4. Afterword You've gone through all the steps, and verified that the "RENDER" extension is available, but you don't perceive a difference? Well, maybe the applications themselves just aren't there yet, and are not able to utilize these new features. Mozilla and Netscape, for instance, are not able to yet (as of this writing). So how to know what does and does not make use of anti-aliasing? A quick test is to use something like xmag, or gimp, and enlarge the text considerably. Look for diagonal lines, and if they are clearly stair-stepped with no softened edges. If so, then while anti-aliasing is technically available, it is not being used. With anti-aliasing you should see gradients instead of well defined sharp edges. You can compare this with xterm and "AA": $xterm -fa charter -fs 14 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4.2. Redhat 7.0 Differences Redhat 7.0 introduces some changes to X configuration over previous Redhat versions. It is also different from the stock XFree86 configuration as addressed above. Notable differences:   * Both XFree86 3.3.6 and 4.01 are included. If upgrading you may wind up with 3.3.6. The X configuration file is XF86Config for 3.3.6 and XF86Config-4 for 4.x. Of course, you'll need to know which is which for editing and configuration purposes.   * xfs is still handling all font duties. A default Redhat 7.x installation does not use the 'modules' section of XF86Config. Instead it relies on xfs. This is different from a stock installation of XFree86 4.x where the X server does all the font work -- including TrueType.   * The socket for xfs is "unix/:7100" with RH 7.x, as opposed to "unix/:-1" in previous versions. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Adjusting Fonts in Specific Applications 5.1. KDE KDE is one of the best things that have happened to Linux and X in a long time. It provides a consistent user interface that goes a long way towards making Linux accessible to the average non-geek. More information about KDE can be found at [http://www.kde.org/] http://www.kde.org/. So why am I singing it's praises here? This is because KDE 1.1 has a new feature that will make the fonts and colors in your programs, including non-KDE applications consistent with KDE's current style. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.1.1. Applying KDE Fonts and Colors to non-KDE Applications This is very easy. Simply start up the KDE Control Center, go to Desktop, and go to Style inside Desktop. In there, there will be a toggle switch labeled "Apply fonts and colors to non-KDE apps". Turn it on, click OK, and your done! The next time you start up many X applications, they will use the same colors and fonts that your KDE applications do. Some people may like this feature better than others, but if you don't like it you can always turn it off. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5.2. Netscape Let's face it, Netscape is an important application in Linux. We all use it, and we all need it, so let's look at it specifically for a minute. An out of the box Netscape installation is prone to the font problems we've discussed -- large fonts that get pixelized, splotchy looking fonts, fonts so small they are unreadable. In short, ugly. Maybe this is why you are here? Hopefully, at this point you have followed the above suggestions. These steps can help greatly. TrueType font availability is almost a necessity, and you need a TrueType font server for this. Many web pages specify font families -- like Arial -- that are not typically available to Linux users. This is bad design, but having some of the basic TrueType fonts available will help greatly in overcoming the short-sightedness of some designers. Microsoft -- can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. Assuming you have TrueType working, from the Netscape menu select Edit -> Preferences -> Fonts. Open the Variable Width Font droplist on the right side of the window. Your TrueTypes should be there along with other fonts. Choose which ever one suits your fancy as the default. Check the Allow Scaling checkbox too. If the available point sizes are 0 and 12, you can go down and, and enter your desired point size in the box to the right and click on the OK button. The downside to this is that Netscape will not remember these settings, and you will have to do this each time you start Netscape. Unless -- you have fonts.alias set up already. Then this will solve these problems. See Section 3.4 for more on fonts.alias. You might consider experimenting with some ~/.Xdefaults (or perhaps it's~ /.Xresources on your system) settings too:  Netscape*DocumentFonts.sizeIncrement: 10  Netscape*documentFonts.xResolution*iso-8859-1: 120  Netscape*documentFonts.yResolution*iso-8859-1: 120      The 'sizeIncrement' controls how much of a jump Netscape makes when different 'basefont' sizes are specified ala: for instance. The default is '20', which is a pretty good jump. Changing this can help Netscape from scaling to too large and too small of a font. The x and y resolutions are roughly equivalent to 'dpi' settings. Any random number within reason can be used here. Experiment. Then run: $ xrdb -load ~/.Xdefaults (or .Xresources as the case may be) and restart Netscape. There are many settings that can be tweaked or altered this way. Look at the Netscape.ad (app defaults) file that should be included with Netscape packages. If this approach does not get the job done as far as the 'tiny fonts' problem in Netscape, then see the fonts.alias section above. You can really fine tune many things with this approach. Mozilla configuration should be roughly the same. You might find, however, that Mozilla does a better job of handling fonts in X, and pages will look better overall. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Odds and Ends 6.1. Notes   * Unfortunately there is no unified font handling system for Linux. You will have to configure each individual program so you can use TrueType, Type 1 or fonts that pique your fancy. And each program may well have its own way of doing this so you will have to RTFM.   * Most GUI apps should be able to use TrueType, and Type 1 fonts too. Wordperfect for Linux, however, cannot use TrueType. (See the links section below for more on Wordperfect.) Text editors, terminal programs and the like need fixed width fonts, and do not play well with TrueType or other scalable fonts.   * Though not discussed here, Type 1 fonts provide many of the same benefits as TrueType. You likely have many of these installed already. Unfortunately however, Type 1 are not a web standard like TrueType. But they are suitable for many other purposes. They are where it's at for printing. See [http://www.ghostscript.com/] ghostscriptfor more on this.   * While it is possible to specify a default point size for the xfs font server, very few applications will actually use this value. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6.2. Links   * The Video Timings HOWTO, the ins and outs of getting the most from your monitor.   * [http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Font-HOWTO.html] Font HOWTO Many good tips for installing fonts and for applications such as StarOffice, Applixware, Wordperfect, Ghostscript, TeX/LaTeX.   * A [http://www.moisty.org/~brion/linux/TrueType-HOWTO.html] TrueType HOWTO, good tips for printing, and a few application specific tips.   * [http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jec/programs/xfsft/] xfsft Homepage, TrueType font support for X. This is the origin of the "freetype" font module for XFree86 4.x, and Redhat's xfs. Good site, and good links to other information related to fonts and TrueType.   * [http://home.c2i.net/dark/linux.html] Some Linux for Beginners. Great font site, and other Linux topics. Covers many of the topics discussed here in more detail.   * [http://X-TT.dsl.gr.jp/] X-TrueType Homepage, and yet another TrueType Font server, especially good for Japanese, Chinese and Korean character sets.   * Tips on font size problems from [http://help.netscape.com/kb/consumer/ 19960513-54.html] Netscape.   * Wordperfect for Linux -- Fonts and Printers by Rod Smith, the author of Using Corel Wordperfect 8 for Linux from Que. Excellent information on Wordperfect and where TrueType fits in.   * [http://www.xfree86.org] XFree86 Project, the guys and gals who do an incredible amount of work to give us a killer GUI environment. Some info on fonts in [http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/fonts.html] XFree86 4.x.   * Microsoft Web Fonts direct from the Lion's den -- and they are free! These can be unpacked in Linux (see above).   * [http://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/contrib/noarch/noarch/ webfonts-1-3.noarch.html] Web Fonts RPM package, contains a few of the MS web browser fonts.   * Freeware Connection -- Free Fonts Sites lots of links to lots of sites.   * Bitstream's Geometric Slabserif TrueType Font.   * Two converters for converting a Mac Font "suitcase" to a *nix compatible font: [http://www.macinsearch.com/infomac2/font/util/ tt-converter-15.html] http://www.macinsearch.com/infomac2/font/util/ tt-converter-15.html and [http://www.netmagic.net/~evan/shareware/# TTFontConvert] http://www.netmagic.net/~evan/shareware/#TTFontConvert   * The Unicode HOWTO: [http://linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Unicode-HOWTO.html] http:// linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Unicode-HOWTO.html   *  Two sources of 'free' TrueType fonts with large Unicode support are Bitstream Cyberbit, which covers Roman, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, combining diacritical marks, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and more, and is available from [ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/communicator/extras/fonts/ windows/Cyberbit.ZIP] ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/communicator/extras/ fonts/windows/Cyberbit.ZIP. And Lucida Sans Unicode, which is included in IBM's JDK 1.3.0beta for Linux, and covers Roman, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, combining diacritical marks. This can be downloaded from [ftp:// ftp.maths.tcd.ie/Linux/opt/IBMJava2-13/jre/lib/fonts/] ftp:// ftp.maths.tcd.ie/Linux/opt/IBMJava2-13/jre/lib/fonts/ as LucidaSansRegular.ttf and LucidaSansOblique.ttf. Thanks to Tzafrir Cohen for these references. He also has a nice page on Hebrew fonts and related topics at [http://www.iglu.org.il/faq/?file=133] http://www.iglu.org.il/ faq/?file=133.