Need some font help please.

Hi,

Firefox renders lousy fonts in openSUSE 11.3 for me. I use Google chrome too and its not all that great either. I found a post that said to put http://www.infinality.net/files/local.conf into /etc/fonts which I did and that seemed to improve the problem for Firefox.

My question … is that the standard fix for this? Or am I missing a package I should have installed.

BTW I do use Ubuntu fonts however on the whole I do not find font rendering in openSUSE nearly as nice as in Ubuntu variants. Like the type in this message box for example is not nearly as clear as in Ubuntu. Or the Bookmark menu in Google Chrome.

Thanks!

I don’t know Gnome well, but if you’re using KDE, you can use “Configure Desktop” (‘systemsettings’ on the command line) to set up font configurations, like anti-aliasing, and force GTK apps like firefox to use those settings.

Is this what you’re looking for?

Hi
Have a look at adding SubpixelHinting;
http://opensuse-community.org/SubpixelHinting


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
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BTW I am using gnome. When I tried http://opensuse-community.org/SubpixelHinting I got:

zypper in freetype2-feature-subpixel-hinting
Retrieving repository ‘PK_TMP_DIR’ metadata [done]
Loading repository data…
Reading installed packages…
Resolving package dependencies…

Problem: freetype2-feature-subpixel-hinting-2.4.3-999.subpixel.14.1.x86_64 requires libfreetype6 = 2.4.3-999.subpixel.14.1, but this requirement cannot be provided
uninstallable providers: libfreetype6-2.4.3-999.subpixel.14.1.x86_64[openSUSE_11.3]
libfreetype6-2.4.3-999.subpixel.14.1.i586[openSUSE_11.3]
libfreetype6-2.4.3-999.subpixel.14.1.x86_64[subpixel]
libfreetype6-2.4.3-999.subpixel.14.1.i586[subpixel]
Solution 1: install libfreetype6-2.4.3-999.subpixel.14.1.x86_64 (with vendor change)
openSUSE –> obs://10.8.0.1/subpixel
Solution 2: do not install freetype2-feature-subpixel-hinting-2.4.3-999.subpixel.14.1.x86_64
Solution 3: break freetype2-feature-subpixel-hinting by ignoring some of its dependencies

Choose from above solutions by number or cancel [1/2/3/c] (c):

I have Subpixel smoothing checked and also slight in my desktop font redering details. Does this mean I have the freetype already installed?

LoL not sure I want to press 1 or not!

Hi
You need to choose Solution 1, this will pull the version from the subpixel hinting repository (vendor change). When it’s done, reboot and use Control Center -> Appearance to check the hinting options.

Thank you. I pressed 1 and continued as suggested. :slight_smile:

This is not showing up in fire foxthough.

http://opensuse-community.org/images/Freetype2-firefox.png

Makes me think it did not install.

Hi
What happens if you manually add in about:config. Just right-click and
add new boolean as follows;


font.FreeType2.enable true
font.FreeType2.autohinted true
font.FreeType2.printing true
font.FreeType2.unhinted false

Then restart firefox, notice a difference?


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
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Ok added as you said. The big difference was when I added that local.conf I mentioned above. Hard to tell a change now however it does list those fonts now in Firefox.

Lol openSuse sure does require a lot of tweaking. Guess that is the fun part about it. :wink:

Nope rechecked and changes did not save. Oh well.

Anyone know how to force apps to use the font settings like spiif17 mentioned?

you can use “Configure Desktop” (‘systemsettings’ on the command line) to set up font configurations, like anti-aliasing, and force GTK apps like firefox to use those settings.

I am in lunuxMint atm and the fonts are so much better in chrome and firefox then in opensuse 11.3.

I have Mint and openSUSE (Gnome)
I have to say, openSUSE is spectacular OOTB - I can’t for the life of me understand all the tweaking people do with the fonts.
KDE does require some though

Hi
Hmmm, both SLED11 SP1 and openSUSE 11.3 work fine for me with the
subpixel hinting added back in. Are your DPI settings OK? Check in the
Control Center -> Appearance -> Fonts -> Details. Is it the same as the
output from;


xdpyinfo |grep resol


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
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Well I hear where you are coming from.

Probably depends on what you are working on. In webdesign and checking development it is good to see what others are seeing. I just notice a big difference with google chrome in opensuse. I use it a lot for web dev because or the nice inspect element function.

All the fonts are fine otherwise. I have ubuntu font running on everything else and it looks just fine.

Yes all checks out fine. I guess it is just the way chromium works in opensuse. I could post a pic of the comparison between mint and suse but probably it is just going to be the way it is. I will have to live with it.

xdpyinfo |grep resol
resolution: 96x96 dots per inch

Here you can see the difference between the two systems. It is a lot better after I installed the recommended packages. However still not rendering as clear.

http://mellco.net/images/font.jpg

Thanks for all your input. This IS the best support forum I have come across!

Try this
Go to Font settings
Under the rendering options click the ‘Details’
Now check the None box in the Hinting section

What is that like?

Try what this guy has done here… Font smoothing in OpenSUSE 11.2 | We love Linux !

He has taken snapshots from KDE but I use gnome and the fonts look good in gnome also. I think you have already installed things from subpixel repo… so the only thing remaining is settings which are shown in the link. Try that and hope it works :slight_smile:

Hi
The mint one looks set on ‘bold’ to me. I’m also running at 104 DPI.

I use Tahoma fonts as well, not sure what your running? So my desktops
look like the ‘Menu - After’ shot here;

Have a look at the font Waree from fonts-thai and see if that makes a
difference.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 (x86_64) Kernel 2.6.32.24-0.2-default
up 4 days 15:32, 2 users, load average: 0.15, 0.04, 0.01
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Malcolm

Depending on the Mint version, I’m fairly sure the settings default as I described above.

Here is what it looks like in Gnome SUSE
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10573557/SUSE%20Misc/update-prefs.png
Ignore the guide info, just look at the text.

Here’s what I have in Gnome (openSUSE and SLED)
http://thumbnails24.imagebam.com/11130/6a2219111299443.jpg](ImageBam)


xdpyinfo |grep dimen
dimensions:    3360x1050 pixels (821x261 millimeters)

xdpyinfo |grep resol
resolution:    104x102 dots per inch


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
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