Wretched fonts

Wanted to share my observations and see what you guys think.
At work I have OpenSuSE 11 installed under VMware on my box
AMD 3800+ with an nVidia 6XXX series dual head. I output
to tow Viewsonic VP171B…life is good.

At home I have installed Open SuSE 11 on my box there (NOT IN a VM),
Pentium 4 2.8Ghz, Intel onboard video I think i865 or something like that
pumping out to a 19" Proview CRT.

Setting the exact same fonts on the VMware session and my home rig,
the home rig fonts look like complete hell.

Any idea which of these areas are the most likely culprit?
I see complaints about fonts quite a bit, but I’m starting to think
it’s not the fonts at all, but perhaps srewball video drivers.
One of the next things I am going to try is dropping in an FX5500 with
nvidia drivers and see if the rendering problem goes away.

Thread moved

Please post in the appropriate forum. The General forum is not intended for help requests. Thanks… :slight_smile:

A long shot - if you cannibalized the setup between them and now happen to
use the DPI from a widescreen LCD on a CRT, that could be one reason why it
probably isn’t looking very good. As for the fonts themselves, I believe
there is a significant variation as to what displays well under various
resolutions.

Test a few other fonts and see if there is any difference? I would try out
some of the older classic fonts as they can be expected to look good in
low-res.

Tony. . .

“GofBorg” <GofBorg@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote in message
news:m_tak.252$o16.247@kozak.provo.novell.com
> Wanted to share my observations and see what you guys think.
> At work I have OpenSuSE 11 installed under VMware on my box
> AMD 3800+ with an nVidia 6XXX series dual head. I output
> to tow Viewsonic VP171B…life is good.
>
> At home I have installed Open SuSE 11 on my box there (NOT IN a VM),
> Pentium 4 2.8Ghz, Intel onboard video I think i865 or something like that
> pumping out to a 19" Proview CRT.
>
> Setting the exact same fonts on the VMware session and my home rig,
> the home rig fonts look like complete hell.
>
> Any idea which of these areas are the most likely culprit?
> I see complaints about fonts quite a bit, but I’m starting to think
> it’s not the fonts at all, but perhaps srewball video drivers.
> One of the next things I am going to try is dropping in an FX5500 with
> nvidia drivers and see if the rendering problem goes away.
>
>

On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:54:24 GMT
“Tony Sperling” <tony.sperling@dbREMOVEmail.dk> wrote:

> A long shot - if you cannibalized the setup between them and now
> happen to use the DPI from a widescreen LCD on a CRT, that could be
> one reason why it probably isn’t looking very good. As for the fonts
> themselves, I believe there is a significant variation as to what
> displays well under various resolutions.
>
> Test a few other fonts and see if there is any difference? I would
> try out some of the older classic fonts as they can be expected to
> look good in low-res.
>
>
> Tony. . .
>
>
>
> “GofBorg” <GofBorg@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote in message
> news:m_tak.252$o16.247@kozak.provo.novell.com
> > Wanted to share my observations and see what you guys think.
> > At work I have OpenSuSE 11 installed under VMware on my box
> > AMD 3800+ with an nVidia 6XXX series dual head. I output
> > to tow Viewsonic VP171B…life is good.
> >
> > At home I have installed Open SuSE 11 on my box there (NOT IN a VM),
> > Pentium 4 2.8Ghz, Intel onboard video I think i865 or something
> > like that pumping out to a 19" Proview CRT.
> >
> > Setting the exact same fonts on the VMware session and my home rig,
> > the home rig fonts look like complete hell.
> >
> > Any idea which of these areas are the most likely culprit?
> > I see complaints about fonts quite a bit, but I’m starting to think
> > it’s not the fonts at all, but perhaps srewball video drivers.
> > One of the next things I am going to try is dropping in an FX5500
> > with nvidia drivers and see if the rendering problem goes away.
> >
> >
>
>
Hi
xdpyinfo should help you out as well. I normally set the dpi in
the xorg.conf as an option.


Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
SLED 10.0 SP2 x86_64 Kernel 2.6.16.60-0.23-smp
up 1 day 2:33, 3 users, load average: 0.26, 0.21, 0.14
GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - Driver Version: 173.14.09

> A long shot - if you cannibalized the setup between them and now happen to
> use the DPI from a widescreen LCD on a CRT, that could be one reason why
> it probably isn’t looking very good.

It was a clean install, I just remembered what I had set a work for the font
names and sizes. Input them through the Desktop settings Font control panel.

> As for the fonts themselves, I
> believe there is a significant variation as to what displays well under
> various resolutions.

I thought about this as well and changed my resolution from the default
800x600 to 1024x768 and 1280x720 no difference.

> Test a few other fonts and see if there is any difference?
No they’re all strange looking.

I’ll let you know if the card swap makes a difference.

> xdpyinfo should help you out as well. I normally set the dpi in
> the xorg.conf as an option.

Well I tried setting force all fonts to 96dpi…everything was HUGE,
although seemed to look better.

> I thought about this as well and changed my resolution from the default
> 800x600 to 1024x768 and 1280x720 no difference.

Okay, apparently SAX did not save my settings when I switched to 1024x768
the first time. Could’ve been user error also :slight_smile:
Fonts look mucho better at 1024x768. I also enabled subpixel hinting
which further improved it. Apparently then the wretched font issue is
related to scaling at lower resolutions as Malcolm suggested.

That’s great - I had an issue when I installed on my desktop with a 30" LCD,
I then moved it to a standard 15.4" laptop and there was no trouble - I
guess I will have to experiment since the HP LP3065 does it’s own scaling as
2560x1600 is the native resolution.

Tony. . .

“GofBorg” <GofBorg@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote in message
news:NTPak.322$o16.139@kozak.provo.novell.com
> > I thought about this as well and changed my resolution from the default
> > 800x600 to 1024x768 and 1280x720 no difference.
>
> Okay, apparently SAX did not save my settings when I switched to 1024x768
> the first time. Could’ve been user error also :slight_smile:
> Fonts look mucho better at 1024x768. I also enabled subpixel hinting
> which further improved it. Apparently then the wretched font issue is
> related to scaling at lower resolutions as Malcolm suggested.

Moving thread to Applications

Please stop posting everything in General.

> That’s great - I had an issue when I installed on my desktop with a 30"
> LCD, I then moved it to a standard 15.4" laptop and there was no trouble -
> I guess I will have to experiment since the HP LP3065 does it’s own
> scaling as 2560x1600 is the native resolution.

Well I have OpenSuSE 10.2 output to a 42" Viewsonic at work, but it is a
desktop machine with a Radeon running at 1360x768.
The fonts on that screen look great. You might want to find out what the
native resolution is for that 30".

Good idea! The trouble is, I suspect, such a utility really doesn’t tell you
if the fonts will turn out O.K. even if the rest is displaying nicely. I had
some trouble with a 30" LCD which displays very crisp graphics, only the
type was entirely unreadable! Personally, I suspect many modern free-ware
(or OpenSource) fonts are developed on relatively low-res displays in some
high-res mode. When forced to display on the modern day outfits they fall
short - but I could be wrong.

Still, this is in fact one more option that might turn out to help!

Thanks! I will certainly check out that ‘xpdyinfo’ when my primary desktop
returns - sadly, it’s currently away for a replacement PSU (warranty!) job.

Tony. . .

“Malcolm” <malcolm_nospamlewis@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:20080701143214.4b7d164b@oscar-sled.muppetwifi.homeunix.net
> On Tue, 01 Jul 2008 18:54:24 GMT
> “Tony Sperling” <tony.sperling@dbREMOVEmail.dk> wrote:
>
> > A long shot - if you cannibalized the setup between them and now
> > happen to use the DPI from a widescreen LCD on a CRT, that could be
> > one reason why it probably isn’t looking very good. As for the fonts
> > themselves, I believe there is a significant variation as to what
> > displays well under various resolutions.
> >
> > Test a few other fonts and see if there is any difference? I would
> > try out some of the older classic fonts as they can be expected to
> > look good in low-res.
> >
> >
> > Tony. . .
> >
> >
> >
> > “GofBorg” <GofBorg@no-mx.forums.opensuse.org> wrote in message
> > news:m_tak.252$o16.247@kozak.provo.novell.com
> > > Wanted to share my observations and see what you guys think.
> > > At work I have OpenSuSE 11 installed under VMware on my box
> > > AMD 3800+ with an nVidia 6XXX series dual head. I output
> > > to tow Viewsonic VP171B…life is good.
> > >
> > > At home I have installed Open SuSE 11 on my box there (NOT IN a VM),
> > > Pentium 4 2.8Ghz, Intel onboard video I think i865 or something
> > > like that pumping out to a 19" Proview CRT.
> > >
> > > Setting the exact same fonts on the VMware session and my home rig,
> > > the home rig fonts look like complete hell.
> > >
> > > Any idea which of these areas are the most likely culprit?
> > > I see complaints about fonts quite a bit, but I’m starting to think
> > > it’s not the fonts at all, but perhaps srewball video drivers.
> > > One of the next things I am going to try is dropping in an FX5500
> > > with nvidia drivers and see if the rendering problem goes away.
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> Hi
> xdpyinfo should help you out as well. I normally set the dpi in
> the xorg.conf as an option.
>
> –
> Cheers Malcolm °¿° (Linux Counter #276890)
> SLED 10.0 SP2 x86_64 Kernel 2.6.16.60-0.23-smp
> up 1 day 2:33, 3 users, load average: 0.26, 0.21, 0.14
> GPU GeForce 8600 GTS Silent - Driver Version: 173.14.09
>

GofBorg wrote:
>> That’s great - I had an issue when I installed on my desktop with a 30"
>> LCD, I then moved it to a standard 15.4" laptop and there was no trouble -
>> I guess I will have to experiment since the HP LP3065 does it’s own
>> scaling as 2560x1600 is the native resolution.
>
> Well I have OpenSuSE 10.2 output to a 42" Viewsonic at work, but it is a
> desktop machine with a Radeon running at 1360x768.
> The fonts on that screen look great. You might want to find out what the
> native resolution is for that 30".
>
>
Thread has been moved to Applications forum.

> Please stop posting everything in General.

great…the folks you are addressing will never see this note (probably)
because the discussion continues in General on the NNTP side and they
don’t even know to look for it in applications…


DenverD (Linux Counter 282315)
A Texan in Denmark

And now they will. Not a hard fix at all.

69 rs ss wrote:
> And now they will. Not a hard fix at all.

except for two things (and, i do NOT know the way to solve this…but it
is a problem for both forum entry protocols)…

  1. did you move ALL the posts in the nntp “Wretched” thread in General
    to the web thread in application? (or do those never get seen by the web
    side?)

if so, they are not visible in the nntp thread in applications…

  1. your post in nntp/general saying it has been moved to applications is
    four layers and 10 message from the initial post…and, some folks
    don’t/won’t read all the way to the bottom before replying…i guess
    the thread probably will continue over there…will those posts after
    today also never make it to the web side?

it is a problem for the web side because some of the “old heads” still
come in via nntp, and the web side might miss some good insight that is
getting posted where they can’t see it…


DenverD (Linux Counter 282315)
A Texan in Denmark

DenverD wrote:
> 69 rs ss wrote:
>> And now they will. Not a hard fix at all.
>
> except for two things (and, i do NOT know the way to solve this…but it
> is a problem for both forum entry protocols)…
>
> 1) did you move ALL the posts in the nntp “Wretched” thread in General
> to the web thread in application? (or do those never get seen by the web
> side?)
>
> if so, they are not visible in the nntp thread in applications…
>
When a thread is moved on the web side, everything you see up til the
“new” move posts are moved to the new section. On the NNTP side, nothing
gets moved because there is no facility in place right now that allows
moving posts, let alone threads.
> 2) your post in nntp/general saying it has been moved to applications is
> four layers and 10 message from the initial post…and, some folks
> don’t/won’t read all the way to the bottom before replying…i guess
> the thread probably will continue over there…will those posts after
> today also never make it to the web side?
>
And members should read an entire thread first. I don’t see why they
won’t anyway as it makes sense to see if the OP was answered instead of
10 posts of the same answer from different people.
> it is a problem for the web side because some of the “old heads” still
> come in via nntp, and the web side might miss some good insight that is
> getting posted where they can’t see it…
>
> –
> DenverD (Linux Counter 282315)
> A Texan in Denmark
Usually, when a thread gets posted to in the original location it gets
merged with the thread in the new location of the web side. That doesn’t
happen all the time but I would say 98% or higher.

Now, if you would like to continue this conversation, please use one of
the existing threads on the NNTP vs Web subject so that the OP can get
back to receiving answers for the original question.

I believe it’s more the presence/absence of hinting/kerning. At low font
sizes this becomes more important, and more problematic. But
hinting/kerning can make creating a font take 100x longer. So most non
commercial skips out. Which is why those MS Truetype Fonts for the Web
thingie has remained popular for so long.

It’s a fundamental problem, but let’s be honest - creating and tuning
1000s of glyphs at multiple sizes just isn’t a “sexy” job.