Re: Fonts: the Neverending Struggle
M. Kirchhoff wrote:
> If it's true that font servers aren't really necessary, then
> what is the easiest way to get good looking fonts simply using
> the XFree86 config files?
Because of a reinstall I went through it recently again. Some of
the main points are (I think):
- true, you don't need a font server, but xfs is automatically
installed with the x-window-system package. You can safely
remove xfs using apt-get --purge remove.
- installing the msttcorefonts package (if your Debian
distribution is not too old) gets the MS fonts alright, not from
Microsoft but from sourceforge.
- The config file /etc/X11/XF86Config-4 is managed by
dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xfree86. Make sure the module
'freetype' is selected. Unfortunately the reconfigure always
results in a line
FontPath "unix/:7100" # local font server
in the files section at the top. You must edit XF86Config-4
by hand. Comment out the font server line. Make sure there
is a line (or lines) pointing to the directory which holds the
truetype fonts (or to a directory which has links to them like
/var/lib/defoma/x-ttcidfont-conf.d/dirs/TrueType).
- From an xterm run xfontsel. The 'fndry' list should now contain
microsoft and monotype. Not every application will use them but:
- openoffice should now have antialiased fonts. Check with xmag.
- the debian mozilla packages do not enable antialiased fonts by
default. You must edit /etc/mozilla/prefs.js to enable them (it
is fairly self-explanatory). Then start mozilla and do the
Edit, Prefences, Appearance, Fonts dialog. The names of the
anti-aliased fonts should now be visible (starting with a
capital letter).
- in the 'unstable' distribution the system for displaying
anti-aliased fonts seems to have changed, causing font problems
in the mozilla GUI. So avoid the unstable mozilla packages.
Regards, Jan
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