Re: Adjusting font-size in X
On Wednesday, 21 Apr 2004 14:47, Kristian Niemi wrote:
> Allright, it's that time of the week again when I have a `stupid
> question'(tm) to ask.
>
> I've been using xdm as a display manager, and recently switched to gdm.
> The thing is that when I start X from xdm *I get larger fonts*, than if
> I start X `manually' (startx) or through gdm. I run X at a resolution of
> 1600x1200, and this smaller font that now gets selected is really ...
> too small. (The font I'm referring to seems to be used by X in general,
> i.e. all apps have smaller fontsize.)
>
> As usual, I /have/ tried to search the web, but no luck nor help from
> there -- so I put my faith in you guys. ;) How can I tell X to use `the
> bigger font'? In XF86Config-4 both 100dpi and 75 dpi fonts are mentioned
> (100 before 75, if that would make a difference).
>
> Is there some simple debian *-reconfigure thing to do, or some file(s)
> that I should edit in order to fix it? (Or could you at least point me
> towards a man-page to read? ;) )
X normally gets its DPI from the line in the file called `Xservers' that looks
something like this:
:0 local@tty1 /usr/X11R6/bin/X -dpi 117 -nolisten tcp vt7
where you can find your proper DPI to put in by taking 1600/screen width in
inches (one inch is 2.54 cm). This affects font sizes, since those are
expressed in points, a unit related to physical measurement rather than
number of pixels.
When using `startx', you can override this value like so: `startx -- -dpi 100'
Depending on how you invoke X, files in different locations may be used. For
example, if I use kdm, which uses /etc/kde3/kdm/Xservers, but if I issue
`startx', it will use /etc/X11/xdm/Xservers.
I don't use gdm, so I can't swear this is correct, but I believe the way to
set the DPI in gdm is to change the line /etc/X11/gdm/gdm.conf (and/or
possibly /etc/gdm/gdm.conf) that reads something like
0=/usr/bin/X11/X vt7 -nolisten tcp
so that it reads something along the lines of
0=/usr/bin/X11/X vt7 -nolisten tcp -dpi 100
(or whatever value is right for you). See man startx, man gdm, man xdm, and
the man pages they point to for more information.
--
LX
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