BK> Also, the X server blocks while rasterizing fonts internally (at least it BK> didn't with XFree86 3.3.x; I'm not sure about 4.0.x), which makes the BK> computer seem to hang when using a new font. When computing metrics, actually. And yes, this is still true in 4.*, although the TrueType backends optimise this away in the case of charcell fonts (and most CJK fonts are charcell fonts). Juliusz