Re: [Devel] Help me understand this... I'm loosing my sanity. Please.

[Billy Biggs]

Maurizio Colucci (address@hidden):

> Excuse me if I am writing such a long message, but I've spent days
> trying to understand this. I have also read many messages from this
> list, without solving my problem. You are my last resource.
> 
> I am using the latest unstable debian, the one that depends on
> libfreetype6_2.1.3+2.1.4rc2-5_i386.deb.
> 
> Basically, I am trying to figure out why the antialiased fonts in the
> debian (KDE 3.1.1) are so much worse than in redhat 8 and 9.
> 
> The problem is difficult to explain, and I don't have a web site where
> I can post some pictures. Anyway, it looks like in debian the color of
> the antialiased fonts is unevenly distributed, resulting in some very
> thin lines and some very thick ones, in the same font. Sometimes you
> can even see what look like spots of ink on a font. The effect is
> similar to the one posted in

  Are you sure you're not seeing a bitmapped font that looks terrible?
In debian unstable, the X configuration by default lists Speedo and
Type1 fonts first.  There is some bug, or just a terrible font, in one
of those directories that is getting used as the default 'Helvetica'.  I
found that putting the 100dpi font directory first really improved my
sanity.  I talked to Branden Robinson about this, and I think it's
getting 'fixed' in newer packages, but it's unclear what the problem
exactly is.  I use this in my X config file:

Section "Files"
        FontPath        "/usr/share/fonts/truetype"
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
        FontPath        "/usr/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
EndSection

  Since those are the only directories I use for X fonts.  I recommend
you try that out before continuing, even though it should not be your
problem, since you're complaining about 'antialiased' fonts, yeah?

  -Billy