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How to fix "Broken" Fonts

Asked by [ Editor ]

Hello.

I’m using KDE 4.

When i first installed debian, my fonts we’re broken- by broken I mean, un-smooth ( Anti-aliasing was disabled ).
When i tried to change configurations, I got colored fonts ( by changing anti-aliasing from disabled or by trying to switch sub-pixel rendering to get a better result, I could see them flashing blue, red, green ).

Now, that I’ve switched to the nvidia driver instead of the noveau ( I’m sorry, but it’s just better =.= ), I can see that fonts aren’t “colored” anymore when i try to change configuration, but fonts are still not smooth.

I have a BenQ T220HD screen. specs:
Screen Size 21.5" Wide
Color Glossy Black
Resolution 1920x1080
Pixel Pitch 0.248 Brightness
300 cd/㎡ Contrast Ratio
1000:1 (DCR:10000:1 )
Response Time 5ms
Display Colours 16.7 million
Viewing Angle 170/160 (L/R;U/D) (CR>=10)
HDCP Compliant

I’d like to know how to configure fonts (System Settings->Appearance-> Fonts  ) so I’d get the best result, because honestly, currently they look really crappy and it’s annoying.

Thank you for the help :)

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3 answers

1

hadret [ Moderator ]

I Smooth fonts

The thing is that some distribution, like Ubuntu for example, have patched libraries. I’m not sure how it’s done in the latest release, but in 10.04 there were patches for libcairo2 and libxft2 packages. Thanks to them (those patches), Ubuntu had really nice, smooth fonts. In Debian however this look rather different. Because of some licensing issues (I’m not quite sure what they were as I didn’t dig into it), those patches couldn’t be included into official repositories. That’s when David Turner’s patch came in and fixed Debian fonts on LCD screens. Patches that he provided couldn’t be included for some time, but at the moment, it’s only needed to patch libcairo2 package. You’ve got three options:

  1. Download sources (apt-get source libcairo2), patch it with patch provided by David Turner (you’ve got instructions in link provided earlier) and install patched version of package.
  2. Use patches from Ubuntu packages. In that case, however, you will have to patch libcairo2 AND libxft2.
  3. Use my PPA to install patched libcairo2 (with David Turner’s patch).
After that and switching hinting to RGB, Slight you will have really nice, smooth fonts.

II DPI

There are different ways to configure DPI on different card with different drivers. You’ve got NVIDIA proprietary driver, so I can tell you how to do that, cause I’ve got same configuration (I’ve got different card model and monitor, but it doesn’t matter). First of all, check what DPI you actually have:
xdpyinfo |grep -B1 dots

You gonna need mesa-utils for this command to work
After that, check what DPI you actually suppose to have, for example using this DPI Calculator or this table. I’ve got 1680x1050 resolution at 22" monitor, hence I need ~90 DPI.
Knowing that, there are two steps to do:

  1. Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf (but making backup earlier, right? ;>) and in section “Monitor” add line: Option        “DPI”    “90 x 90”
    Remember to put DPI you need from the table or calculator which I linked above.
  2. Change DPI in your desktop environment. I dunno how it’s done in KDE, but I guess there’s option to do that just like in GNOME and Xfce.
Good luck! (:
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0

skuend [ Editor ]

I tried following the guide form the first link... it is not up-to-date ( i got stuck at "apt-get source libcairo2" which does not exist, you might get stuck after that aswell ).
please don't assume that i know how to patch something, or what's ppa/how to use them...
Although i did realize what you said about the DPI :)
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