XFree86 Font Deuglification Mini HOWTO

XFree86 Font Deuglification Mini HOWTO

Doug Holland

[email protected]

Updated by: Hal Burgiss

[email protected]

v1.55, 11 Oct 2000

How to improve ugly and unreadable X Window fonts. Various tips for
improving font handling for XFree86, including sections on fonts
servers, TrueType fonts, Netscape, and related topics.
_________________________________________________________________

Table of Contents
1. [1]Introduction

1.1. [2]Conventions
1.2. [3]Change Log
1.3. [4]New Versions
1.4. [5]Copyright
1.5. [6]Credits

2. [7]X Server Configuration

2.1. [8]Setting The FontPath
2.2. [9]X Server Command Line Options

3. [10]TrueType Fonts (One of the few things Windows is good for)

3.1. [11]Making TrueType Fonts Available
3.2. [12]Font Servers
3.3. [13]xfsft
3.4. [14]The fonts.alias File

4. [15]XFree86 4.x

4.1. [16]Redhat 7.0 Differences

5. [17]Adjusting Fonts in Specific Applications

5.1. [18]KDE
5.2. [19]Netscape

6. [20]Odds and Ends

6.1. [21]Notes
6.2. [22]Links

1. Introduction

One of the most annoying sets of problems I have had to deal with is
the abysmal default fonts and font settings of X (I'm talking
specifically about [23]XFree86, other versions of X may be better.)
Many programs use fixed width default fonts when a variable width font
would be more appropriate. Other programs use fonts that are
ridiculously tiny and unreadable. The fonts that are bundled with
XFree86 are barely adequate for the job. It does come with a halfway
decent courier font, but its Times and Helvetica fonts are simple
bitmap fonts that pixelize when they are scaled. Yuck!

This HOWTO attempts to show how to adjust various font settings,
install new fonts, and do other things that will greatly improve the
appearance and readability of fonts on the X Window Desktop. This is
done by adjusting the FontPath in the XF86Config file, by adding
switches to X server command line in startx or xdm (and variants), by
adding new fonts, by installing a TrueType font server and fonts, and
by using a feature in the K Desktop Environment 1.1 that automagically
adjusts font settings in many applications, including non-KDE apps to
set their fonts and colors to match KDE's style settings.

Comments, corrections, additions and critiques are always welcome. You
can reach the authors at <[24][email protected]>, or
<[25][email protected]>
_________________________________________________________________

1.1. Conventions

* Where examples of commands are used, a "#" character is used to
denote where typically the command would be run as the root user.
A "$" is used where typically a non-root user would be executing
the command.
* The examples use /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts as our TrueType
font directory. There is no magic to this location, and could
conceivably just as well be in any number of other locations.
* References to "xfs" are to the xfs as packaged by Redhat for
versions 6.x and later. This differs significantly in some
respects from the stock XFree86 xfs.
* References to "Netscape" are to the entire suite of programs from
Netscape: Communicator, Navigator, Messenger, etc. For all intents
and purposes, font configuration in Mozilla is the same.
* 'XF86Config' is the X configuration file. For Redhat based
distros, as of Redhat 7.0, this is now 'XF86Config-4' for XFree86
4.x. For the most part, we'll just use 'XF86Config' here.
Also, while some aspects of XFree86 4.x configuration are the same
as 3.3.x, there are some significant differences. We'll only
highlight the differences. So unless noted otherwise, any comments
or examples will apply to both 3.x and 4.x versions.
_________________________________________________________________

1.2. Change Log

* 0.1: Feb. 21, 1999: First release.
* 0.11: Feb. 27, 1999: Added copyright info to protect my butt.
* 0.12: Jun. 10, 1999: Added A Plea for Help.
* 0.20: Sep. 14, 1999: Added section on xfs for Redhatters. Many
thanks to Hal Burgiss for his contribution.
* 1.0: Nov. 23, 1999: Converted document to SGML, for submission to
the Linux Documentation Project. Removed Plea for Help.
* 1.5: July 25, 2000: New sections added on fonts.alias, XFree86
4.x, and xfsft. Miscellaneous other changes and additions.
* 1.55: Oct 11, 2000: Additional info on XFree86 4.x, especially
Redhat's changes for RH7.0. A few other minor updates and
additions.
_________________________________________________________________

1.3. New Versions

Version 1.55 adds additional information relating to XFree86 4.x, and
in particular what is new with Redhat 7.0. Also adding a neglected
credit to Kristin Aanestad for his insight into much of what this
document is all about.

Version 1.5 includes new sections on xfsft, fonts.alias and XFree86
4.x. Also, includes new Links and Notes sections, as well as a rewrite
of the xfs sections. Various other changes and additions.

The latest version of this document can be found at
[26]http://feenix.eyep.net/ldp/fdu/index.html.
_________________________________________________________________

1.4. Copyright

Copyright � 1999 by Doug Holland.

Unless otherwise stated, Linux HOWTO documents are copyrighted by
their respective authors. Linux HOWTO documents may be reproduced and
distributed in whole or in part, in any medium physical or electronic,
as long as this copyright notice is retained on all copies. Commercial
redistribution is allowed and encouraged; however, the author would
like to be notified of any such distributions.

All translations, derivative works, or aggregate works incorporating
any Linux HOWTO documents must be covered under this copyright notice.
That is, you may not produce a derivative work from a HOWTO and impose
additional restrictions on its distribution. Exceptions to these rules
may be granted under certain conditions; please contact the Linux
HOWTO coordinator for more information.

In short, we wish to promote dissemination of this information through
as many channels as possible. However, we do wish to retain copyright
on the HOWTO documents, and would very much like to be notified of any
plans to redistribute the HOWTOs, this one in particular! Web page
authors are free to link to this HOWTO without restriction, though the
author would appreciate an email informing him of this, just so he can
boost his ego by knowing who else reads and links to this document.

Many of the terms mentioned in this document are trade names. Unless
otherwise stated, all trademarks are property of their respective
owners.
_________________________________________________________________

1.5. Credits

Created by Doug Holland.
Email: [27][email protected]
WWW: [28]http://www.frii.com/~meldroc/

Updated by Hal Burgiss.
Email: [29][email protected]
WWW: [30]http://feenix.eyep.net/

Special thanks go to:

* The developers of the [31]XFree86 Project, for all the hard work
and time they have given. Also, Juliusz Chroboczek for his work
with xfsft, and XFree86 4.x to help bring TrueType to the masses.
* Font wizard Kristin Aanestad, whose legwork and insight on much of
the xfs, TrueType, Netscape, and especially, the fonts.alias
sections are much appreciated. More from Kristin at [32]Some Linux
for Beginners on a wide range of topics.
* The folks at [33]comp.os.linux.x who gave me a hand in figuring
all of this out in the first place.
* The Linux community in general who made all of this possible in
the first place.
* Microsoft and Apple: for providing the fonts that adorn my
desktop.
_________________________________________________________________

2. X Server Configuration

There are a few easy steps that can be taken that will help X do its
job better.
_________________________________________________________________

2.1. Setting The FontPath

The first place to look for curing font problems is the XF86Config
file. /usr/X11/lib/X11/XF86Config or /etc/X11/XF86Config are the
common locations. (This may be XF86Config-4 for X 4.x.) If you haven't
guessed already, the most important part of this file relating to
fonts is the FontPath. Before we get into that, this would be a good
time to check the other parts of your X configuration. Bad monitor
settings can be even more of a headache than bad fonts, so make sure
your refresh rate is as high as your monitor can handle (85 Hz is
great, 75 Hz is OK, 60 Hz is painful.)

Use your favorite text editor and edit XF86Config. Near the top of the
file in the "Files" section, you should see something like this:

FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"

This much should be the same, or at least similar, for both XFree86
3.x and 4.x. The FontPath tells X where to find the fonts it uses to
render text on your display. Order is important -- when an X
application asks X to render some text, the X server usually has some
leeway to choose the font that is used. The X server then goes through
the FontPath and grabs the first font it sees that matches the X
client's criteria, and then renders. Note that Redhat's xfs for
versions 6.x has a different way of setting the FontPath. See the
[34]Section 3.2.2 below for more on xfs.

Default installations typically put 75dpi fonts before the 100dpi
fonts. If you have a high resolution display, this means very tiny
fonts. If this is the case, the first tweak you'll use is to switch
the 75dpi and 100dpi FontPath lines:

FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/"

Next, specify that you prefer to use unscaled bitmap fonts. If you've
ever used Netscape or any other program that displays titles using big
fonts, you'll likely notice that those fonts are pixelized. This is
ugly and needs to be fixed. So add :unscaled to the ends of the misc,
100dpi and 75dpi fonts. You can even use both unscaled and scaled
fonts if you want, just put the unscaled FontPath lines first to tell
X you prefer unscaled fonts if possible:

FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"

After making these changes, restart X. Doesn't the desktop look better
already?
_________________________________________________________________

2.2. X Server Command Line Options

The next thing you need to do is adjust the command line options for
the X server. You'll want to use the -dpi switch which specifies the
display resolution in dots per inch. As a lot of systems use high
resolution displays these days, chances are they'll be working at 100
dpi.

If you start X from the console command prompt, type:

$ startx -dpi 100

If you use xdm (or friends such as gdm) for graphical logins, you'll
want to edit your /usr/X11/lib/X11/xdm/Xservers file (or possibly
/etc/X11/xdm/Xservers) which will have the command line for the
Xserver in it. Mine has the line:

:0 local /usr/X11R6/bin/X -dpi 100 -gamma 1.6

More information is in the X and Xserver man pages.
_________________________________________________________________

3. TrueType Fonts (One of the few things Windows is good for)

Because the boys at Redmond are very concerned with the appearance of
their software (as opposed to the internal workings ;) they built
TrueType font support into Windows. And of course, they got the idea
from MacOS which is where TrueType originated. Windows 9x and nearly
every other flavor of Windows comes with Arial, Times New Roman, and
Courier New, which are roughly equivalent to Helvetica, Times and
Courier. TrueType fonts are scalable, so they look good in large
sizes, and they are well hinted, so they are readable at small sizes.
Many windows applications come with dozens more TrueType fonts. Don't
microwave your Windows CD yet, you'll want to get those fonts first!

Unfortunately, XFree86 3.x does not come with built in TrueType
support, so you'll have to add it yourself. XFree86 4.x does have
built in support however (see [35]Section 4). This will mean
installing a font server that does support TrueType and, of course,
installing the fonts themselves. You won't find decent TrueType fonts
included with any distribution. The likely reason is that there are
not any quality TrueType fonts available under a suitable license at
this time.
_________________________________________________________________

3.1. Making TrueType Fonts Available

Let's start with the fonts first. Any TrueType font included with the
various MS Windows incarnations should work. Don't forget word
processors and other apps that may include their own fonts too. MacOS
fonts will not work. There are also some 'free' TrueType fonts
available for download if you have already nuked that CD (see Links in
[36]Section 6.2).

In order to use TrueType, the fonts will have to be always accessible
to the font server. This means they will have to be on a filesystem
that is always mounted. This can conceivably be a Windows partition on
a dual boot system. Alternately, the fonts can be copied to Linux.
First su to root:

# su -
# mkdir -p /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts

Now, change to the new font directory:

# cd /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts

Then, add the fonts to this directory, either by copying them from
your Windows system:

# cp /mnt/<path_to_fonts>/*ttf .

or by downloading those available directly from [37]Microsoft. These
fonts are in self-extracting zip archives. You will need to get the
ones labeled for use with 'Windows 3.1' if you need to extract them
under Linux. You can indeed unpack these in Linux with the Linux zip
utility:

# ls *exe | xargs -n 1 unzip -L

The '-L' option will convert to lower case font names (this may be
necessary for some versions of xfsft and Redhat's xfs). Note that the
current Linux zip utility does not work with the 32 bit Win9x font
archives. (It also looks like Microsoft no longer has the 16 bit
Arial, Courier and Times-Roman on this site.) Or you can get an RPM of
WebFonts that contains some of the MS TrueTypes [38]here. This has
enough fonts to keep Netscape and other web browsers happy.

You will also have to include the new TrueType directory(s) in the X
server's fontpath. So with your text editor of choice add the line(s)
as appropriate:

FontPath "/usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
_________________________________________________________________

3.2. Font Servers

There are several font servers available that will do the job: xfstt,
xfsft, and Redhat's patched version of xfs based on xfsft. While these
names are all too similar, these are different packages. One, or more,
of these should be included with any recent Linux distribution, and
you may have one installed already.

Historically, font servers were used to serve fonts over a network.
Font resources could then reside on one host, and clients could access
them as needed. But, the developers have enhanced these to include
features such as the ability to render TrueType fonts. (XFree86 4.x
has this ability included already, and thus an additional font server
is not really needed just solely for the purpose of having TrueType
support.)
_________________________________________________________________

3.2.1. xfstt

One such font server is xfstt. xfstt was designed specifically with
TrueType fonts in mind.
_________________________________________________________________

3.2.1.1. Installation

xfstt is very easy to install and configure. If it isn't already
installed, you'll want to download the tarball, or check your CD. The
most current version can be found at
[39]http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/X11/fonts/

Once you have the tarball, unpack it:

$ tar -zxvf xfstt-*tgz

Then build and install it. Read the INSTALL file for quick
instructions, but it's a no brainer.

From the xfstt directory is all you have to do.

# make
# make install

Then start xfstt with:

# xfstt --sync # updates xfstt's font database
# xfstt & # runs xfstt in the background.

xfstt should be started before the X server starts. Once you have this
working correctly, you can add the above lines to /etc/rc.d/rc.local,
or other suitable start up file. Then type:

$ xset +fp unix/:7101 # tells X about xfstt, and where to look fo
r fonts.

or add:

FontPath "unix/:7101"

to your XF86Config to tell X about the font server. Rerun xfstt --sync
any time the FontPath, or contents, change.
_________________________________________________________________

3.2.1.2. Adjusting the Default Font Size

If your TrueType fonts appear to be very tiny, the following commands
may help.

Add the -dpi switch to your X server command line (see section 3 above
to do this.)

Use the --res switch to tell xfstt to increase the default resolution.
Use the following command line.

# xfstt --res 120
_________________________________________________________________

3.2.2. Redhat's xfs

As of Redhat Linux 6.0, Redhat based distributions (Mandrake, etc)
have included a specially patched version of xfs, the XFree86 Font
Server, and patched X servers as well. Redhat's xfs includes the xfsft
patch set which in turn is built upon the FreeType Font library.
Redhat's xfs provides similar functionality to xfstt. xfs is able to
serve both TrueType and Type 1 fonts, as well as legacy X fonts.

If you are using a Redhat based distro, you should have xfs installed
already. If not, it is in the XFree86-xfs*rpm. To make sure it runs as
one of the default services, either use ntsysv or:

# chkconfig --add xfs

Now xfs will start every time you boot.
_________________________________________________________________

3.2.2.1. Setting the xfs FontPath

The default Redhat installation of xfs serves fonts via a Unix Domain
Socket. We'll need to tell the X server where to look for xfs, and
thus fonts. The FontPath in /etc/X11/XF86Config must include:

FontPath "unix/:-1"

for Redhat 6.x, or for Redhat 7.x:

FontPath "unix/:7100"

At least for a default configurations. This is a reference to the
socket where xfs is listening. You may include additional FontPaths,
but these will be handled by the X server, and not xfs. A clean
install of Redhat 6/7 should have this already set up, but if you are
upgrading from an older version, you may have to change this yourself!

xfs then has its own, separate FontPath stored in /etc/X11/fs/config.
This is where it will look to find fonts. This is over and above the X
server's FontPath in XF86Config. You can either add the new path(s)
with a text editor, or use the chkfontpath command:

# chkfontpath --add /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts

The FontPath must exist before running chkfontpath. The relevant
section of /etc/X11/fs/config should now look something like this:

catalogue = /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi,
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi,
/usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts
_________________________________________________________________

3.2.2.2. Getting the Fonts Ready

We still have a bit of work to do before we can actually use any
TrueType fonts. xfs requires a few things to be in order. First, all
font files must have lower case names. Secondly, they shouldn't have
embedded spaces. And then, we will need to create a couple of files to
make things go.

Su to root, and change to the directory where the TrueType fonts are.

# su -
# cd /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts

If there are any upper case font names, you can use the following
script to convert all names to lower case:

#!/bin/sh
#
## -------- convert upper to lower case ---------

ls * | while read f
do
if [ -f $f ]; then
if [ "$f" != "`echo \"$f\" | tr A-Z a-z`" ]; then
#Note that 'This' will overwrite 'this'!
mv -iv "$f" "`echo \"$f\" | tr A-Z a-z`"
fi
fi
done
## eof

Note the punctuation -- the backquotes are important! Remove any
spaces from font names too. Once the TrueType fonts are properly
installed, you must create both fonts.dir and fonts.scale files. The
following commands do this:

# ttmkfdir -o fonts.scale
# mkfontdir

You should now have fonts.dir and fonts.scale files in your TrueType
font directory. ttmkfdir is in the Freetype RPM, and must be run
before mkfontdir. These commands don't seem to always report errors,
so verify that they were created and are not empty files:

$ ls -l fonts.*
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11657 Aug 17 10:31 fonts.dir
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 11657 Aug 17 10:31 fonts.scale

If you encounter any problems, try ttmkfdir with the - m switch. This
will discard bad characters from the font file. Specify a number such
as 50 or l00 (ttmkfdir -m 50). The files themselves are text files.
Have a look:

$ less fonts.dir
114
webdings.ttf -microsoft-Webdings-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-micro
soft-symbol
verdanaz.ttf -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-ascii-0
verdanaz.ttf -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-fcd8859-
15
verdanaz.ttf -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-
15
verdanaz.ttf -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-
9
verdanaz.ttf -microsoft-Verdana-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-
1
[...]

Next, update xfs and your X server's FontPath:

# /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfs restart
$ xset +fp /usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts
$ xset fp rehash

Rerun the first and last of these commands anytime your add or remove
fonts. xset +fp only needs to be run when adding a new font directory
to an existing Fontpath.

You should now be in business. You can check which fonts are available
to X:

$ xlsfonts | less

or check them out further with xfontsel, or gfontsel. If they are
visible to xlsfonts, then they are available to X and vice versa. If
they are not there, try restarting X with Ctrl-Alt-BS.
_________________________________________________________________

3.3. xfsft

[40]xfsft is a TrueType solution from Juliusz Chroboczek. xfsft is
based on the FreeType font library as developed by Mark Leisher and
others. It is essentially is a patch for XFree86's xfs and related
libraries -- xfs + ft. Redhat's xfs is essentially xfsft with a few
minor modifications. Also, XFree86 4.x includes the freetype font
module which is also the result of Juliusz's work, and is one of the
TrueType solutions available for XFree86 4.x.

Building xfsft requires having at least some of the XFree86 source
available, in addition to xfsft itself, so this is not for the faint
of heart. Instructions for building and configuring xfsft are in the
tarball, so I won't go into details here. They are pretty straight
forward. There are links to binaries available at the xfsft home page
(see above).

Note that you must also create fonts.scale and fonts.dir files for
xfsft. fonts.scale can be created manually (ugh!), or with the
ttmkfdir utility. This is not included with xfsft but you can get it
here: [41]http://www.joerg-pommnitz.de/TrueType/ttmkfdir.tar.gz, or
probably on many Linux archives sites too. Redhat has this as part of
the Freetype RPM.

You will also need a configuration file. Here is a sample:

-----------------------------------------------------
clone-self = off
use-syslog = off
client-limit = 20
catalogue = /usr/local/share/font/ttfonts
error-file = /home/jec/fonts/xfs.errors
# in decipoints
default-point-size = 120
# x,y
default-resolutions = 100,100,75,75
-----------------------------------------------------

You can then run start xfsft:

# xfs -port 7100 -config /path/to/your/config/file &

You can then add xfsft to the X server's FontPath:

$ xset +fp tcp/localhost:7100

If all goes well, you could then add this FontPath to XF86Config.
_________________________________________________________________

3.4. The fonts.alias File

fonts.alias is yet another font configuration file that can be used to
tweak how fonts are handled. Like fonts.scale and fonts.dir,
fonts.alias must be in the same directory as the fonts you are
aliasing. It is not mandatory however, but does solve certain
potential problems.Here is an example from the first line
of/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc/fonts.alias on a Redhat system:

fixed -misc-fixed-medium-r-semicondensed--13-120-75-75-c-60-iso885
9-1

fixed is the 'alias' here. Any time this is requested, we actually get
the font definition from the second column. Font too small? Just
change the definition. (Warning: this is a critical file, at least on
Redhat.) The same principle applies to all fonts, including TrueType.
In fact, if you don't have TrueType, you could conceivably use this
trick to have a comparable Type 1, or other, font aliased as a
TrueType.

fonts.alias is important for some applications that don't handle the
data provided by fonts.scale well. Most notably here is Netscape.
Without a fonts.alias you will find that Netscape will only show point
sizes of 0 and 12 available. fonts.alias fixes this. You might also
find that if you a specify another size with the scalable font option
under Preferences, Netscape will not remember this setting. Annoying!
This is also fixed. So we really need this file. Sample excerpt from a
fonts.scale:

arial.ttf -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-ascii-0
arial.ttf -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-fcd8859-15
arial.ttf -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-15
arial.ttf -monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1

These are scalable so we don't get any predefined point sizes. We will
need to create our fonts.alias something like this excerpt for Arial:

-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--6-60-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--9-90-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--7-70-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--9-90-75-75-p-0-iso8859-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--8-80-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--10-100-75-75-p-0-iso8859
-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--9-90-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--11-110-75-75-p-0-iso8859
-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--10-100-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-0-iso8859
-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--11-110-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-0-iso8859
-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--12-120-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--12-120-75-75-p-0-iso8859
-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--13-130-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--13-130-75-75-p-0-iso8859
-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--14-140-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--14-140-75-75-p-0-iso8859
-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--15-150-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--15-150-75-75-p-0-iso8859
-1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--18-180-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--18-180-75-75-p-0-iso8859-
1
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--24-240-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1 \
-monotype-Arial-medium-r-normal--24-240-75-75-p-0-iso8859-
1

(Please note that I have split each line for readability. There should
be two columns all on one line, without the "\", and separated by at
least one space.) This will keep Netscape happy. Also, if font names
should have embedded spaces, then you should enclose the filename in
quotes. You might also note the pointsize discrepancy between the
first and second columns of the first few rows. The first column of
the first entry has a '6', whereas this is aliased to a '9' in the
second column, and thus '9' point. This is by design and is an
excellent way to overcome the Netscape 'damn tiny fonts' syndrome.
Adjust to suit your tastes, resolution, and eyesight.

This file can be created manually with a text editor, or conceivably
with some fancy sed or awk scripting. There is an excellent discussion
of this file, and other font related topics at Kristin Aanestad's site
at [42]http://home.c2i.net/dark/linux.html. There is also a link to a
python script which can reportedly automatically generate a
fonts.alias file at this same site. Thanks to Kristin whose work and
insight was the inspiration for this section!
_________________________________________________________________

4. XFree86 4.x

[43]XFree86 4.0 introduced native support for TrueType fonts, along
with other new features. The enhanced font support is based on xfsft
from Juliusz Chroboczek, which in turn is based on the FreeType font
library originally from Mark Leisher, so the configuration is similar
to xfsft and Redhat's patched xfs.

The FontPath is still in XF86Config, as always. For Redhat 6/7 using a
stock XFree86 4.x (i.e. NOT the Redhat 7.x supplied version), this
will mean moving the Redhat xfs FontPath from /etc/X11/fs/config back
to XF86Config. A separate font server is no longer needed just for
TrueType support. You may disable it, unless it is needed to serve
fonts to other clients in a network environment. See the section below
for Redhat 7.x specific configuration issues.

Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/default/Type1"
FontPath "/usr/local/share/fonts/ttfonts"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
EndSection

In order to use TrueType, you must also specify which font module the
X server should be using in the "Module" section:

Section "Module"
Load "freetype"
Load "speedo"
Load "type1"
EndSection

You also must to create fonts.scale and fonts.dir file for each
TrueType font directory, just like for xfsft and Redhat's xfs.
[44]ttmkfdir will come in handy for fonts.scale. See the xfs
[45]Section 3.2.2 above for more details and examples.

xtt is another available TrueType module that is best known for
supporting ideographic (Oriental) type fonts. You can use either, but
only one at a time.

X server commandline options are still the same as previous versions
of X:

$ startx -dpi 100
_________________________________________________________________

4.1. Redhat 7.0 Differences

Redhat 7.0 introduces some changes to X configuration over previous
Redhat versions. It is also different from the stock XFree86
configuration as addressed above. Notable differences:

* Both XFree86 3.3.6 and 4.01 are included. If upgrading you may
wind up with 3.3.6. The X configuration file is XF86Config for
3.3.6 and XF86Config-4 for 4.x. Of course, you'll need to know
which is which for editing and configuration purposes.
* xfs is still handling all font duties. A default Redhat 7.x
installation does not use the 'modules' section of XF86Config.
Instead it relies on xfs. This is different from a stock
installation of XFree86 4.x where the X server does all the font
work -- including TrueType.
* The socket for xfs is "unix/:7100" with RH 7.x, as opposed to
"unix/:-1" in previous versions.
_________________________________________________________________

5. Adjusting Fonts in Specific Applications

5.1. KDE

KDE is one of the best things that have happened to Linux and X in a
long time. It provides a consistent user interface that goes a long
way towards making Linux accessable to the average non-geek. More
information about KDE can be found at [46]http://www.kde.org/. So why
am I singing it's praises here? This is because KDE 1.1 has a new
feature that will make the fonts and colors in your programs,
including non-KDE applications consistent with KDE's current style.
_________________________________________________________________

5.1.1. Applying KDE Fonts and Colors to non-KDE Applications

This is very easy. Simply start up the KDE Control Center, go to
Desktop, and go to Style inside Desktop. In there, there will be a
toggle switch labled "Apply fonts and colors to non-KDE apps". Turn it
on, click OK, and your done! The next time you start up many X
applications, they will use the same colors and fonts that your KDE
applications do. Some people may like this feature better than others,
but if you don't like it you can always turn it off.
_________________________________________________________________

5.2. Netscape

Let's face it, Netscape is an important application in Linux. We all
use it, and we all need it, so let's look at it specifically for a
minute. An out of the box Netscape installation is prone to the font
problems we've discussed -- large fonts that get pixelized, splotchy
looking fonts, fonts so small they are unreadable. In short, ugly.
Maybe this is why you are here?

Hopefully, at this point you have followed the above suggestions.
These steps can help greatly. TrueType font availability is almost a
necessity, and you need a TrueType font server for this. Many web
pages specify font families -- like Arial -- that are not typically
available to Linux users. This is bad design, but having some of the
basic TrueType fonts available will help greatly in overcoming the
short-sightedness of some designers. Microsoft -- can't live with 'em,
can't live without 'em.

Assuming you have TrueType working, from the Netscape menu select Edit
-> Preferences -> Fonts. Open the Variable Width Font droplist on the
right side of the window. Your TrueTypes should be there along with
other fonts. Choose which ever one suits your fancy as the default.
Check the Allow Scaling checkbox too. If the available point sizes are
0 and 12, you can go down and, and enter your desired point size in
the box to the right and click on the OK button. The downside to this
is that Netscape will not remember these settings, and you will have
to do this each time you start Netscape. Unless -- you have
fonts.alias set up already. Then this will solve these problems. See
[47]Section 3.4 for more on fonts.alias.

You might consider experimenting with some ~/.Xdefaults (or perhaps
it's~/.Xresources on your system) settings too:

Netscape*DocumentFonts.sizeIncrement: 10
Netscape*documentFonts.xResolution*iso-8859-1: 120
Netscape*documentFonts.yResolution*iso-8859-1: 120

The 'sizeIncrement' controls how much of a jump Netscape makes when
different 'basefont' sizes are specified ala:

<basefont size=7>

for instance. The default is '20', which is a pretty good jump.
Changing this can help Netscape from scaling to too large and too
small of a font. The x and y resolutions are roughly equivalent to
'dpi' settings. Any random number within reason can be used here.
Experiment.

Then run:

$ xrdb -load ~/.Xdefaults

(or .Xresources as the case may be) and restart Netscape. There are
many settings that can be tweaked or altered this way. Look at the
Netscape.ad (app defaults) file that should be included with Netscape
packages.

If this approach does not get the job done as far as the 'tiny fonts'
problem in Netscape, then see the fonts.alias section above. You can
really fine tune many things with this approach.

Mozilla configuration should be roughly the same. You might find,
however, that Mozilla does a better job of handling fonts in X, and
pages will look better overall.
_________________________________________________________________

6. Odds and Ends

6.1. Notes

* Unfortunately there is no unified font handling system for Linux.
You will have to configure each individual program so you can use
TrueType, Type 1 or fonts that pique your fancy. And each program
may well have its own way of doing this so you will have to RTFM.
* Most GUI apps should be able to use TrueType, and Type 1 fonts
too. Wordperfect for Linux, however, cannot use TrueType. (See the
links section below for more on Wordperfect.) Text editors,
terminal programs and the like need fixed width fonts, and do not
play well with TrueType or other scalable fonts.
* Though not discussed here, Type 1 fonts provide many of the same
benefits as TrueType. You likely have many of these installed
already. Unfortunately however, Type 1 are not a web standard like
TrueType. But they are suitable for many other purposes. They are
where it's at for printing. See [48]ghostscriptfor more on this.
* Anti-aliasing is not supported by any version of XFree86.
* While it is possible to specify a default point size for the xfs
font server, very few applications will actually use this value.
_________________________________________________________________

6.2. Links

* The [49]Video Timings HOWTO, the ins and outs of getting the most
from your monitor.
* [50]Font HOWTO Many good tips for installing fonts and for
applications such as StarOffice, Applixware, Wordperfect,
Ghostscript, TeX/LaTeX.
* A [51]TrueType HOWTO, good tips for printing, and a few
application specific tips.
* [52]xfsft Homepage, TrueType font support for X. This is the
origin of the "freetype" font module for XFree86 4.x, and Redhat's
xfs. Good site, and links to other information related to fonts
and TrueType.
* [53]Some Linux for Beginners. Great font site, and other Linux
topics. Covers many of the topics discussed here in more detail.
* [54]X-TrueType Homepage, and yet another TrueType Font server,
especially good for Japanese, Chinese and Korean character sets.
* Tips on font size problems from [55]Netscape.
* [56]Wordperfect for Linux -- Fonts and Printers by Rod Smith, the
author of Using Corel Wordperfect 8 for Linux from Que. Excellent
information on Wordperfect and where TrueType fits in.
* [57]XFree86 Project, the guys and gals who do an incredible amount
of work to give us a killer GUI environment. Some info on fonts in
[58]XFree86 4.x.
* [59]Microsoft Web Fonts direct from the Lion's den -- and they are
free! If you don't have access to a win32 system to unpack these,
then get the ones labeled for Win3.1. These can be unpacked in
Linux (see above).
* [60]Web Fonts RPM package, contains a few of the MS web browser
fonts.
* [61]HP FontSmart TrueType Fontsfrom Hewlett Packard -- Garamond,
Bodoni, Dark Courier, Euro Sign and Ozzie Black. Can be unzipped
in Linux with the unzip utility.
* [62]Freeware Connection -- Free Fonts Sites lots of links to lots
of sites.
* [63]Bitstream's Geometric Slabserif TrueType Font.

References

1. FDU.html#INTRO
2. FDU.html#AEN45
3. FDU.html#AEN63
4. FDU.html#AEN81
5. FDU.html#LEGAL
6. FDU.html#CREDITS
7. FDU.html#X-CONFIG
8. FDU.html#AEN124
9. FDU.html#AEN159
10. FDU.html#TRUETYPE
11. FDU.html#AEN177
12. FDU.html#AEN212
13. FDU.html#AEN356
14. FDU.html#FALIAS
15. FDU.html#X-4X
16. FDU.html#AEN458
17. FDU.html#APPS
18. FDU.html#KDE
19. FDU.html#AEN480
20. FDU.html#END
21. FDU.html#NOTES
22. FDU.html#LINKS
23. http://www.xfree.org/
24. mailto:[email protected]
25. mailto:[email protected]
26. http://feenix.eyep.net/ldp/fdu/index.html
27. mailto:[email protected]
28. http://www.frii.com/~meldroc/
29. mailto:[email protected]
30. http://feenix.eyep.net/ldp/fdu
31. http://www.xfree86.org/
32. http://home.c2i.net/dark/linux.html
33. news:comp.os.linux.x
34. FDU.html#XFS
35. FDU.html#X-4X
36. FDU.html#LINKS
37. http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/default.htm
38. http://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/contrib/noarch/noarch/webfonts-1-3.noarch.html
39. http://metalab.unc.edu/pub/Linux/X11/fonts/
40. http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jec/programs/xfsft/
41. http://www.joerg-pommnitz.de/TrueType/ttmkfdir.tar.gz
42. http://home.c2i.net/dark/linux.html#ttf
43. http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/
44. http://www.joerg-pommnitz.de/TrueType/ttmkfdir.tar.gz
45. FDU.html#XFS
46. http://www.kde.org/
47. FDU.html#FALIAS
48. http://www.ghostscript.com/
49. http://linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/XFree86-Video-Timings-HOWTO.html
50. http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Font-HOWTO.html
51. http://www.moisty.org/~brion/linux/TrueType-HOWTO.html
52. http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jec/programs/xfsft/
53. http://home.c2i.net/dark/linux.html
54. http://X-TT.dsl.gr.jp/
55. http://help.netscape.com/kb/consumer/19960513-54.html
56. http://www.rodsbooks.com/wpfonts/
57. http://www.xfree86.org/
58. http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/fonts.html
59. http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/default.htm
60. http://rpmfind.net/linux/RPM/contrib/noarch/noarch/webfonts-1-3.noarch.html
61. http://www.fontsmart.com/fonts.htm
62. http://www.freewareconnection.com/fonts.html
63. http://www.will-harris.com/fonts/freefonts.htm