Setting Up Anti-aliasing Fonts in SuSE Linux 7.1

Support knowledgebase (chofman_ttf_71)
Applies to

SuSE Linux: Version 7.1
This article refers to an older version of SuSE Linux. Therefore some of the informations given in this article may be outdated or the article may contain stale links.

XFree86: Version 4.01

Situation

You want to integrate TrueType fonts into SuSE Linux 7.1 and you want them to be displayed in anti-aliasing mode by the X server.

Requirements

Some facts about TrueType fonts: TrueType fonts are supported by the X server from XFree86 version 4.0 on. The anti-aliasing support for TrueType fonts is included in XFree86 version 4.01 or higher. In order to use this feature, your window manager must provide this support, too. This article focuses on KDE2, based on the QT library, which in turn supports the anti-aliasing of TrueType fonts.
In SuSE Linux 7.1, the anti-aliasing support is disabled by default because the state of this feature was then highly experimental. However, you can integrate any TrueType fonts into KDE2 and display them in anti-aliased mode.
All programs basing either on KDE2 libraries or on QT (e.g. KOffice, KWrite, KEdit, Quanta, etc.) use AA fonts.

In addition, since the graphics card driver is in charge of displaying fonts in anti-aliasing mode, it must be equipped with the RENDER extension. If you are using a different window manager (e.g. Windowmaker) and start a KDE2 program from it, all fonts will be displayed anti-aliased, too.

GNOME on SuSE Linux 7.1 is not able to display TrueType fonts with anti-aliasing, since the GTK Toolkit does not support this feature.

Tip: Numerous Truetype fonts are subject to copyright regulations. For this reason, we cannot include such well-known fonts as arial, Times New Roman, or Verdana in the distribution.
Thank you for your understanding!

Procedure

1.First check whether your graphics card supports rendering of TrueType fonts. For this purpose, the X server must be running, i.e. you must be logged in to KDE2. Enter the following command in an X console as a normal user:

xdpyinfo |grep RENDER

The next line should display the output:

RENDER

If this is not the case, make sure that your installed XFree86 version is at least 4.0.1.
The command xf86version displays what version of XFree86 is currently running on your system. If you are still running XFree86 version 3.x, use SaX2 to configure your system for XFree86 version 4.0.1 or higher. For more information, refer to our support database or to the manual.

2.In order to activate anti-aliasing in KDE2, install the package "qt-experimental", series "xdev", by way of YaST. To do this, you must be logged in as root.
This operation results in the option anti-aliasing font being automatically activated and only TrueType fonts being subsequently available in the KDE Control Center!

3.Fonts installation.

As of August 12, 2002, Microsoft offers the possibility to freely download True Type fonts like "arial", "arial black", "times new roman", "verdana", etc. Thus, the program fetchmsttfonts (included in SuSE Linux up to version 8.0) is no longer usable. Please refer to the following URL for further information:

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/default.htm

Nevertheless, you can further install any Truetype fonts of your choice. Write them to the directory /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype/ and execute the following command (we recommend you to use cut&paste) as root user in the console:

cd /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/truetype/
/usr/X11R6/bin/ttmkfdir|sed s/^[0-9]*// > fonts.scale.neu

By doing this, the Truetype fonts will be made usable for SuSE Linux. Finally, restart SuSEconfig and your X server.

Note: Please note that the names of Truetype fonts must always be written in lowercase. They must not contain any special characters or umlauts. If necessary, you will have to rename the fonts.

4.Checking anti-aliasing fonts.

The command xmag enlarges any part of your desktop. Start xmag from a console and click on the small edge on a text of your choice, e.g. a KDE2 menu. If you can see pixels in different shades of grey or other colors between the pixels of the normal font in the xmag window, then the anti-aliasing font is activated.

5.Tip for LCD display's or laptop's owners:

An additional option has proved to be very helpful in order to improve the quality of anti-aliasing fonts when using a LCD display. For this purpose, you only have to edit a file (or to create it in case it does not exist) as a normal user in your home directory.

touch .xftconfig

Edit the file with an editor of your choice (e.g. pico) and insert the line:

match edit rgba = rgb;

This option is not mandatory. Use it only if it results in a better display. In some cases (e.g. with a CRT display), this option has proved to have a disturbing effect.

Have a lot of fun!


Keywords: FONT, TRUETYPE, WINDOWS, ANTIALIASING, AA, ARIAL, TIMES, VERDANA

Categories: X Applications

SDB-chofman_ttf_71, Copyright SuSE Linux AG, Nürnberg, Germany - Version: 03. Jul 2001
SuSE Linux AG - Last generated: 19. Aug 2002 by sdb (sdb_gen 1.40.0)