Jump to content

XFT Fonts for Mandrake 9.1?


nilson

Recommended Posts

I have recently accuired Mandrake 9.1, and last night I updated it using the KDE update utility. I have kernel version 2.4.21-0.13mdk and KDE 3.1.0 on an Intel Celeron machine.I did not purchase Mandrake, but someone on another forum burned the CDs and sent them to me, so I do not have any printed documentation, and I had found a page in the help program, but I can't seem to find it any more. :( I want to get the XFT fonts that I've heard about, but I'm kinda a complete Linux newbie, trying to convert from Windows.I would appreciate it if someone could walk me through the process of getting and installing these fonts.EDIT: I forgot to mention that I have Mandrake 9.1 Standard Edition, not the PowerPack.Thanks :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome to forum Nilson -I have never touched mandrake myself, but there are many people here that will be able to help you here, be patient - Bruno or another mandrake user is not that far away. Hope to see you around!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome Nilson!It would be great if you post more info, such as what environment are you running etc..If you are using KDE, it is very simple to enable antialiasing and install fonts.Default Mandrake installation have 2 control centers for most of the tweaking and settings.One is KDE control center which controls your display and visual environment, the other more powerfull is Mandrake control center which controls all the hardware, system, etc..I will asume that you are using KDE, so just click on your "K" button in lower left corner, than "Configuration", than "KDE", than "LookNFeel" than finally "Fonts".K/Configuration/KDE/LookNFeel/FontsOn the bottom of "Fonts" window you check "Use Anti-aliasing for fonts" and fonts will be instantly anti-aliased throughout KDE.In the same window you can set your various fonts and sizes.If this answers your question, great, if not and I missed topic completly, please let me know so I can give you more advice. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey nilson! Nice to see you made it here from the MozillaZine forums! :D You'll get more help here than you could ever hope for... Between Bruno, Peachy, Quint and the rest of the gang, you should get all your solutions. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome Nilson!It would be great if you post more info, such as what environment are you running etc..If you are using KDE, it is very simple to enable antialiasing and install fonts.Default Mandrake installation have 2 control centers for most of the tweaking and settings.One is KDE control center which controls your display and visual environment, the other more powerfull is Mandrake control center which controls all the hardware, system, etc..I will asume that you are using KDE, so just click on your "K" button in lower left corner, than "Configuration", than "KDE", than "LookNFeel" than finally "Fonts".K/Configuration/KDE/LookNFeel/FontsOn the bottom of "Fonts" window you check "Use Anti-aliasing for fonts" and fonts will be instantly anti-aliased throughout KDE.In the same window you can set your various fonts and sizes.If this answers your question, great, if not and I missed topic completly, please let me know so I can give you more advice. :(
Firstly, Thanks for all the welcomes :D. I would not know about this site without GolfProRM. :)I am running KDE 3.1.0 (Is this what you mean by environment?), and I have all of the updates available via the Mandrake update thingie.I have that set to have fonts anti-aliased, but it only works for applications that I have installed with the Mandrake install wizard (they are RPMs). I would be fine with this, but I like to browse with Mozilla Firebird, not Mozilla 1.3.1, which is the latest available version with the wizard (under Kmenu > Configuration > Mandrake Control Center > Software Management).In Mozilla 1.4 and Firebird, the fonts are not anti-aliased. I know that to use XFT fonts, I must get a Mozilla/Firebird build that has that option set in .mozconfig (build option).I was reading the KDE documentation (under Kmenu > Documentation > Help) and I saw a page that listed a few websites that you could get the XFT fonts from, but I can't seem to find that page again.With this forum page, I must press Ctrl++ two times to get intelligable text, and that is a real pain, having to do that on each page.If it helps any, I have installed the "Microsoft Package of Core Fonts" from sourceforge.net (presumably, TrueType fonts).I can provide screenshots of Mozilla 1.3.1 and Firebird, if it might help any.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Welcome nilson,Here's a link to the MozillaFirebird build that, I feel, finally has the "font quality" of Galeon: MozillaFirebird-i686-linux-gtk2+xft.tar.gz I'm not experiencing any font problems with Mandrake 9.1, so other than the info that zox gave you, I can't add anything. I thought that "anti-aliasing" and "rendering" were taken care of, in the KDE3.1 version. :D I wish you success. :(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi nilson Also from me a big welcome to the All Things Linux Forum ! I will start off with giving you a few links: Info about fonts in Mandrake you will find Here There is a link for XFT fonts but only for Mandrake 9.0 because the problem should not exist in 9.1. Zox gave you the clue for anti-aliasing in KDE. Most of the members here have download editions of the distro they use, specific Mandrake info can be found Here in pdf and html format. Also have a look at The Tips many of them are tailored to Mandrake. Quint gave you the link to the XFT version of Firebird, that should take care of that problem, but not for the ¨Ctrl++¨ you say you have to do every time. The ¨Ctrl++¨ can be simply overcome by setting a minimum font size in the preference menu :D Just like the others I'm not experiencing any font problems with Mandrake 9.1. I have a trained eye for graphics, so would have been put off by ugly looking fonts. The only real changes I made were in the OpenOffice menu´s ( have a look Here ) and the default font I use in ¨writer¨ ; Gothic L ( in Kword I use ¨Sans¨ ) The fact that I have no problems might just be monitor-related, what screen resolution are you using ? CRT or TFT monitor ? Anyway, if you still are having problems with fonts, or any other Linux related problem, let us know. :( Bruno

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm not experiencing any font problems with Mandrake 9.1, so other than the info that zox gave you, I can't add anything. I thought that "anti-aliasing" and "rendering" were taken care of, in the KDE3.1 version. :( I wish you success. B)
That's true, but only for KDE applications (at least that's my understanding from what I've read here and searches elsewhere. I have the same problem with Mozilla or abiword in SuSE. I found a site with somebody else's help a while back with SuSE RPMs for both that had xft-enabled. I actually did a screenshot of before and after if anyone is interested. It's quite startling. Of course simply comparing Konqueror with Mozilla will tell you right away if it's not a xft-enabled build of Mozilla B)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jason quote:

I actually did a screenshot of before and after if anyone is interested. It's quite startling.
I'd be very much interested, Jason, then I might be able to understand (with my eyes), exactly what people mean; I did see a difference in one distro, after installing MF /w XFT support. B) Thanks.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You are 100% right Jason.That is the reason I posted info about default installation of Mandrake since nielson did not give me any more info.Now that I know that Nielson need XFT enabled build of Firebird everything is easier.It is true that info I posted about font aliasing is for KDE only and KDE applications.You can build Firebird and Mozilla from source with XFT -enable flag but I never did it on my own so I can't comment on it.However there are some nice folks who do that for community and post binaries of Firebird with XFT enabled for different distros.Nielson if you look here you will find mirror of several different XFT enabled builds for Suse, Redhat and Debian.There is no build for Mandrake for some reason but don't be dissapointed since Redhat 9 build is what I use under Mandrake 9.1 without problem at all.What Bruno posted was also on target as always B) just setting minimum font to say 12 points or similar, depending on your monitor resolution is going to take care of CTRL ++ issue.You can find even more info from fantastic help, tips and trick web site for Firebird.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...