Xfce Forum

Sub domains
 

You are not logged in.

#1 2012-04-26 16:25:25

reset042
Member
Registered: 2012-04-26
Posts: 24

Font antialiasing

Hello. I'm new to XFCE, and I'm using 4.6.2 in Debian Squeeze in a VirtualBox VM.

I'd like to get away from Ubuntu Unity and my first impressions of XFCE are very good, but there is one major problem. I'm staring at my LCD monitor for anywhere between 8 and 12 hours a day and for years I've been used to the way Ubuntu renders screen fonts. Even though I've turned on antialiasing in XFCE and tried different settings, I'm sorry, but the screen fonts look nowhere near as good as those in Ubuntu and I must admit I couldn't use XFCE on a daily basis with the way it looks now. Is there a way to get Ubuntu's font rendering or something very close to it in XFCE?

Offline

#2 2012-04-26 20:08:02

ToZ
Administrator
From: Canada
Registered: 2011-06-02
Posts: 10,931

Re: Font antialiasing

Perhaps this might help: http://lovingthepenguin.blogspot.ca/201 … ueeze.html.
You might also want to consider giving xubuntu (http://xubuntu.org/) a try if you're unhappy with unity. All the *buntu goodness in xfce clothing.


Please remember to mark your thread [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki  |  Community | Contribute ---

Offline

#3 2012-04-27 07:39:56

reset042
Member
Registered: 2012-04-26
Posts: 24

Re: Font antialiasing

Thanks ToZ. As suggested in that article, I tried installing Iceweasel Aurora, but the fonts still look the same, and bad compared to Ubuntu.

Perhaps I'll look at Xubuntu, but I haven't considered it until now because I don't like the way that Ubuntu is going - it seems to be making things more and more proprietary and tied into the OS. (For example: it's impossible to properly install a plain vanilla version of Firefox in Ubuntu - it has to be a version that is tweaked by Canonical. Why? Same with Thunderbird.) And although I know it's part of Gnome, there's Zeitgeist. I don't like the way Ubuntu is forcing things onto their users that I think should be optional, and that's why I've started looking at Debian.

Offline

#4 2012-04-27 11:29:17

ToZ
Administrator
From: Canada
Registered: 2011-06-02
Posts: 10,931

Re: Font antialiasing

Did you patch and rebuild libcairo2?


Please remember to mark your thread [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki  |  Community | Contribute ---

Offline

#5 2012-04-27 16:24:52

reset042
Member
Registered: 2012-04-26
Posts: 24

Re: Font antialiasing

No. The article stated that it was no longer necessary to do so. From the top of the article:

Update 2011-06-25: Confirmed. Updating Iceweasel from http://mozilla.debian.net/ fixes fonts. See this post for more info. So there's no longer any real need to do what's below.
Update 2011-06-24: This whole business may be unnecessary as it appears installing a recent version of Iceweasel from http://mozilla.debian.net/ also installs new libcairo2 with decent font rendering.

Do you think I should still try patching and rebuilding?

Offline

#6 2012-04-28 11:03:37

ToZ
Administrator
From: Canada
Registered: 2011-06-02
Posts: 10,931

Re: Font antialiasing

Here is a link to an updated version of that post (http://lovingthepenguin.blogspot.ca/201 … pdate.html) that also mentions a fonts.conf file that is required.


Please remember to mark your thread [SOLVED] to make it easier for others to find
--- How To Ask For Help | FAQ | Developer Wiki  |  Community | Contribute ---

Offline

#7 2012-04-28 20:36:41

nuc
Member
Registered: 2012-04-28
Posts: 20

Re: Font antialiasing

Does it make a difference for you if you turn on anti-aliasing or not?? I've had a weird bug which caused that switching on anti-aliazing didnt bring ANY effect. However, while I was working the bug suddenly dissappeared and now the fonts are rendered correctly. Maybe it's the same for you??

Last edited by nuc (2012-04-28 20:38:05)


my system:
ArchLinux
xfce 4.10

Offline

#8 2013-04-05 07:49:31

reset042
Member
Registered: 2012-04-26
Posts: 24

Re: Font antialiasing

Thanks to you ToZ, it's working. I am now a very happy XFCE Debian user. I wish I had moved from Ubuntu long ago!

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB