Xfce Forum

Devuan

Member

Registered: 2018-01-10

Posts: 27

[Solved] Desktop problem: huge unreadable desktop fonts.

Hello:

Unadvertently clicked on an icon labeleld 'Larger Fonts' (yes, without looking where the pointer was) and now my desktop is in an unreadable state: everything is huge and I don't know how to get out of this situation.

I'm running a default Devuan ASCII.

root@devuan:/home/groucho# uname -a
Linux devuan 3.16.0-5-amd64 #1 SMP Debian 3.16.51-3+deb8u1 (2018-01-08) x86_64 GNU/Linux
root@devuan:/home/groucho# 

groucho@devuan:~$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID:	Devuan
Description:	Devuan GNU/Linux 2.0 (ascii)
Release:	2.0
Codename:	ascii
groucho@devuan:~$ 

I gues I could work from the command line and fix the file by editing it (instead of starting X) but I don't know where the setting is stored.
I'm obviously writing this from another Linux install.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

D.

Last edited by Devuan (2018-06-19 11:52:43)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,486

Re: [Solved] Desktop problem: huge unreadable desktop fonts.

It would depend on what the "Large Fonts" icon/program does. It might have affected Xfce's xsettings. Look at the file ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xsettings.xml and the values for "DPI", "FontName" and maybe "WindowScalingFactor". You can manually edit this file without logging in to make changes to the settings.

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Devuan

Member

Registered: 2018-01-10

Posts: 27

Re: [Solved] Desktop problem: huge unreadable desktop fonts.

Hello:

It would depend on what the "Large Fonts" icon/program does ....

There are two versions: "Large Fonts" and "Small Fonts". (or is it "Larger Fonts" and "Smaller Fonts"?)

Both have been obliterated from the desktop for good measure.
Which is exactly what I did when I first saw them in Jesse but they cropped up again when I reinstalled XFCE as a result of a botched up upgrade to Devuan Ascii. IMO, harmful critters which should *not* be on the desktop.

Indeed, they execute and affect XFCE settings but with there's no way (I know of) for getting out of the mess you can create if you are not careful with the one that makes your desktop oversize.

Look at the file ~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xsettings.xml ...

Yes.

I logged in as root and checked that file in the root folder to compare to the one in the home folder.
Found there was a setting which did not have a value in the root file:

<property name="FontName" type="string" value="Sans 1234"/>

Imagine the size: "1234"

So I changed it to the value in the root folder file:

<property name="FontName" type="empty"/>

Now all is as it should be.

Thanks you very much for your input.

Cheers,

D.

nathanz600

Member

Registered: 2021-04-11

Posts: 8

Re: [Solved] Desktop problem: huge unreadable desktop fonts.

I had the problem of unreadable fonts after upgrading from Xubuntu 18.04 to 20.04.
Display/system fonts were unreadable - showing as squares.

I tried using gnome tweaks but had no effect.

Using this solution above, I changed the font to a standard Ubuntu font, and it worked. (Originally had 'Nimbus')

Afterwards I could go into 'Appearances' and change font to my preference. (Could not find this with unreadable desktop)

Last edited by nathanz600 (2021-10-18 07:57:10)