Tuesday 6 December 2011

How to solve font problem in Debian

How to solve font problem in Debian

Hi there. I know, this issue seems to have been permanently stuck unresolved and i imagine how annoying it is to get the same question over and over again.. but guys, is it really possible to get rid of this problem using any non-traditional methods? I know that some people find their own ways to make their fonts look more or less good on Debian (maybe even perfect), and the others are just content with the fonts initially given. Well unfortunately i'm not one of those satisfied people and it's been quite disturbing aspect to me. I've read several threads on different forums, i've asked quite a few people about the matter and still i see no particular solution to this. The bottomline question is:

- HOW to make Debian fonts look EXACTLY like on Windows?!


And no, the prob is not the fonts themselves, but RENDERING as such and specifically nasty linux antialiasing scripts. So, as you may have guessed, downloading Microsoft fonts is no solution to this, it's still about how those are displayed, especially in browsers (i've managed to make my DE fonts look just fine by selecting certain fonts for each section that don't get anti-aliased improperly). Sorry for bringing MS up, but obviously its font rendering has always been perfect, and i see nothing else to compare linux/debian fonts with. What i really need is SHARP rendering (you wish you had a dollar every time hearing this?..) and not native smudged looking thing. Here's two options i can use by default:

1) Antialiased fonts, vague pixeled fonts, but not broken looking, which still gives a headache though

2) non-antialiased fonts, clearly pixeled, but often broken looking depending on a font type.

As you can see, both options are good for nothing. And if i can work it out somehow in desktop environment by using non-antialised fonts and by picking specific fonts that always look nice, then in browsers there's no way i can go past that. And no, i don't want to change fonts in browsers, and no i won't mention hinting, font res and RGB/BGR thing, cause it has nothing to do with the matter questioned. I've played with those settings just about enough to realize that. It's only about non-intelligent antialiasing methods in linux.

Ok, all this time i've been using sharpfonts script for Debian/Ubuntu made by some guy, which seems to be the best solution so far that i could find (can't post the link now). It fixes many things nicely, BUT.... still one more thing left: some bold fonts in browsers are still smudged And yes, i've heard some people have the same thing, although they've probably employed different methods to fix it, but apparently most of them get down to the same spot. I dunno what that script exactly does, but i wonder if i can tweak it somehow to fix the rendering of the bold fonts. What we really need here is smart antialiasing, similar to that on Windows. Apparently, it can detect somehow which fonts to smudge and to what proper extent, so it wouldn't look excessively jaggy or blurry. In Debian this thing seems to be less keen. I'm saying "Debian" here, cause i think there are other distros that actually have this thing done a way better than on Debian, such as Slackwar! e. Recently i saw the rendering on it and it was other than on Debian. Actually it was better somehow. Due to unknown to me reasons. I'd mention Ubuntu here too, but i won't, cause i don't find its fonts much nicer,i'd just say it's different, but doesn't mean better. I also have to say that i have CRT monitor and i'm using low res 800x600.

Well, this is it. I mean.. common, if it's just impossible to fix completely then do say so, if there's anyone that is experienced enough in these parts... thank you.

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