One of the most annoying sets of problems I have had to deal with is
the abysmal default fonts and font settings of X (I'm talking
specifically about XFree86, other versions of X may be better.) Many
programs use fixed width default fonts when a variable width font would
be more appropriate. Other programs use fonts that are ridiculously
tiny and unreadable. The fonts that are bundled with XFree86 are barely
adequate for the job. It does come with a halfway decent courier font,
but its Times and Helvetica fonts are simple bitmap fonts that pixelize
when they are scaled. Yuck!
This HOWTO attempts to show how to adjust various font settings,
install new fonts, and do other things that will greatly improve
the appearance and readability of fonts on the X Window Desktop.
This is done by adjusting the FontPath in the XF86Config file, by
adding switches to X server command line in startx or xdm, by adding
new fonts, by installing the TrueType font server xfstt, and by
using a feature in the K Desktop Environment 1.1 that automagically
adjusts font settings in many applications, including non-KDE apps
to set their fonts and colors to match KDE's style settings.
Comments, corrections, additions and critiques are always welcome.
You can reach me at
meldroc@frii.com.
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