Re: [aclug-L] fonts...

[Nate Bargmann <ka0rny@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Jesse Kaufman wrote:
> 
> how do i get my nice windoze fonts to work in X?  they are all TrueType
> fonts, and i would really like to have them, since when writing papers,
> i usually put some kewl stuff in w/ funky fonts, just for looks...

It appears current efforts are to patch the X font server to serve TT
fonts.  One question I have is whether the entire XFree86 source is
required to compile just the font server.

<RANT>
This is a critical area that must be addressed by the KDE/GNOME folks or
anyone aiming Linux/UNIX toward a desktop solution using common PC
hardware and peripherals.  Perhaps it is my distribution (Slackware
'96), configuration, or just crappy fonts installed on my machine, but
the print quality sucks.  Printing on my HP-600 from gs results in
jagged and fuzzy print no matter the resolution I try.  There are (I'm
sure) a lot of folks out there with low end printers who anticipate
printing performance on a par with Windows.  After all, much is made of
how well Linux supports low end hardware and this will keep a number of
486 and low end Pentiums useful for a number of years and lest we
forget, there is a large number of low end printer out there too. 
Printing is a critical aspect of computing, IMHO, and shouldn't be left
to languish.

Perhaps all of this is because X itself has such poor font display
capabilities.  Is it possible for this to be fixed/changed and the
patches folded back to the Open Group?  I assume (wrongly, again?) since
many fonts are "Type 1" from Adobe, that these would be of especially
high quality.  Perhaps that is only true of printers with a built-in
Postscript interpreter.  Even though I'm using Ghostscript 5.50, the
print quality is no better than with the 2.62(?) version it replaced. 
To be honest, a hard copy of any website printed by my system is not an
example to show someone contemplating a move to Linux right now.
</RANT>

Now, is there a prefered order to specify the font directories in
/etc/XF86Config that would result in better screen and print quality. 
Does Ghostscript even use the XFree fonts?  I know it installs its own,
but nothing I've tried seems to help.  I will admit this is a problem I
haven't spent a majority of my time to address.  I also am aware that
under Windows my HP-600 uses a vendor supplied driver that is fine tuned
to the capabilites of the machine.  I'm sure they are using unreleased
specs to do it.  HP isn't likely to release this information any time
soon as they probably use it in current production models.  It'll also
be a lonnnngggg time before HP provides any Linux support for older
Deskjets.

I keep hoping that programs like WordPerfect won't rely on GS, but will
somehow support the printer directly and do a better job than is now
available.  Unfortunately, I'm dreaming...

No, I'm not going back to Windows, but I find it puzzling that I cannot
use this system to create a presentable document as I could under Win
3.1 and my current hardware.

There, I feel better.

- Nate >>

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