Enable Smooth fonts on Ubuntu Linux
Ubuntu Linux has an option for font smoothing that isn't turned on by default for some strange reason. This makes fonts significantly smoother, enough to be very noticable.
To enable this option, you need to edit the .fonts.conf file in your home directory. To create and open the file, run this command and paste in the xml data below it.
gedit ~/.fonts.conf
Paste in this text:
<?xml version="1.0″ ?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
<match target="font">
<edit name="autohint" mode="assign">
<bool>true</bool>
</edit>
</match>
</fontconfig>
You'll have to log out and back in to see the difference.
Here's an image of the before:
And here's an image of the after:
Definitely looks smoother, and is much more readable on my laptop screen.
Tested on: Ubuntu Dapper and Ubuntu Edgy.
Update: Some angry people on digg have pointed out that the original source for this was this Ubuntu Forums post. While I didn't find it there, I'm going to link back to it, just to be fair.
Yes, that "strange reason" you are wondering about is that Apple has a patent on what it called "subpixel font-hinting", i.e. basically the use of RGB colors to create smooth gradients across areas the size of a fraction of a pixel. Linux distros, including Ubuntu, turn this technology off by default because distributing it in the US with it turned on would violate Apple's intellectual property.
Brent, thanks for the info… I wasn't aware of that. Good to know.
Does it works on Debian unstable? (i don't wanna try
)
I call BS. It's not disabled due to patents - if that was they case, they could not have that function at all.
I don't know about for gnome, but for KDE it can be enabled in the settings…
What about:
dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config? It creates/links the proper configuration files in /etc/fonts/conf.d, making it system-wide.
ScottE
US software patents are very wierd. Basically you can patent concepts. The upshot is that sophisticated technologies cannot 'officially' be used to do particular things that they're easily capable of. Software patents are BS!!
Gnome lets you enable and configure the type of antialias. In fact, it comes enabled by default.
You are going to have to come up with a link backing up what your saying, because I don't beleive you either that it's patents.
It wouldn't be present in the software I figure. If it's aviable optionally it would be a compile time option and would require you recompile the library to enable it. That is generally how these things are done.
It may be disabled because of performance reasons, or it hurts readability on low-resolution displays or something like that. Or it can be disabled 'just because' that is how it's shipped from the upstream programmer and that's it.
Just in case anyone wants to make this mod apply to all users I place this file in /etc/fonts/local.conf
This also fixes any problems that might occur when programs run as root fail to pick up the font settings.
If publishing it were due to patents, they wouldn't be able to use it - period. Someone else would be able to provide it, but by simply shipping it IN their technology, they'd be violating the patent.
It's not that difficult and it's not a patent thing, it's just easier for them to use normal anti-aliasing by default instead of detecting whether or not the user has an LCD and which color order that LCD uses … System > Preferences > Font. In the Font Preferences window, click on the "Details…" button to use sub-pixel instead of just standard anti-aliasing.
not much difference , but a good way to start improving the defaults
linux needs a huge face lift so it can catch up to windows , not to mention mac, (looks wise)
gnome is leading the way but when you compare it to osx interface, it looks outdated,
KDE is ok but trailing behind gnome ,it still has that 1995 feel to it , i don't like it ,
Have you ever used Beryl-Compiz? It blows Vista away.
not much difference
@ ScottE, nate, nationofgreg, and Bob:
http://www.freetype.org/patents.html
Try Googling freetype + patents
A 2 word websearch could have prevented your pointless posts.
If you had read that page you would have realized that it has nothing to do with font smoothing. The two patents that Apple holds are on OpenType-specific hinting embedded in font files. Enabling use of the data is a compile-time option in FreeType. FreeType will also guess based on the glyph shapes in other fonts that lack the data, and in OpenType fonts if the support is compiled-out. I'd bet a dollar Ubuntu ships it "free".
It has nothing to do with smoothing or sub-pixel hinting AT ALL.