Bad looking fonts on Fedora 7 and latest KDE Branch 3.5

Hello, Everyone
To avoid the duplication of information, I will launch right
into a
numbered list of steps describing this problem.

1. Completely fresh install of Fedora 7 (not an upgrade. 
Re-formatted
the harddrive)

2. Fresh downloads of all the modules that I compile and
install from
KDE Branch 3.5.

3. Proceeded to build KDE using the following instructions:
http://techbase.kde.org/Getting_Started/Build/Stable
_Version
(I have been building KDE from source for years.  But for
the sake of
this issue I referred back to the above referred
instructions.)

4. Successfully compiled and installed arts, kdelibs and
kdebase.  (I
did compile kdebase without the "input"
subdirectory from kcontrol.  I
accomplished this by editing the following file:
kdebase/kcontrol/Makefile.am
and removing "input"  from the "SUBDIRS =
" section.  That is the only
way that I could get kdebase to compile.  If this is the
problem, then
I will re-compile WITH "input" and send you the
appropriate logs (if
that issue is not fixed by then...)

5. Logged into a completely new user account that contains
the
hopefully appropriate paths in it's .bash_profile:
export YACC='byacc -d'
QTDIR=/usr/local/qt-src
PATH=$QTDIR/bin:$PATH
MANPATH=$QTDIR/doc/man:$MANPATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$QTDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
#export QTDIR PATH MANPATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export QTDIR MANPATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH

KDEDIR=/usr/local/kde-svn-f7
PATH=$KDEDIR/bin:$PATH
LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$KDEDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
#export KDEDIR PATH LD_LIBRARY_PATH LIBRARY_PATH
export KDEDIR LD_LIBRARY_PATH LIBRARY_PATH

6. The result is as follows:
h
ttp://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot-001.jpg

You will notice that I have Konsole and Gnome-terminal open
side by
side and I ran "ls" in my home directory just to
get something to
display.  You will further notice that the fonts in Konsole
are very
rough looking and sometimes blend together.  In addition,
the fonts in
Gnome-terminal are nice and smooth looking (just like all my
fonts were
in all non-gtk1 applications before I upgraded to Fedora 7)
Also, if I log into a completely fresh user account using
the KDE that
ships with Fedora 7, the fonts look perfect.

As you may have guessed, the reason I'm bringing this to you
instead of
the Fedora list is because fonts display as desired in
Fedora 7's KDE.
The only font issue that I have is with KDE from Branch
3.5.
Of course, this might just point out an issue with Fedora 7
that I need
to take up with them.  If so, let me know and I will gladly
take it up
with Fedora.

Oh yeah, in kcontrol the appropriate box relating to
anti-aliasing
fonts is checked.

Almost forgot: I don't THINK that this is related to the
Freetype
patent issues.  If it were, I would think that anti-aliasing
wouldn't
work at all on my system.  As it stands, the ONLY place it
doesn't work
is in Branch 3.5 KDE.

If you need any more information, let me know.

Steven P. Ulrick
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> 6. The result is as follows:
> h
ttp://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot-001.jpg
> 
> You will notice that I have Konsole and Gnome-terminal
open side by
> side and I ran "ls" in my home directory just
to get something to
> display.  You will further notice that the fonts in
Konsole are very
> rough looking and sometimes blend together.  In
addition, the fonts in
> Gnome-terminal are nice and smooth looking (just like
all my fonts were
> in all non-gtk1 applications before I upgraded to
Fedora 7)
> Also, if I log into a completely fresh user account
using the KDE that
> ships with Fedora 7, the fonts look perfect.

Just looks like you need to choose a non-bitmap font for
konsole if you want
antialiasing there. Or am I missing something?

Regards,
Philip
-- 
KDE Documentation Team: http://i18n.kde.org/doc
KDE Documentation Online: http://docs.kde.org

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On Sat, 02 Jun 2007 18:27:09 +0100
Philip Rodrigues <philip.rodrigueschch.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

> 
> > 6. The result is as follows:
> > h
ttp://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot-001.jpg
> > 
> > You will notice that I have Konsole and
Gnome-terminal open side by
> > side and I ran "ls" in my home directory
just to get something to
> > display.  You will further notice that the fonts
in Konsole are very
> > rough looking and sometimes blend together.  In
addition, the fonts
> > in Gnome-terminal are nice and smooth looking
(just like all my
> > fonts were in all non-gtk1 applications before I
upgraded to Fedora
> > 7) Also, if I log into a completely fresh user
account using the
> > KDE that ships with Fedora 7, the fonts look
perfect.
> 
> Just looks like you need to choose a non-bitmap font
for konsole if
> you want antialiasing there. Or am I missing
something?
> 
> Regards,
> Philip

Hello, Philip
I guess I did leave that impressions.
I just used Konsole and Gnome-terminal as an example. 
Actually,
everything in my Branch 3.5 install of KDE has bad fonts.

Here are three examples of bad looking fonts:
http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot-Desktop.jpg
http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot-KMenu.jpg
http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot-Konqueror.j
pg

Here is an interesting one that I just thought of doing:
http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot-TwoKonq
uerors.jpg

In this screenshot, the Konqueror on the left is compiled
from SVN
Branch 3.5.  The other one is Konqueror that ships with
Fedora 7.  Both
of them are open to my home directory.  Also, both use the
Sans font
size 10.

If you have any more questions, I would be glad to oblige. 
Again, this
is the first time that I've had an issue like this one, and
I've been
using Linux since Redhat 7...

Have a Great Night,
Steven P. Ulrick




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0.24
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> Here is an interesting one that I just thought of
doing:
> http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot-TwoKonq
uerors.jpg

Ah, so that's a useful screenshot to show what you're aiming
at. It looks
like what's happening is that your branch version of KDE is
using helvetica
(which is a bitmap font, and can't be antialiased), whereas
your version
from packages is using some non-bitmap font which *can* be
antialiased.

So, the two things you need to do are:
1. To get the fonts you want in GUI elements (menus, etc),
choose a vector
font in control center -> appearance and themes ->
fonts. For example, I
use Arial, although there are plenty of other vector fonts
around that you
might prefer.

2. To get antialiased fonts in konqueror, go to
Settings-> Configure
Konqueror -> Fonts.

Hope that helps,
Philip
-- 
KDE Documentation Team: http://i18n.kde.org/doc
KDE Documentation Online: http://docs.kde.org

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On Sun, 03 Jun 2007 13:48:24 +0100
Philip Rodrigues <philip.rodrigueschch.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

>  
> > Here is an interesting one that I just thought of
doing:
> > http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot-TwoKonq
uerors.jpg
> 
> Ah, so that's a useful screenshot to show what you're
aiming at. It
> looks like what's happening is that your branch version
of KDE is
> using helvetica (which is a bitmap font, and can't be
antialiased),
> whereas your version from packages is using some
non-bitmap font
> which *can* be antialiased.
> 
> So, the two things you need to do are:
> 1. To get the fonts you want in GUI elements (menus,
etc), choose a
> vector font in control center -> appearance and
themes -> fonts. For
> example, I use Arial, although there are plenty of
other vector fonts
> around that you might prefer.
> 
> 2. To get antialiased fonts in konqueror, go to
Settings-> Configure
> Konqueror -> Fonts.
> 
> Hope that helps,
> Philip

Hello, Phillip
Later I will have to get back to you on this.  But one thing
comes to
mind: before my upgrade from Fedora Core 6, I could choose
about any
true type font that I wanted and it just worked: it was
smooth.  (I
could even use Comic Sans...  Times New Roman...)
Now, the only difference being having Fedora 7, fonts that I
Know
worked perfectly before now look terrible.  Also, those same
fonts that
now look terrible, if I try them using the version of KDE
that ships
with Fedora 7 they look perfectly smooth.  When I use the
Branch 3.5
KDE, they look terrible.  Does this prove that KDE Branch
3.5 is at
fault?  No, far from it.  But the question arises at the
very least,
what is different between the KDE I want to use and the one
that ships
with Fedora 7 that causes the same fonts to display
differently on the
same system.  This is in GUI applications as well as Konsole
terminal
windows.

Anyway, I'll get back to you later with more details that I
have.

Steven P. Ulrick

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> Later I will have to get back to you on this.  But one
thing comes to
> mind: before my upgrade from Fedora Core 6, I could
choose about any
> true type font that I wanted and it just worked: it was
smooth.  (I
> could even use Comic Sans...  Times New Roman...)
> Now, the only difference being having Fedora 7, fonts
that I Know
> worked perfectly before now look terrible.  

A screenshot of one of these truetype fonts in 3.5 vs branch
would be
useful.

Regards,
Philip
-- 
KDE Documentation Team: http://i18n.kde.org/doc
KDE Documentation Online: http://docs.kde.org

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On Sun, 03 Jun 2007 14:19:23 +0100
Philip Rodrigues <philip.rodrigueschch.ox.ac.uk> wrote:

> 
> > Later I will have to get back to you on this.  But
one thing comes
> > to mind: before my upgrade from Fedora Core 6, I
could choose about
> > any true type font that I wanted and it just
worked: it was
> > smooth.  (I could even use Comic Sans...  Times
New Roman...)
> > Now, the only difference being having Fedora 7,
fonts that I Know
> > worked perfectly before now look terrible.  
> 
> A screenshot of one of these truetype fonts in 3.5 vs
branch would be
> useful.
> 
> Regards,
> Philip


Hello Phillip
Here are two screenshots of Konqueror with Comic Sans as the
test font:
http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screensho
t-Konqueror-ComicSans-01.jpg
http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screensho
t-Konqueror-ComicSans-02.jpg

Steven P. Ulrick

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> Hello Phillip
> Here are two screenshots of Konqueror with Comic Sans
as the test font:
> http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screensho
t-Konqueror-ComicSans-01.jpg
> http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screensho
t-Konqueror-ComicSans-02.jpg

OK, so the difference is that in 3.5 branch, the fonts
aren't being
antialiased (if you use a magnifying program like xmag or
kmag to compare
the edges of the letters in the two examples, you can see
more clearly
what's happening). Check that antialiasing is enabled in
control center ->
appearance & themes -> fonts -> use antialiasing.

There's one other thing I can think of, which is that the
way the KDE
antialiasing setting works has changed during the 3.5
series. If you're
using the same $KDEHOME (eg ~/.kde) for your distro and
compiled versions
of KDE, their antialiasing settings might be conflicting.
I'd strongly
recommend using separate config dirs for the two versions.

Regards,
Philip
-- 
KDE Documentation Team: http://i18n.kde.org/doc
KDE Documentation Online: http://docs.kde.org

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On Sun, June 3, 2007 10:21 am, Philip Rodrigues wrote:
>> Hello Phillip
>> Here are two screenshots of Konqueror with Comic
Sans as the test font:
>> http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screensho
t-Konqueror-ComicSans-01.jpg
>> http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screensho
t-Konqueror-ComicSans-02.jpg
>>
>
> OK, so the difference is that in 3.5 branch, the fonts
aren't being
> antialiased (if you use a magnifying program like xmag
or kmag to compare
> the edges of the letters in the two examples, you can
see more clearly
> what's happening). Check that antialiasing is enabled
in control center
> ->
> appearance & themes -> fonts -> use
antialiasing.

That is one of the first things that I checked.  The
appropriate box was
checked the first time I saw this problem, and it was
checked when I took
all of the screenshots of this issue.

> There's one other thing I can think of, which is that
the way the KDE
> antialiasing setting works has changed during the 3.5
series. If you're
> using the same $KDEHOME (eg ~/.kde) for your distro and
compiled versions
>  of KDE, their antialiasing settings might be
conflicting. I'd strongly
> recommend using separate config dirs for the two
versions.

When I get Branch 3.5 from SVN working properly, it is the
only version
that I use.  I only have messed with the version that ships
with Fedora 7
to test this issue.
Also, I have tried all of this with a completely fresh user
account that
has the appropriate paths set in it's .bash_profile so that
it uses the
SVN compiled Branch 3.5 KDE.  The problem still is an issue
on that
account that has never had a Fedora 7 KDE app run from it.
All that being the case, I will re-run the experiment that I
did with
Comic Sans when I get home from a completely fresh account
that I will
create just for that purpose.

Thank you VERY much for your attention to my dilemma 
Steven P. Ulrick
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On Sun, June 3, 2007 10:39 am, steveafolkey2.net wrote:
> On Sun, June 3, 2007 10:21 am, Philip Rodrigues wrote:
>
>>> Hello Phillip
>>> Here are two screenshots of Konqueror with
Comic Sans as the test
>>> font:
>>> http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screensho
t-Konqueror-ComicSans-01.jpg
>>>
>>> http://www.afolkey2.net/Projects/screenshot
-Konqueror-ComicSans-02.jp
>>> g

Hello, Phillip
One of those screenshots is slightly defective (the first
one).  I will
re-do the experiment when I get home.

Steven P. Ulrick

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