Improved subpixel font rendering for Feisty Fawn/Hardy Heron
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The most recent patches by David have been incorporated into a series of packages that replace the libraries libreetype6, libcairo2 and libxft2 on Edgy. The patches move the filtering from Xft and Cairo to Freetype with the effect that letters have less color fringing and more faithful letter outlines. This is achieved by more advanced subpixel filtering methods and getting rid of stem quantization. Some people dislike this kind of “hack” visually, but for many it is a good trade-off of letter contrast and font aesthetics.
First you need to edit the /etc/apt/sources.list file
sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
add the following lines
deb http://www.telemail.fi/mlind/ubuntu feisty fonts
deb-src http://www.telemail.fi/mlind/ubuntu feisty fonts
For amd64 binaries use add the following lines
deb http://raof.dyndns.org/falcon feisty experimental
deb-src http://raof.dyndns.org/falcon feisty experimental
Alternative repository, for experimental builds only.
deb http://www.telemail.fi/mlind/ubuntu feisty experimental
deb-src http://www.telemail.fi/mlind/ubuntu feisty experimental
Save the file and exit
Now you need to add the following gpg keys
wget http://www.telemail.fi/mlind/ubuntu/937215FF.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add --
or
gpg --keyserver subkeys.pgp.net --recv-keys 937215FF
gpg --export --armor 937215FF | sudo apt-key add -
GPG key to RAOF's repository (amd64 packages)
wget http://ubuntu.moshen.de/2F306651.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add --
Now you need to run the following command
sudo apt-get update
Install the packages using the following command
sudo aptitude install libfreetype6 libcairo2 libxft2
After the install, you may want reconfigure font settings.
sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config
sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig
If you later decide to go back to Ubuntu packages, you must downgrade all three installed packages and You'll probably need to restart X-server after installing the packages to see the changes apply.
For hardy Heron Users
Method 1
go to a terminal and type the following command
sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config
Then I select "Autohinter", "Always" and "No" when prompted. I finish it up with
sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig
After that I restart X and my rendering is beautiful!
Method 2
System>Prefs>Appearance>Fonts
LCD smoothing, then details. Hinting -- Slight.
Method 3
Try this nice procedure
Hey. Can you update this for Hardy Heron?
I have updated for hardy heron
Hi!
Does need for Hardy Heron users to add feisty repositories and install the following packages or just the “For hardy Heron Users” section?
Thank You!
@feri
You don’t have to add any repositories follow the instructions
Thanks for updating for HH. You have changed my life.
Oh, incidentally, when using Method 2, I get a message that the System Prefs app has crashed. Then my window title bar & controls go away. When I restart the X server things look fine, though.
Any chances of updating this for 9.10 🙂
I dont remember what difference this made, as the last time I used it was in 2008.
Will this patch still work for newer releases of Ubuntu?
Thanks.