[kde-linux] konsole/bash/htop use bold characters and make characters unreadables

[Duncan]

christophe posted on Wed, 18 Aug 2010 21:16:37 +0200 as excerpted:

> Is this font readable in size 3 , as the 'misc fixed' is ?

Well, that's an interesting question.  The only logical conclusion is that 
your resolution (dpi) settings are /very/ screwed up.  See below.  As 
such, I can't answer /what/ might be readable at a font size of 3 on your 
system.  But, what I /can/ say is that (on a more normal system) the font 
I mentioned has two sizes, 6 and 12.

The question is, are you /really/ using a 3 pt font, which is too small to 
be practical, 3/8/B must be at least 5 px high or there's no space between 
two of the horizontal strokes and they're merging, and at the 96 dpi 
standard, 3 pt is 4 px, or is it simply that your system calibration is 
seriously screwed up, so a 3 pt size font is what you have to set it to, 
to get reasonably small text?

Assuming it's the latter, as the former simply makes no sense, you're 
actually going to be better off getting the system calibrated to something 
closer to reality, after which you can use more normal sized fonts.

FWIW, a standard printer's "point", the way fonts are measured, is 1/72 
inch, so a size 3 is 1/24th inch (height), 1.05833 mm.  At standard 96 dpi 
resolution, that's a 4 pixel  font.  But the smallest font I've seen is 
4x6 px.  6 px at a display-standard 96 dpi works out to be 4.5 points.

So something's wrong.  A 3 pt, 4 px at standard 96 dpi font, just isn't 
really logical or practical.  As mentioned, 3-horizontal line characters 
like B/3/8/ must be a minimum 5 px high or the lines merge, so a 4 px font 
simply won't work.  6 px, yes, 5 px, maybe.  FWIW, At the 96 dpi display 
standard a 5 px font would be 1/16 inch or 1.5875 mm high.

What I suspect is happening is that you're registering an impractically 
small dpi, likely less than 48 (half the standard 96), so the system is 
drawing fonts in the "normal size" range of 8-14 pt way huge and you're 
having to set ridiculously low font sizes to compensate.  I know a bit 
about that as I had the same problem myself for awhile, tho it's long 
since fixed, now.

If you like, we can try to fix that.  It'll mean adjusting all your font 
sizes again when you get it fixed, but your fonts will be MUCH more 
readable as a result. =:^)  There's two choices for fixing it.

1) Fixing it "correctly" will mean figuring out what the real setting 
should be, then putting it in xorg.conf.  That'll take some work and 
several rounds of posts back and forth.  To start off with, what version 
of xorg-server are you running, and either what brand and model of monitor 
(preferred as the official numbers can then be googled), or what size and 
either native resolution or native aspect ratio.  (Traditional CRTs 
generally had an aspect ratio of 4:3, ex 1600x1200 resolution; LCDs are 
often "wide screen" aspect ratio, 16:9, ex 1080x1920 full HD resolution, 
or 16:10, ex 1200x1920.)  And if you have the xdpyinfo command installed, 
what does 'xdpyinfo | grep resolution' (without the quotes, run in a 
konsole window) return?

2) A much simpler "quick fix" is to use KDE's font settings to force an 
arbitrary standard value.  Look in kcontrol (incorrectly called system 
settings, incorrectly, as it's there's very few system settings at all, 
but rather, it's mostly user specific and kde specific settings, so the 
kde3 name, kcontrol, is FAR more accurate, and more googlable as well), 
fonts, at the bottom.  Set "force fonts DPI" to something besides 
"disabled".  The standard DPI is 96, tho some ultra high-res monitors are 
120.  I'd recommend setting 96 first.  You can try 120 later if you want, 
but 96 is likely to be more accurate with normal monitors.  You'll need to 
restart kde for the full effect to be registered.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman