[Fontconfig] Screen resolutions

[cga]

David Gómez wrote:

>Hi all ;),
>
>I have two systems with different screens. First one is a notebook with a
>1024x768 LCD and the second one a box with a 1280x1024 TFT.
>
>The problem is that fonts in both systems look different. I like how
>the fonts in the LCD are rendered, but they don't look 'right' in the
>TFT screen. They're too 'fuzzy'. Both are antialiased. 
>
>I got two screenshots to show my problem, better to zoom in the fonts
>to see the difference.
>
>http://www.pleyades.net/david/snapshot1024.png
>http://www.pleyades.net/david/snapshot1280.png
>
>Look at the text within the render area in firefox, not the menus. Both are
>using Bitstream Vera Sans.
>
Why not look at the menus? Isn't fontconfig/xft supposed to make font 
rendering global for the entire system?

What I see in both menus *and* content areas is that vertical & 
horizontal lines (as opposed to diagonals and curves) are rendered w/o 
any fuzziness in ss#1 (the smaller one). On the other hand in ss#2, 
*everything* is fuzzy/blurred. I think that's what gives ss#1 a much 
cleaner aspect in general than ss#2. A good example of this is the 
capital 'F' of File in both menus. Obviously it's a matter of taste 
whether you prefer that everything should be blurred or if you prefer 
some letters blurred (the ones w/ diagonal and curvaceous lines) and 
other unblemished. But there's definitely a difference between the two. 
No idea if it's configurable (it should) or a result of using different 
versions of the rendering software.

Another thing I have noticed on my laptop is that some scalable fonts 
are better viewed at certain sizes than others.  Do your two  Firefoxes  
have exactly the same specis for fonts (same  sizes, same minimal size, 
allow to use other fonts..)?  You should be able to zoom in/out a bit 
using Ctrl+-/+.. See if it makes any difference.  Also xmag is your 
friend when examining such problems.

>The file local.conf is the same for both configurations, with sub-pixel
>rendering enabled. I've tried to enable other options, like autohint.  There
>was some difference, but the fonts still looked worse in the smaller screen.
>  
>
aren't you contradicting what you said above about preferring the LCD?

>I don't know the origin of this difference in the font rendering.  Could it be
>the different screen resolutions, or it's something related to my
>configuration?.
>
>1024x768 notebook is using Xfree86 4.3.0, freetype 2.1.7 (is debian unstable)
>1280x1024 TFT box is using Xorg 6.8.1, freetype 2.1.9 (fc3 packages)
>
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>  
>
Unless you absolutely refuse to use Microsoft material you may want to 
give their  fonts a try.

IMHO they look incomparaby better than anything else I've seen on a PC 
screen.