Announcement: http://blog.mandriva.com/2009/11/04/mandriva-linux-2010-is-out/ Download: http://torrent.mandriva.com/public/2010.0/ http://easyurpmi.zarb.org/ Last week some of Wilders' members pointed me to the fact that Mandriva has a excellent KDE4 integration and works quite hassle free. Putting aside my 'Mandrake' dislikes I downloaded the Free DVD last night. I didn't had very much time to test it out so I won't draw any conclusions yet, though I've too admit that it all seems to work very nice. One problem I ran into is the font quality. I replaced the libfreetype6 package with the one provided by PLF, but it doesn't seem to help much. Any Mandriva users around here with some tips? It's no problem if I have to compile some things myself if anyone can tell me witch packages/patches I have to take in account.
I have success after: Where you verify that your usb is /dev/sdb, if might be different on your system.
@wilbertnl Thanks for your reply. Yes I tried but still not really satisfied. Do you use the slight hinting in KDE with the PLF or the standard freetype6 package/library?
Yes, I use the subpixel enabled library from PLF, anti-aliasing slight, subpixel order RGB, resolution 96 dots. I have had the liberation fonts as default, but recently I leave this alone. This is Mandriva XFCE, by the way:
@wilbertnl Thanks for your information. My Qt based applications render the fonts just fine, however GTK+ based applications don't. They look a bit like on your screenshot, it ain't too bad but not as crispy like the Qt applications. I think I need to recompile the libcairo library with subpixel hinting enabled.
Sputnik, I notice OpenSUSE in your signature, do you think that font rendering of OpenSUSE is better than what you notice with Mandriva? I always thought that OpenSUSE makes fonts look more square. OpenSUSE also has a one-click subpixel installer. Do you have a LCD monitor or CRT? Oops, I just logged into Gnome and I noticed that subpixel was not enabled! Here is a picture with subpixel enabled and hinting medium: Perhaps the problem is that you need to configure subpixel hinting in gnome-control-center to get it working right?
I've attached two screenshots. The PLF package is installed and the KDE settings are forced at 96 DPI and Full hinting since Slight and Medium look even worse. I'll attach screenshots from openSUSE tomorrow from work. I have a LCD monitor (exactly the same as at work) so that won't be of influence.
Thanks for the above dialogue guys. Despite a sort of "low profile" here for this little Unix forum: there is a sh*t load of user friendly information available from some very generous posters. Thanks again and Keep Talking..
The advantage of this forum is that we are kind of floating between all the available distro's. CentOS, Ubuntu, SuSE, Fedora? We don't need to argue. Actually, I just installed OpenSUSE 11.2 rc, just to see myself what Sputnik is talking about.
Unfortunately, due to my circumstances, I'd like to be able to create a LiveUSB from Windows... Thanks for the tip, though.
Here are two quick snaps from a fresh openSUSE 11.2 GM installation. All default packages with forced 96 DPI. First one with Slight and second one with Full hinting. More to come.
Sputnik, I installed OpenSuSE 11.2rc with updates, and I agree with you that font rendering is much better. I like slight hinting and I think I even don't need the subpixel rendering enabled. I will look into font quality on Mandriva some more later...
@Longboard Thank wilbertnl for that While I do know my way around with Linux this Mandriva thingy is whole new for me. @wilbertnl Thanks for reporting back and for your effort looking into this! Sorry for the quick message earlier today. Coordinating some IT projects and experiments ain't my full-time function, so the time I can spend on it fluctuates a lot every day/night (living on the base at least 5 days a week gives way too much room for working at night as well ).
Sputnik! Mandriva 2010.0, how? Copy from your openSuSE installation the the unique content of /etc/fonts/* to Mandriva, check that all symlinks in /etc/fonts/conf.d are valid. (05-suse-font-dirs.conf, 50-suse-pre-user.conf, 58-suse-post-user.conf) Subpixel not enabled, slight hinting: Subpixel not enabled, full hinting: (I realize now that I changed the hinting on Mandriva without copying the /etc/fonts folders from the identically configured OpenSuSE system) Also, compared to OpenSuSE 11.2rc, Mandriva 2010.0 renders web pages in firefox consistently noticable faster. What do you think?
Here's an interesting threat at MIB regarding libfreetype6, libcairo2 and libxft2 libraries for Mandriva.
Subpixel Hinting for GTK and Qt apps ...Just now I realize that Mandriva doesn't install the gtk-qt-engine by default. Menu fonts in Firefox do look better when installed (after re-login).
