Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

dmhdlr · 2011-11-15 17:39:27

You guys seem know your text (we even have a typographer here!), and after coming across this link http://hivelogic.com/articles/top-10-programming-fonts/ I was confused as to why it didn't address the difference between outline and bitmap which I've seen brought up here and elsewhere before.

I'm spending more time every day in Emacs looking at a monospaced .ttf font (Ubuntu) that I chose because I like how it looks. I've been trying to read up on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_f … nt_formats but I'm not making much headway on seeing the benefits of a bitmap, though I'm sure there are.

Last edited by dmhdlr (2011-11-16 08:36:42)

el_koraco · 2011-11-15 17:49:36

It's like vector vs raster images. Only, .ttf fonts are dependent on the font rendering engine used on a given system, and I have yet to see a rendering engine that scales .ttf fonts properly beneath a certain size. That's where bitmaps come in. Since they're designed with fixed sizes (usually, but not limited to small ones), you don't get rendering problems when you use the smaller versions. I wouldn't use a bitmap font for displaying most of the stuff on the internet, and I wouldn't use a vector font in a terminal and on the desktop in general.

MartinRF · 2011-11-15 20:53:01

Slightly off-topic but here goes anyway:

Scaling fonts is not a good idea. Fonts have been tailored for intended size since long before computers. Small letters relative to print or screen resolution need different proportions than bigger letters do to look right and read well.

With computers you can scale fonts but if you really care you pick a font intended for the size you are going for.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/soft … gy-of-text

/Martin

rhowaldt · 2011-11-15 21:17:16

just want to say i think this is a good and useful thread. i have wondered about this stuff myself as well, so am eager to hear your input.

dmhdlr · 2011-11-15 22:35:31

@theK, thanks for the summary and quick reply
@martin, awesome awesome link, and how is your answer OT??? I wanna hear categorical statements, not use what works for you and nonsense like that.

After finally understanding

vYmFwOQ

I'm slowly seeing through all the proprietary cobwebs and getting a better sense of the essence of binary, digital computing: text. So I want to learn about its typefaces.

Edit: martin, article was great until it reached the conclusion that the proprietary ClearType is the least sucky technology available, and that the author

KEVIN LARSON holds a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and is a member of the Microsoft Advanced Reading Technologies group, based in Redmond, Wash.

Last edited by dmhdlr (2011-11-16 02:17:20)

el_koraco · 2011-11-15 22:40:12

Why don't you use fixed or terminus in your terminal for a day or two. That's the best way to see the difference. Or look for ninjaarons's bitbuntu font here on the forum, and load it up in your emulator, so you can notice .ttf vs .bdf on a font that looks almost the same.

dmhdlr · 2011-11-16 01:56:40

el_koraco wrote:

Why don't you use fixed or terminus in your terminal for a day or two. That's the best way to see the difference. Or look for ninjaarons's bitbuntu font here on the forum, and load it up in your emulator, so you can notice .ttf vs .bdf on a font that looks almost the same.

I downloaded fonts-inconsolata from the Debian repo's. Do you know if these are .ttf or .pfa?

Edit: aptitude-gtk connects it with TrueType and .otf files and folders, hmm. Maybe I'll just download from the developer's site.

Edit: D'oh! I've been confusing .pfa with .pcf. The former is not a bitmap font. Looks like Inconsolata isn't bitmap. Too bad, it's quite purdy.

Last edited by dmhdlr (2011-11-16 08:36:15)

dmhdlr · 2011-11-16 18:01:33

Ok, so after a few Google searches I learned that a great BITMAP font (with accented letters!) is available in the Debian repo's. Font is called Neep. Package is xfonts-jmk. It's not blocky at all, and comes with another one that's a bit too unorthodox for me, Modd.

Here's a screen from the EmacsWiki.

I originally read about it here: http://log.bthomson.com/2009/06/best-li … -font.html

More info here:

http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/GoodFonts
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/The_perfect_programming_font
http://www.jmknoble.net/fonts/ (the guy who made it)

Also this font looks great http://font.gohu.eu/. Haven't gotten around to trying it.

el_koraco · 2011-11-16 18:53:22

good catch on gohufont!

dmhdlr · 2011-11-16 20:36:02

Ok, I was itching to try Gohufont, but, due to the convenience of just dropping .ttf's in ~/.fonts or using APT, I had never had the necessity of manually installing fonts in X11's core system. It took about half an hour to figure out, and is somewhat complicated, so here's a mini-howto that's distilled from

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … pcf-fonts/ (Thanks K!)
http://gobase.org/dict/JIS/helponXfonts.html
http://www.xfree86.org/current/fonts2.html

First download the tar'd up pcf.gz files from http://font.gohu.eu/gohufont-2.0.tar.gz. Then,

cd ~/Downloads
tar -xvzf gohufont-2.0.tar.gz
su
mkdir /usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap/
cd gohufont-2.0
cp *.pcf.gz /usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap/
cd /usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap/
mkfontdir /usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap/

I decided to make a directory called /bitmap to house all the bitmaps I may come across on the Internet, but you can of course name this folder otherwise. Now you have to add this director to X's font path:

xset fp+ /usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap/

Run

xset q

to see if the new directory is listed under Font Path. Now get X to rescan Font Path:

xset fp rehash

Unfortunately, however, this won't permanently add your new fontdir to Font Path. In order to permanently register the new font with X, you have to indicate the new, non-default fontdir in xorg.conf which is read everytime X starts. You might have to make xorg.conf.

nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Now add

Section "Files"
    FontPath    "/usr/local/share/fonts/bitmap/"
EndSection

and save and exit.

Lastly, restart X so as to load the new xorg.conf. If you're like me you just rebooted your computer.

Run xfontsel and gohufont should now be listed. Tip: for extra legibility be sure to declare the medium weight, otherwise it will default to bold. E.g. using 14 pixel size:

-*-gohufont-medium-*-*-*-14-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

Last edited by dmhdlr (2011-11-16 20:45:04)

el_koraco · 2011-11-16 20:39:03

You should have asked, I totally forgot people don't know this stuff off the bat. Btw, it's a good idea to run mkfontdir and mkfontscale in your bitmap directory, especially when you mix and match fonts. Also, if you don't have an xonrg.conf file, this can be added to .xinitrc or .xsessionrc

xset +fp /path/to/font/

Last edited by el_koraco (2011-11-16 20:41:29)

dmhdlr · 2011-11-16 20:46:19

I added that line accordingly, thanks!

What are the benefits of adding it to xorg.conf vs. running that command in a dotfile?

el_koraco · 2011-11-16 20:54:30

replicant wrote:

I added that line accordingly, thanks!
What are the benefits of adding it to xorg.conf vs. running that command in a dotfile?

None really, it's the Unix philosophy of having several ways of doing everything badly big_smile

dmhdlr · 2011-11-22 04:02:09

Another bitmap from Archland!

http://www.fial.com/~scott/tamsyn-font/

Looks amazing, but not extensive enough. I need diacritics...

dmhdlr · 2011-11-24 19:39:06

Another question about bitmaps:

Why is Terminus, when selected in a GUI application at size 12, much bigger than

-*-terminus-medium-*-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

I think the latter corresponds more closely with size 9.

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#1 2011-11-15 17:39:27

Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#2 2011-11-15 17:49:36

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#3 2011-11-15 20:53:01

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#4 2011-11-15 21:17:16

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#5 2011-11-15 22:35:31

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#6 2011-11-15 22:40:12

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#7 2011-11-16 01:56:40

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#8 2011-11-16 18:01:33

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#9 2011-11-16 18:53:22

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#10 2011-11-16 20:36:02

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#11 2011-11-16 20:39:03

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#12 2011-11-16 20:46:19

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#13 2011-11-16 20:54:30

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#14 2011-11-22 04:02:09

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

#15 2011-11-24 19:39:06

Re: Questions on fonts, or, why bitmap?

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