fonts in linux

[Sarracenia]

Hi All -

I'm a recent windows convert still coming to terms with the complexities of linux.

I use Mandrake 9.1 and it works well for all I need it to do with one exception. I am a web author - and I used to use photoshop to make graphics etc. I find the gimp hard to use and the fonts never seem to look good (another gripe with Linux!).

Anyway - I am faced with two choices... 1. try and get WINE working (I've downloaded an RPM) and installed it - but I'm not sure what to do now LOL! I can't seem to get it to load anything... and am not certain I have set it up right. Then install photoshop under WINE (no idea how to do this either!)

2. Fix linux's tragic font situation and learn how to use the gimp.
Every font I use in it though either looks all jaggedy :( - not sure how to fix this. Also have some msoft fonts installed (Verdana etc). They work fine in Mozilla - but they don't appear in the Gimp - any ideas?

Cheers -
Sarra.

[carbon-12]

1.) You should really try installing wine via source. This way itll automatically create fake windows folders.

RE: Photoshop7 in wine
http://frankscorner.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=94&page=1

Gimp Tutorials
http://empyrean.lib.ndsu.nodak.edu/~nem/gimp/tuts/




2.)
MS Core Fonts + Install Guide
http://corefonts.sourceforge.net/



Hope this helps

[Sarracenia]

Hi -

Thanks for that - were do I obtain the source from? And how do I install something from the source? As opposed to the RPM :(.

Thanks in advance for any help ;).
Sarra.

[carbon-12]

source: http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/ALPHA/wine/development/Wine-20031016.tar.gz

Install :

tar zxvf Wine-20031016.tar.gz
cd Wine-20031016
./tools/wineinstall

It should take a while so dont worry. :)

[psi42]

2. Fix linux's tragic font situation and learn how to use the gimp.
Every font I use in it though either looks all jaggedy - not sure how to fix this. Also have some msoft fonts installed (Verdana etc). They work fine in Mozilla - but they don't appear in the Gimp - any ideas?

What version of the gimp are you using?

1.2.x uses gtk1, which does not have antialiased fonts, and AFAIK there is no way (save reprogramming it) to get antialiased fonts in gtk1 (anyone?).

If you upgrade to 1.3.x, the development version, you will have antialiased fonts, and everything looks much much better. But of course it is a development version, so a one or two things don't work properly, or at all. I don't really use the gimp that much, so I don't know how much is "broken" in 1.3.x, but be prepared to see messages more or less like: "Sorry, this filter is broken right now, it may be fixed in the next release, if you want everything to work, use the stable version."


http://www.gimp.org



P.S. Good luck getting gimp 1.3 to compile on mandrake. :) :D

~psi42

[ions]

No anti-aliased fonts in Gimp!?

I too am I Web Design/Developer and am finding it to be a pain to do any design work with Gimp. Coding is fine though. First of all I'm not familiar with it and second of all everything I try and do looks like crap. Designing Web pages often means sending mock-up pages as jpegs to clients. If I can't make the text look reasonable in the screenshot I go broke.

So even if I somehow manage to get some decent fonts installed they won't even work in Gimp? I may as well wrestle with getting Photoshop working with Crossover or further consider making an XP partition.

I'm wondering if there are any designers making a living using Linux. Must be possible but it's certainly not easy! :mad:

[hard candy]

google at this (http://www.gimp.org/fonts.html)
Youĺl grow font of this. Hope this is your type.

[hard candy]

Also, a fine sight on the web:
Gimp Users Group Tutorials (http://gug.sunsite.dk/?page=tutorials)
Some may be simple, but there are links from gimp.org and this site to other sites more professional.
And for web sites that use antialiasing to render text, turn off antialiasing in gimp, in 1.3 click on the text button and in the window below uncheck anti-aliasing.
And maybe use png for text? Does IE handle png OK?

[ions]

Thanks for the links - a quick scan over them and they appear as if they show how to do what I need to do in Gimp & fonts.

The only problem with png is that the files are huge - pretty sure IE will view them though.

[hyp_spec]

IE does not support PNG's.... just so you know... and Gimp 1.3.23 works fine for me!

[ions]

Originally posted by hyp_spec
IE does not support PNG's.... just so you know... and Gimp 1.3.23 works fine for me!

What does that mean "works fine for me!"? What do you do with it? From the reading I've done on the Gimp site 1.3 will not work fine for me yet.