New XFree86 now available !

[Mark Kennedy]

Bill Mair wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I have now put up a new version of my patched XFree86 server for
> download.
> 
> The XServer now includes DGA 1.1 support (VMWare Patch) and xfstf ,a
> TrueType font enabler (patched into the XServer so there is no need for
> an external font server).
> 
> Download it, install it, configure it and ENJOY it.
> 
> Have fun folks,
> 
> Bill.
> http://www.bm-soft.com/~bm/tp770x.html

a couple of points:

1) using this X server with the proper truetype font configuration means that
all of those ugly pages produced using win32 tools suddenly become
readable.  i don't know how to characterize these "bad" pages other than to
say that they frequently use fonts with names like "arial" and "verdana".

take a look at http://www.microsoft.com/typography/css/gallrey/slide2b.htm
for an example of a "bad" page.  if all the fonts look the same, you 
need truetype support.  if they don't, you're probably not looking at
them from a unix-based browser.

2) to configure the server bill's distributing for truetype, you have
to:

  a) install the files bill's included in the tar ball.  if you just untar it
     directly from '/', it will overwrite your existing copy of the X server.
     if you choose to install the files by hand, don't forget to create the
     directory /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType. 

  b) populate the directory /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TrueType with
     the standard collection of truetype fonts.  they're licensed.
     if you've purchased some win32 OS that you dual boot with linux,
     its probably ok if you copy them because the license is per machine
     (but i'm no lawyer). under NT, you'll find them in C:\WINNT\FONTS.
     they're the files that end in "TTF".

  c) bill said that you had to do "ttmkfdir >fonts.scale" in the
     TrueType directory follwed by running mkfontdir.  but after
     reading the mkfontdir man page, all you have to do is copy
     the fonts.scale file to fonts.dir by hand (that's all mkfontdir
     does in this case).

  d) you probably have to add the TrueType dir to the default font
     directory list in /etc/X11/XF86Config.  i say "probably" because
     i tried to add it with an "xset +fp blah; xset fp rehash" and it
     didn't work.

but once your done... ahhh!  thanks again, bill.  and my eyes thank you.
and my optometrist curses you.

/mark