Why is the UI so blurry on Linux?

Hi,

I have installed squeak under several distros, at least Gentoo and Ubuntu. I have noticed that the Icons stored in the
Flaps appear blurry/noisy - this is not the case on M$. Maybe someone knows why? Maybe there's a trick to get clean a clean look? I'll wait for response until I merge Squeak into my fresh system.

Thanks,
Felix



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At Tue, 12 Aug 2008 22:49:21 +0200,
Felix Dorner wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> I have installed squeak under several distros, at least Gentoo and Ubuntu. I have noticed that the Icons stored in the
> Flaps appear blurry/noisy - this is not the case on M$. Maybe someone knows why? Maybe there's a trick to get clean a clean look? I'll wait for response until I merge Squeak into my fresh system.

  Hmm.  Not entirely sure what icons in what flaps, and what other
factors are playing role here.  Can you take screenshots on these
computers and send them around?

-- Yoshiki
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Hi Felix

Do you have something like Compiz installed and active?
Which image are you using ?

> Hi,
>
> I have installed squeak under several distros, at least Gentoo and Ubuntu. I have noticed that the Icons stored in the
> Flaps appear blurry/noisy - this is not the case on M$. Maybe someone knows why? Maybe there's a trick to get clean a clean look? I'll wait for response until I merge Squeak into my fresh system.
>
> Thanks,
> Felix
>
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I posted a screenshot here:
http://image-fast.com/image/75d95183/linux.png

The shot was taken of Squeak3.10-7159-basic.image running on
Squeak3.10beta of 22 July 2007 [latest update: #7159]


I guess a lot of people would say it looks okay, but I'd like it to look better/cleaner.

Its actually cool that the help bubble shows up too, so you can compare the font quality. It looks like the Icons are simply scaled down versions of actual window instances. But also the Labels look
like scaled-down graphics. I currently don't have a Windows Squeak installed, maybe someone could post a screenshot of the Windows equivalent, so that we could compare?



Thanks,
Felix


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I run on Linux and Windows regularly. There is no difference in how
fonts are rendered in a stock Squeak. My screen looks exactly like
yours.

The difference in the crispness is driven by the different fonts. Some
of the stock fonts are blurry. You can install new fonts or pick a
different font for the flap icons (e.g., you could use the balloon
help font everywhere).

Overview of fonts in squeak:
http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/696

FreeType gives you access to whatever fonts are installed on your
system. Can lead to platform dependencies (since it runs native code
to render the fonts).Current state of FreeType Plus for squeak:
http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/5984

Juan has found a kind of middle path for fonts. Not as flexible as
FreeType, but better looking on all platforms out of the box. This is
part of his Morphic 3.0 work.
http://www.jvuletich.org/NiceFonts.html


On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 6:22 AM, Felix Dorner <[hidden email]> wrote: _______________________________________________
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On Fri, Aug 15, 2008 at 4:15 PM, David Mitchell
<[hidden email]> wrote:
[...]
> You can install new fonts or pick a
> different font for the flap icons (e.g., you could use the balloon
> help font everywhere).
>

That's what I ended up doing. I've tried all the font solutions, and
in the end found that what works best for me as a developer is to use
Accujen virtually everywhere - it comes as standard, it's sans serif
so it suits screens, and it's a bitmapped font so it's very sharp. The
letter forms change at different sizes and it doesn't have true
italics, just slanted letters, so no doubt it makes typographers cry,
but I find I can happily work with font sizes at 10pt for navigation
and 12pt for code without getting eyestrain.

Cheers,
Michael
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