[SOLVED] Bitmap fonts

[pawRoot]

Hi

I am trying to install bitmap fonts from here https://github.com/b-b-x/bitmap-fonts

Code: Select all

xset fp+ /usr/share/fonts/bitmap

Code: Select all

xset:  bad font path element (#7), possible causes are:
    Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
    Directory missing fonts.dir
    Incorrect font server address or syntax

The folder is there, so what is wrong, any ideas?

Code: Select all

➜  ~ cd /usr/share/fonts
➜  fonts la
total 16K
drwxr-xr-x 51 lnx  lnx  4.0K Jan 30 05:14 bitmap
drwxr-xr-x  2 root root 4.0K Jan 30 04:34 cmap
drwxr-xr-x  5 root root 4.0K Jan 30 04:40 truetype
drwxr-xr-x  8 root root 4.0K Jan 30 04:35 X11
➜  fonts 

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Code: Select all

cd /usr/share/fonts/bitmap
# mkfontdir
xset fp+ /usr/share/fonts/bitmap
fc-cache -fv

[pawRoot]

Thanks

Btw. it is not possible to use these fonts in GTK right?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

it is not possible to use these fonts in GTK right?

They can be used in Gtk applications, just install lxappearance and select them as the font (or edit the configuration files directly), they only scale to certain sizes though, obviously.

[pawRoot]

I was actually trying to find them in lxappearance and cannot see them, thats why i asked about GTK.

Here is my fc-list

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➜  ~ fc-list
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSerif-Bold.ttf: DejaVu Serif:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansMono.ttf: DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Book
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansCondensed-Oblique.ttf: DejaVu Sans,DejaVu Sans Condensed:style=Condensed Oblique,Oblique
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/c0649bt_.pfb: Bitstream Charter:style=Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSansNarrow-Italic.ttf: Liberation Sans Narrow:style=Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSerifCondensed-BoldItalic.ttf: DejaVu Serif,DejaVu Serif Condensed:style=Condensed Bold Italic,Bold Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans-ExtraLight.ttf: DejaVu Sans,DejaVu Sans Light:style=ExtraLight
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans.ttf: DejaVu Sans:style=Book
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/c0419bt_.pfb: Courier 10 Pitch:style=Regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Regular.ttf: Liberation Sans:style=Regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSerifCondensed.ttf: DejaVu Serif,DejaVu Serif Condensed:style=Condensed,Book
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSerifCondensed-Italic.ttf: DejaVu Serif,DejaVu Serif Condensed:style=Condensed Italic,Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationMono-BoldItalic.ttf: Liberation Mono:style=Bold Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSerif-Italic.ttf: Liberation Serif:style=Italic
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/c0633bt_.pfb: Bitstream Charter:style=Bold Italic
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/c0648bt_.pfb: Bitstream Charter:style=Regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationMono-Bold.ttf: Liberation Mono:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSansNarrow-Regular.ttf: Liberation Sans Narrow:style=Regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/vlgothic/VL-PGothic-Regular.ttf: VL PGothic,VL Pゴシック:style=regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSerif-BoldItalic.ttf: DejaVu Serif:style=Bold Italic
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/c0611bt_.pfb: Courier 10 Pitch:style=Bold Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansMono-Oblique.ttf: DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Oblique
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSerifCondensed-Bold.ttf: DejaVu Serif,DejaVu Serif Condensed:style=Condensed Bold,Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf: DejaVu Sans:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSerif-Bold.ttf: Liberation Serif:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansMono-BoldOblique.ttf: DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Bold Oblique
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationMono-Regular.ttf: Liberation Mono:style=Regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-japanese-gothic.ttf: VL Gothic,VL ゴシック:style=regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuMathTeXGyre.ttf: DejaVu Math TeX Gyre:style=Regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Italic.ttf: Liberation Sans:style=Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansCondensed-BoldOblique.ttf: DejaVu Sans,DejaVu Sans Condensed:style=Condensed Bold Oblique,Bold Oblique
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSerif-BoldItalic.ttf: Liberation Serif:style=Bold Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansCondensed.ttf: DejaVu Sans,DejaVu Sans Condensed:style=Condensed,Book
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansCondensed-Bold.ttf: DejaVu Sans,DejaVu Sans Condensed:style=Condensed Bold,Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSansNarrow-BoldItalic.ttf: Liberation Sans Narrow:style=Bold Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSansMono-Bold.ttf: DejaVu Sans Mono:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans-Oblique.ttf: DejaVu Sans:style=Oblique
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/vlgothic/VL-Gothic-Regular.ttf: VL Gothic,VL ゴシック:style=regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationMono-Italic.ttf: Liberation Mono:style=Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-BoldItalic.ttf: Liberation Sans:style=Bold Italic
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/c0632bt_.pfb: Bitstream Charter:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/c0582bt_.pfb: Courier 10 Pitch:style=Italic
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1/c0583bt_.pfb: Courier 10 Pitch:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSerif-Regular.ttf: Liberation Serif:style=Regular
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSerif-Italic.ttf: DejaVu Serif:style=Italic
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSansNarrow-Bold.ttf: Liberation Sans Narrow:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation/LiberationSans-Bold.ttf: Liberation Sans:style=Bold
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSerif.ttf: DejaVu Serif:style=Book
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu/DejaVuSans-BoldOblique.ttf: DejaVu Sans:style=Bold Oblique
➜  ~ 

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Try

Code: Select all

xset fp+ /usr/share/fonts/bitmap
xset fp rehash
fc-cache -fv

My previously posted steps showed the new fonts in lxappearance for me (OpenBSD but it should be the same).

EDIT: steps work on Alpine Linux as well.

EDIT2: does not work with my BL VM, no idea why

[pawRoot]

Still no new fonts in lxappearance
fc-cache is showing them hmmm

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➜  ~ fc-cache -fv
/usr/share/fonts: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 3 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 6 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/100dpi: caching, new cache contents: 358 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi: caching, new cache contents: 358 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/Type1: caching, new cache contents: 8 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/encodings: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 1 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/encodings/large: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc: caching, new cache contents: 59 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/X11/util: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 49 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/artwiz: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 2 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/artwiz/bdf: caching, new cache contents: 16 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/artwiz/pcf: caching, new cache contents: 17 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/bitocra: caching, new cache contents: 9 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/boxxy: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/creep: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/ctrld-font: caching, new cache contents: 10 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/dina: caching, new cache contents: 13 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/dylex: caching, new cache contents: 16 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/envypn-font: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/erusfont: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/evypn-font: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/gilesorr: caching, new cache contents: 6 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/gohufont: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 2 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/gohufont/bdf: caching, new cache contents: 8 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/gohufont/pcf: caching, new cache contents: 8 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/gomme: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/haxor: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/jmk-x11-fonts-3.0: caching, new cache contents: 48 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/kakwa: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/knxt: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/kourier: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/leggie: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/lode: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/lokaltog-fonts: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 2 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/lokaltog-fonts/lokaltog-fixed: caching, new cache contents: 5 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/lokaltog-fonts/lokaltog-symbols: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/montecarlo: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 2 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/montecarlo/bdf: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/montecarlo/pcf: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/mplus: caching, new cache contents: 12 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/ohsnap-1.8.0: caching, new cache contents: 24 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/opti: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/orp-font: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 2 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/orp-font/bdf: caching, new cache contents: 5 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/orp-font/pcf: caching, new cache contents: 5 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/phallus: caching, new cache contents: 3 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/pixelcarnage: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/profont-x11: caching, new cache contents: 7 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/proggy: caching, new cache contents: 3 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/progsole: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/raize: caching, new cache contents: 8 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/sgi: caching, new cache contents: 36 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/siji: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 1 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/siji/bdf: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/speedy: caching, new cache contents: 3 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/sq: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/stlarch: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/tamsyn-font-1.11: caching, new cache contents: 14 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/tamsynmod-1.7: caching, new cache contents: 8 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/tamzen-font: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 2 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/tamzen-font/bdf: caching, new cache contents: 35 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/tamzen-font/pcf: caching, new cache contents: 28 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/terminus-font-4.39: caching, new cache contents: 20 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/terminusmod-1.9.9: caching, new cache contents: 5 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/termsyn-1.8.7: caching, new cache contents: 24 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/tewi-font: caching, new cache contents: 4 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/tobi: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/trisk: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/uw-ttyp0-1.2: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/xbmicons: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/bitmap/zevv-peep: caching, new cache contents: 3 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype: caching, new cache contents: 1 fonts, 3 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dejavu: caching, new cache contents: 22 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/liberation: caching, new cache contents: 16 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/vlgothic: caching, new cache contents: 2 fonts, 0 dirs
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts: skipping, no such directory
/usr/local/share/fonts: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/home/lnx/.local/share/fonts: skipping, no such directory
/home/lnx/.fonts: skipping, no such directory
/usr/share/fonts: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 3 dirs
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts: skipping, no such directory
/usr/local/share/fonts: caching, new cache contents: 0 fonts, 0 dirs
/home/lnx/.local/share/fonts: skipping, no such directory
/home/lnx/.fonts: skipping, no such directory
/var/cache/fontconfig: not cleaning unwritable cache directory
/home/lnx/.cache/fontconfig: cleaning cache directory
/home/lnx/.fontconfig: not cleaning non-existent cache directory
fc-cache: succeeded
➜  ~ 

EDIT:

Im also trying to change font in i3 bar but nothing is changing, or im doing something wrong?

Code: Select all

font pango:terminus 8

[Head_on_a_Stick]

Wait a minute!

I think Debian may disable bitmap fonts OOTB, let me just check...

[Head_on_a_Stick]

That was it:

Code: Select all

# dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config

Then enable bitmap fonts in the third screen.

[pawRoot]

It worked, but.... now my system fonts look total crap.

https://i.imgur.com/21VbSsK.png

I tried now selecting "native" option, then "autohinter" , but nothing changes.
And the fonts in dmenu are super blurry too now.

i have this in .Xresources only, and it looked perfect

Code: Select all

! fonts

Xft.autohint: true
Xft.antialias: true
Xft.hinting: true
Xft.hintstyle: hintslight
Xft.rgba: rgb
Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault

[Head_on_a_Stick]

It worked, but.... now my system fonts look total crap.

https://i.imgur.com/21VbSsK.png

That's because you don't have the correct font installed for this website and your system is falling back to the bitmap font (now that they have been enabled).

My BunsenLabs test system doesn't suffer from this:



So try installing a font that will provide wide coverage, we use the noto-fonts package in BunsenLabs.

How are you launching dmenu?

The `dmenu_run` command can be used to set the font directly.

.Xresources

Not all applications bother reading X resources so that won't work for everything.

[pawRoot]

I installed noto fonts but it still looks crap on this website.
So cant i change it so it fallback to Sans fonts like previously?

[Head_on_a_Stick]

So cant i change it so it fallback to Sans fonts like previously?

Well, it's working in my test system so there must be some configuration setting somewhere.

No idea where though

Perhaps try /etc/fonts/conf.{d,conf}?

Here are BL's symlinks:

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~ $ ls -l /mnt/testbed/etc/fonts/conf.d/                                                                   
total 124
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  59 Aug 24  2016 10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/10-scale-bitmap-fonts.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  58 Aug 24  2016 11-lcdfilter-default.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/11-lcdfilter-default.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  50 Aug 16  2016 20-unhint-small-dejavu-lgc-sans.conf -> ../conf.avail/20-unhint-small-dejavu-lgc-sans.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  55 Aug 16  2016 20-unhint-small-dejavu-lgc-sans-mono.conf -> ../conf.avail/20-unhint-small-dejavu-lgc-sans-mono.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  51 Aug 16  2016 20-unhint-small-dejavu-lgc-serif.conf -> ../conf.avail/20-unhint-small-dejavu-lgc-serif.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  46 Aug 16  2016 20-unhint-small-dejavu-sans.conf -> ../conf.avail/20-unhint-small-dejavu-sans.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  51 Aug 16  2016 20-unhint-small-dejavu-sans-mono.conf -> ../conf.avail/20-unhint-small-dejavu-sans-mono.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  47 Aug 16  2016 20-unhint-small-dejavu-serif.conf -> ../conf.avail/20-unhint-small-dejavu-serif.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  58 Aug 24  2016 20-unhint-small-vera.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/20-unhint-small-vera.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  55 Aug 24  2016 30-metric-aliases.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/30-metric-aliases.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  52 Aug 24  2016 30-urw-aliases.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/30-urw-aliases.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  31 Nov 13  2016 31-cantarell.conf -> ../conf.avail/31-cantarell.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  49 Aug 24  2016 40-nonlatin.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/40-nonlatin.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  46 Aug 24  2016 45-latin.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/45-latin.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  50 Aug 24  2016 49-sansserif.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/49-sansserif.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  45 Aug 24  2016 50-user.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/50-user.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  46 Aug 24  2016 51-local.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/51-local.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  33 Aug 16  2016 57-dejavu-sans.conf -> ../conf.avail/57-dejavu-sans.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  38 Aug 16  2016 57-dejavu-sans-mono.conf -> ../conf.avail/57-dejavu-sans-mono.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  34 Aug 16  2016 57-dejavu-serif.conf -> ../conf.avail/57-dejavu-serif.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  37 Aug 16  2016 58-dejavu-lgc-sans.conf -> ../conf.avail/58-dejavu-lgc-sans.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  42 Aug 16  2016 58-dejavu-lgc-sans-mono.conf -> ../conf.avail/58-dejavu-lgc-sans-mono.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  38 Aug 16  2016 58-dejavu-lgc-serif.conf -> ../conf.avail/58-dejavu-lgc-serif.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  46 Aug 24  2016 60-latin.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/60-latin.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  54 Aug 24  2016 65-fonts-persian.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/65-fonts-persian.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  49 Aug 24  2016 65-nonlatin.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/65-nonlatin.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  48 Aug 24  2016 69-unifont.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/69-unifont.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  51 Dec 26 18:09 70-no-bitmaps.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/70-no-bitmaps.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  50 Aug 24  2016 80-delicious.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/80-delicious.conf
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root  50 Aug 24  2016 90-synthetic.conf -> /usr/share/fontconfig/conf.avail/90-synthetic.conf
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 978 Aug 24  2016 README
~ $

[mrseudo]

Yes, this is an old thread, but the solution must now be revised. The GTK font rendering system, Pango, has dropped support for bitmap fonts (even the X11 fonts). You can still use X11 fonts in X clients, like xterm and xedit, but GTK programs won't list them as available. OpenType Bitmap (OTB) fonts, however, are supported! You can use FontForge (it's in the Debian repository) to convert the once-standard PCF bitmap fonts into OTB fonts.

Now, for those of you who don't know, the X11 bitmap font files are stored in the /usr/share/fonts/X11 directory, so any source files will come from there. In particular, people seem to want the Fixed font for terminals and such, and these files are stored in /usr/share/fonts/X11/misc.

For instance, you can open the file in FontForge (as root):

/usr/share/fonts/X11/misc/9x15-ISO8859-1.pcf

Then select File > Generate Fonts.
In the right popup menu choose "X11 bitmap only sfnt".
FontForge will give it the name FixedMedium.otb. Save it to the /usr/share/fonts/X11/misc directory.

If you are converting more than one size, you may want to give each file the pixel size, like "FixedMedium-15.otb".

THEN run these commands (as root):

Code: Select all

dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config
dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig

The Fixed font will immediately show up in GTK application menus, like xfce4-terminal, mousepad, and the like. You may need to try different sizes until the pixels are crisp. Looking at this font again in FontForge, if you select Element > Bitmap Strikes Available, you will see that the actual point size is different depending on the dpi of the display. On my 100dpi system, the font in the example above becomes crisp at point size 11 since this is the nearest integer point size to 10.8 points (see below).

FontForge bitmap strikes dialog

pointsize.png (109.46 KiB) Viewed 6392 times