Modify Linux Font Rendering
June 27, 2013 12:09 PM Subscribe
If you are like me and always tinkering with UI fonts in Linux... Just tripped over Infinality which is a set of pretty nifty FreeType patches. Got it installed and my painfully tweaked Linux font settings look lovely.
The font tinkering issue basically is solved if you use Ubuntu, which has a ton of font tweaks turned on out of the box. The font rendering there is miles beyond Windows' jaggy defaults. It seems to be a matter of taste when compared to OSX. (I find OSX's font rendering to be blurry and hard to read, but I know people who disagree.)
posted by fader at 12:18 PM on June 27, 2013
posted by fader at 12:18 PM on June 27, 2013
I am using Ubuntu, but there always seems to be an improvement and this is one of them for me (along with the awesome Aller font, which is not only awesome from the people that did the Ubuntu font, but cool when the confounder responded to my positive feed back).
posted by Samizdata at 12:23 PM on June 27, 2013
posted by Samizdata at 12:23 PM on June 27, 2013
I think Linux (Ubuntu I guess, now that I've read this) has had the best font rendering of any OS for several years, including over OS X. Of course, comparing OS X, Ubuntu, and Linux + Infinality is splitting hairs when compared to Windows, which is still a steaming pile.
posted by mcstayinskool at 12:26 PM on June 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by mcstayinskool at 12:26 PM on June 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
mcstayinskool: "I think Linux (Ubuntu I guess, now that I've read this) has had the best font rendering of any OS for several years, including over OS X. Of course, comparing OS X, Ubuntu, and Linux + Infinality is splitting hairs when compared to Windows, which is still a steaming pile."
Agreed indeed. Especially when it is such a pain to do anything with default fonts in Windows. And themeing without WindowsBlinds?
posted by Samizdata at 12:37 PM on June 27, 2013
Agreed indeed. Especially when it is such a pain to do anything with default fonts in Windows. And themeing without WindowsBlinds?
posted by Samizdata at 12:37 PM on June 27, 2013
I suspect that Apple hasn't done much work to improve their font rendering lately because a lot of that work would become moot as their line migrates to HiDPI displays.
posted by 1970s Antihero at 12:43 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 12:43 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
The great thing about Infinality is it comes with baked in configurations that mimic the most common rendering styles, from the grainy sharpness of XP (and to a lesser degree Win7) to the heavy smoothing of OSX. I don't mind Ubuntu rendering (the actual OS, not to be confused with the Ubuntu preset for Infinality), but it's still a little heavy on smoothing for my tastes. I would go further than the text of the FPP and say if you enjoy tinkering, setting up Infinality will be rewarding. It's a bit of a catchphrase these days that Linux has gone from having the worst font rendering to the best, but Infinality and Ubuntu are the proof.
posted by Lorin at 1:08 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Lorin at 1:08 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
...and now that I actually read the article I see they covered those presets well, but nevertheless. It would be nice to see a collection of screenshots of the various styles, but I'm afraid to disturb the delicate alchemical balance of my own machine. Some things haven't changed.
posted by Lorin at 1:23 PM on June 27, 2013
posted by Lorin at 1:23 PM on June 27, 2013
Thanks for the post. I always thought Linux's font rendering made it look and feel cheap, especially compared with the PDF-enabled beauty of OS X. I'm glad that this weak point is finally being addressed — every bit of spit and polish helps make using Linux as a daily desktop OS alternative just a bit more pleasant.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:00 PM on June 27, 2013
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 2:00 PM on June 27, 2013
%n: "Thanks for the post. I always thought Linux's font rendering made it look and feel cheap, especially compared with the PDF-enabled beauty of OS X. I'm glad that this weak point is finally being addressed — every bit of spit and polish helps make using Linux as a daily desktop OS alternative just a bit more pleasant."
You have it in one, sir. Plus I have to tweak every environment I use to make it as comfortable as possible for ME. And this made a visible difference before I ever got around to the tuning.
posted by Samizdata at 2:37 PM on June 27, 2013
You have it in one, sir. Plus I have to tweak every environment I use to make it as comfortable as possible for ME. And this made a visible difference before I ever got around to the tuning.
posted by Samizdata at 2:37 PM on June 27, 2013
I suspect that Apple hasn't done much work to improve their font rendering lately
..said nobody who ever looked at a Retina Display. What more do you want, 3D font rendering on a triple-core GPU?
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:40 PM on June 27, 2013
..said nobody who ever looked at a Retina Display. What more do you want, 3D font rendering on a triple-core GPU?
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:40 PM on June 27, 2013
charlie don't surf: "I suspect that Apple hasn't done much work to improve their font rendering lately
..said nobody who ever looked at a Retina Display. What more do you want, 3D font rendering on a triple-core GPU?"
Not so much. I just want clean, crisp, well-kerned text reminiscent of print.
posted by Samizdata at 3:28 PM on June 27, 2013
..said nobody who ever looked at a Retina Display. What more do you want, 3D font rendering on a triple-core GPU?"
Not so much. I just want clean, crisp, well-kerned text reminiscent of print.
posted by Samizdata at 3:28 PM on June 27, 2013
..said nobody who ever looked at a Retina Display.
The sentence you quoted would have made more sense if you had finished reading it.
posted by stopgap at 4:40 PM on June 27, 2013 [7 favorites]
The sentence you quoted would have made more sense if you had finished reading it.
posted by stopgap at 4:40 PM on June 27, 2013 [7 favorites]
Wow, just installed this on 12.04 and it's really quite beautiful IMO. Sharp but smooth.
posted by en forme de poire at 5:14 PM on June 27, 2013
posted by en forme de poire at 5:14 PM on June 27, 2013
Ubuntu has good font rendering? My out-of-the-box 13.04 defaulted to bitmap everything until I used the embeddedbitmap hack.
posted by scruss at 5:26 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by scruss at 5:26 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
scruss, that appears to be one of the things this fixes.
posted by en forme de poire at 6:01 PM on June 27, 2013
posted by en forme de poire at 6:01 PM on June 27, 2013
Now if only someone would fix the compiz / unity madness that happens when you use multiple desktops + an occasionally attached second monitor (the default behavior is to randomly scramble the positions of all windows if an external display is detached - stacking big windows over small ones, randomly moving windows around so sets of windows originally placed together on one desktop are scattered everywhere...)
posted by idiopath at 7:09 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by idiopath at 7:09 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
I just want clean, crisp, well-kerned text reminiscent of print.
..said nobody who ever used a Retina Display.
Go look at a Retina Display. Take a good long look, using a native, HiDPI-enabled app. Don't just look at the concept of HiDPI. A Retina Display is better than print. It has more brightness and higher contrast than a printed page, and under most conditions, for most people, it has more resolution than their eyes can resolve. The typographic features you want are available, if programmers bother to use them. Compare the crappy rendering of the iOS Kindle app to iBooks.
Look, it's great that you linux geeks are starting to get a few of the features that MacOS X users have taken for granted for many years. But don't start pushing ludicrous claims that Apple isn't doing any work to improve their fonts and display technology. That is Apple's strongest technology, they are the leader in this field, so you sound like you're whining about sour grapes.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:56 PM on June 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
..said nobody who ever used a Retina Display.
Go look at a Retina Display. Take a good long look, using a native, HiDPI-enabled app. Don't just look at the concept of HiDPI. A Retina Display is better than print. It has more brightness and higher contrast than a printed page, and under most conditions, for most people, it has more resolution than their eyes can resolve. The typographic features you want are available, if programmers bother to use them. Compare the crappy rendering of the iOS Kindle app to iBooks.
Look, it's great that you linux geeks are starting to get a few of the features that MacOS X users have taken for granted for many years. But don't start pushing ludicrous claims that Apple isn't doing any work to improve their fonts and display technology. That is Apple's strongest technology, they are the leader in this field, so you sound like you're whining about sour grapes.
posted by charlie don't surf at 7:56 PM on June 27, 2013 [2 favorites]
charlie don't surf: " I just want clean, crisp, well-kerned text reminiscent of print.
..said nobody who ever used a Retina Display.
Go look at a Retina Display. Take a good long look, using a native, HiDPI-enabled app. Don't just look at the concept of HiDPI. A Retina Display is better than print. It has more brightness and higher contrast than a printed page, and under most conditions, for most people, it has more resolution than their eyes can resolve. The typographic features you want are available, if programmers bother to use them. Compare the crappy rendering of the iOS Kindle app to iBooks.
Look, it's great that you linux geeks are starting to get a few of the features that MacOS X users have taken for granted for many years. But don't start pushing ludicrous claims that Apple isn't doing any work to improve their fonts and display technology. That is Apple's strongest technology, they are the leader in this field, so you sound like you're whining about sour grapes."
Gosh, I would IF there was an Apple store in town.
And I am not pushing any claim. Might want to double check who you quoted. Of course, what would I know, me with my commodity hardware due to budgetary restraints. Hell, what I spent on my current rig would have an Apple store refusing me bathroom access, laughing the whole time.
Of course, it is provable Apple has passed the point of wanting to do more with less. If you don't like the features your current gear has, why, wait, why do you even have THAT old PoC? Why haven't you bought the iSomethingNewAndMoreExpensiveThatEver?
posted by Samizdata at 9:29 PM on June 27, 2013
..said nobody who ever used a Retina Display.
Go look at a Retina Display. Take a good long look, using a native, HiDPI-enabled app. Don't just look at the concept of HiDPI. A Retina Display is better than print. It has more brightness and higher contrast than a printed page, and under most conditions, for most people, it has more resolution than their eyes can resolve. The typographic features you want are available, if programmers bother to use them. Compare the crappy rendering of the iOS Kindle app to iBooks.
Look, it's great that you linux geeks are starting to get a few of the features that MacOS X users have taken for granted for many years. But don't start pushing ludicrous claims that Apple isn't doing any work to improve their fonts and display technology. That is Apple's strongest technology, they are the leader in this field, so you sound like you're whining about sour grapes."
Gosh, I would IF there was an Apple store in town.
And I am not pushing any claim. Might want to double check who you quoted. Of course, what would I know, me with my commodity hardware due to budgetary restraints. Hell, what I spent on my current rig would have an Apple store refusing me bathroom access, laughing the whole time.
Of course, it is provable Apple has passed the point of wanting to do more with less. If you don't like the features your current gear has, why, wait, why do you even have THAT old PoC? Why haven't you bought the iSomethingNewAndMoreExpensiveThatEver?
posted by Samizdata at 9:29 PM on June 27, 2013
Ooooooh this is where I come in and complain about how Windows 8 has used the infinitely worse grey-scale anti-aliasing for Clear Type rendering in Metro mode. Which makes everything look terrible, on a large monitor or on an older laptop display...
They're basically following Apple, it'll fix up once everyone has new brand-new super-high res displays that don't need sub-pixel renders.
posted by stratastar at 9:34 PM on June 27, 2013
They're basically following Apple, it'll fix up once everyone has new brand-new super-high res displays that don't need sub-pixel renders.
posted by stratastar at 9:34 PM on June 27, 2013
I tried getting this on my Linux Mint 14 installation, but no cigar:
there probably are excruciatingly manual ways to get this all from scratch, but stuff like that was the reason I went to Mint in the first place.
(and that makes me realize now that my Mint edition is one out of data...they now have Mint 15!)
posted by subversiveasset at 9:42 PM on June 27, 2013
E: Unable to locate package fontconfig-infinalityTurns out that the packages for Infinality are for Ubuntu 13.04 and 12.04. Mint 14, which is based on Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal), is outta luck.
there probably are excruciatingly manual ways to get this all from scratch, but stuff like that was the reason I went to Mint in the first place.
(and that makes me realize now that my Mint edition is one out of data...they now have Mint 15!)
posted by subversiveasset at 9:42 PM on June 27, 2013
Thanks, so so much for this! Though GTK based desktop environments look GREAT in Ubuntu, I still would like to tweak font rendering on various displays on different machines, each of which has a different PPI, contrast, brightness. KDE 4 needs a lot of help to get font rendering right.
That's one thing that the Linux and PC world don't have: a small set of high quality displays to tailor font rendering for like Apple.
Apple's strongest technology, they are the leader in this field, so you sound like you're whining about sour grapes.
Ugg.. yes yes yes, anyone who has been using a computer for more than 5 years is aware of this old, tired flame war. Apple Fanbois: we get it, but not everyone needs or wants to use Apple stuff. And this argument doesn't hold up anymore : Chromebook Pixel has better font rendering and higher PPI than any Retina Display so go on home with your dumb flamewar.
posted by hellslinger at 10:59 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
That's one thing that the Linux and PC world don't have: a small set of high quality displays to tailor font rendering for like Apple.
Apple's strongest technology, they are the leader in this field, so you sound like you're whining about sour grapes.
Ugg.. yes yes yes, anyone who has been using a computer for more than 5 years is aware of this old, tired flame war. Apple Fanbois: we get it, but not everyone needs or wants to use Apple stuff. And this argument doesn't hold up anymore : Chromebook Pixel has better font rendering and higher PPI than any Retina Display so go on home with your dumb flamewar.
posted by hellslinger at 10:59 PM on June 27, 2013 [1 favorite]
Inconsolata Bold, 12 pt, white with a low transparency Guake session looks AMAZING!
posted by Samizdata at 11:04 PM on June 27, 2013
posted by Samizdata at 11:04 PM on June 27, 2013
And as per my prior comment...
That's one thing that the Linux and PC world don't have: a small set of high quality displays to tailor font rendering for like Apple.
I am pretty damn happy using a Sony Bravia 31" that, oh, I COULD ACTUALLY AFFORD AT SOME POINT IN THE PAST.
posted by Samizdata at 11:06 PM on June 27, 2013
That's one thing that the Linux and PC world don't have: a small set of high quality displays to tailor font rendering for like Apple.
I am pretty damn happy using a Sony Bravia 31" that, oh, I COULD ACTUALLY AFFORD AT SOME POINT IN THE PAST.
posted by Samizdata at 11:06 PM on June 27, 2013
I suppose I should clarify the bitterness of my responses.
If you have a $300,000 dollar car, bragging about how fast it goes does not impress me. It does not also mean all other cars are not worth being developed. Not everyone has $300,000 to spend on a car.
Now, if you have a $1500 dollar car that goes REALLY fast, then I am impressed. Somebody put some thought into that one.
So, as someone that has the $1500 dollar car, don't tell me I should give up on it and buy the $300,000 dollar car. I am going to spend some time making that $1500 dollar car the fastest, meanest $1500 car I can when I have the resources to spend on it.
(Plus, I am still hacked off about Apple dropping PowerPC architecture cold and having a perfectly good machine on hand I am afraid to use online as 10.4 PPC is unsupported for security patches, and I have no other path to follow.)
posted by Samizdata at 11:22 PM on June 27, 2013
If you have a $300,000 dollar car, bragging about how fast it goes does not impress me. It does not also mean all other cars are not worth being developed. Not everyone has $300,000 to spend on a car.
Now, if you have a $1500 dollar car that goes REALLY fast, then I am impressed. Somebody put some thought into that one.
So, as someone that has the $1500 dollar car, don't tell me I should give up on it and buy the $300,000 dollar car. I am going to spend some time making that $1500 dollar car the fastest, meanest $1500 car I can when I have the resources to spend on it.
(Plus, I am still hacked off about Apple dropping PowerPC architecture cold and having a perfectly good machine on hand I am afraid to use online as 10.4 PPC is unsupported for security patches, and I have no other path to follow.)
posted by Samizdata at 11:22 PM on June 27, 2013
Sony Bravia 31" that, oh, I COULD ACTUALLY AFFORD AT SOME POINT IN THE PAST.
I hear that. As I'm sure any of the other hobbyist/developer/testers will agree, when you have a lot of different computers performing different tasks, any sufficiently large screen will do. Working with text and code doesn't require perfect color, but good font rendering is always desirable.
In the days of CRTs it was a different story, however, because older screens that were blurry or had bad convergence would take a toll on one's eyes. About 6 or so years ago, when LCD displays dropped significantly in price, I could not get rid of the tired old CRTs fast enough.
As soon as 300+ PPI displays are available for < $500 I'll consider getting one, but I can't justify replacing all of the 5+ year old LCDs that I've accumulated because they all still work just fine.
posted by hellslinger at 11:23 PM on June 27, 2013
I hear that. As I'm sure any of the other hobbyist/developer/testers will agree, when you have a lot of different computers performing different tasks, any sufficiently large screen will do. Working with text and code doesn't require perfect color, but good font rendering is always desirable.
In the days of CRTs it was a different story, however, because older screens that were blurry or had bad convergence would take a toll on one's eyes. About 6 or so years ago, when LCD displays dropped significantly in price, I could not get rid of the tired old CRTs fast enough.
As soon as 300+ PPI displays are available for < $500 I'll consider getting one, but I can't justify replacing all of the 5+ year old LCDs that I've accumulated because they all still work just fine.
posted by hellslinger at 11:23 PM on June 27, 2013
Trust you me, the worst CRT (and I have a terrible one here for the aforementioned Mac for emergencies as I do all my Mac stuff remotely) beats all kind of hell out of a teletype, Wumpus or not.
posted by Samizdata at 11:37 PM on June 27, 2013
posted by Samizdata at 11:37 PM on June 27, 2013
Wow, I cannot believe how much Infinality improved my font rendering. I have been trying to get half this good for years. Inconsolata has never looked so beautiful. Thanks again, Samizdata.
posted by hellslinger at 12:03 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by hellslinger at 12:03 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
Interesting, thanks for posting this.
posted by jeffburdges at 2:26 AM on June 28, 2013
posted by jeffburdges at 2:26 AM on June 28, 2013
I took the comment about OS X font rendering technology and Retina displays to mean that pixel and subpixel details of font rendering become much less important at 200+ppi compared to 96ppi. For instance, 12 points is 16 pixels at 96ppi, while it's ~38 pixels at 227dpi (mbp retina), 44 pixels at 264dpi (ipad4), and ~54 pixels at 326dpi (iphone4+).
posted by jepler at 5:02 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by jepler at 5:02 AM on June 28, 2013 [1 favorite]
So, as someone that has the $1500 dollar car, don't tell me I should give up on it and buy the $300,000 dollar car.
If you have a $1500 car, you should probably not whine that you can't afford a Ferrari. You should be thankful your rustbucket has standard features that were originally found only on expensive sports cars, like fuel injection and disc brakes.
posted by charlie don't surf at 6:00 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
If you have a $1500 car, you should probably not whine that you can't afford a Ferrari. You should be thankful your rustbucket has standard features that were originally found only on expensive sports cars, like fuel injection and disc brakes.
posted by charlie don't surf at 6:00 AM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
charlie don't surf: "So, as someone that has the $1500 dollar car, don't tell me I should give up on it and buy the $300,000 dollar car.
If you have a $1500 car, you should probably not whine that you can't afford a Ferrari. You should be thankful your rustbucket has standard features that were originally found only on expensive sports cars, like fuel injection and disc brakes."
Well, it seems to me prior statements made were dismissive of the $1500 dollar car to the point of removing $1500 cars from the face of the earth as they will never equal the $300,000 car.
posted by Samizdata at 1:00 PM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
If you have a $1500 car, you should probably not whine that you can't afford a Ferrari. You should be thankful your rustbucket has standard features that were originally found only on expensive sports cars, like fuel injection and disc brakes."
Well, it seems to me prior statements made were dismissive of the $1500 dollar car to the point of removing $1500 cars from the face of the earth as they will never equal the $300,000 car.
posted by Samizdata at 1:00 PM on June 28, 2013 [2 favorites]
Metafilter doesn't do Linux well.
posted by yonega at 8:19 PM on June 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by yonega at 8:19 PM on June 29, 2013 [1 favorite]
If you have a $1500 car, you should probably not whine that you can't afford a Ferrari.
No one is whining. In fact, we're pretty excited that we no longer need (some of us never did) the $300,000 dollar to do what we need, and, we also think the $300,000 car is inferior in most practical ways.
posted by hellslinger at 9:00 PM on June 29, 2013 [2 favorites]
No one is whining. In fact, we're pretty excited that we no longer need (some of us never did) the $300,000 dollar to do what we need, and, we also think the $300,000 car is inferior in most practical ways.
posted by hellslinger at 9:00 PM on June 29, 2013 [2 favorites]
hellslinger: "If you have a $1500 car, you should probably not whine that you can't afford a Ferrari.
No one is whining. In fact, we're pretty excited that we no longer need (some of us never did) the $300,000 dollar to do what we need, and, we also think the $300,000 car is inferior in most practical ways."
P-P-P-P-Pow! Cookies to the Hellslinger for saying what I wanted to say better than I could.
posted by Samizdata at 9:30 PM on June 29, 2013
No one is whining. In fact, we're pretty excited that we no longer need (some of us never did) the $300,000 dollar to do what we need, and, we also think the $300,000 car is inferior in most practical ways."
P-P-P-P-Pow! Cookies to the Hellslinger for saying what I wanted to say better than I could.
posted by Samizdata at 9:30 PM on June 29, 2013
Just to clarify, earning cookies is Samizdata's generic meter of praise/no-prize. I am not sure why I was channeling Tank Girl in the first sentence though.
posted by Samizdata at 9:48 PM on June 29, 2013
posted by Samizdata at 9:48 PM on June 29, 2013
In fact, we're pretty excited that we no longer need (some of us never did) the $300,000 dollar to do what we need, and, we also think the $300,000 car is inferior in most practical ways.
You have a $300k car. That $1500 rustbucket outperforms high end race cars of previous eras that cost millions, adjusted for inflation. You are wealthy beyond riches, compared to the guy with a Model T.
You guys carping about this stuff reminds me of an old scene in I, Claudius. Caligula is being carried on a sedan chair through Rome eating from a basket of apples. He takes one bite from each apple, then tosses it into the dirt. Meanwhile, he's complaining about how being Emperor isn't what it used to be, and you can't just chop off people's heads on a whim like you used to.
posted by charlie don't surf at 12:19 PM on June 30, 2013
You have a $300k car. That $1500 rustbucket outperforms high end race cars of previous eras that cost millions, adjusted for inflation. You are wealthy beyond riches, compared to the guy with a Model T.
You guys carping about this stuff reminds me of an old scene in I, Claudius. Caligula is being carried on a sedan chair through Rome eating from a basket of apples. He takes one bite from each apple, then tosses it into the dirt. Meanwhile, he's complaining about how being Emperor isn't what it used to be, and you can't just chop off people's heads on a whim like you used to.
posted by charlie don't surf at 12:19 PM on June 30, 2013
yup, basically a perfect analogy for some people talking about font rendering on a message board
posted by en forme de poire at 5:51 PM on June 30, 2013
posted by en forme de poire at 5:51 PM on June 30, 2013
You guys are carping about fonts on your $1500 linux box, which is easily capable of rendering them at like .0001 CPU utilization. Back in the 1980s, I saw a Cray-XMP struggle to render fonts with that level of detail at 1 minute per frame. And you mostly sit there, staring at you screen while the CPU is idle. You're taking one little bite and tossing the rest in the dirt. You don't even understand the value of what you're wasting, as long as you get one bite.
posted by charlie don't surf at 10:41 PM on June 30, 2013
posted by charlie don't surf at 10:41 PM on June 30, 2013
charlie don't surf, are you sure you aren't engaging in hyperbole about the CPU intensiveness of font rendering? The 1985 LaserWriter had a 12MHz CPU and rendered outline fonts at something above 2400x3150 pixels (8x10.5 @ 300dpi), albeit in black&white rather than greyscale. Even if the claimed 8PPM print speed is a marketing exaggeration rarely reached in practice, 1PPM out of a contemporary 12MHz CPU means a Cray XM-P (2 105MHz CPUs) should have done better than 1 frame of text in a minute.
posted by jepler at 5:49 AM on July 1, 2013
posted by jepler at 5:49 AM on July 1, 2013
I used the original LaserWriter and it was pretty damn slow. You should read an article I wrote about a Postscript print job I did about that time, it took more than 2.5 days to render and print. That was an unusually long rip, but hideously long print times were an everyday occurrence. It was not like today's zippy laser printers at all.
The Cray was using Symbolics 3D rendering software which was hopelessly convoluted but that's what they used for everything from 3D rendered scenes to video effects. The 1 minute/frame scenes tended to be movie logos rendered at 2k rez, IIRC. John Whitney was always complaining that they could not get the Cray to move fast enough to keep up with the demands of even simpler typography and still make it look good. And this was the machine they used to render scenes from The Last Starfighter.
posted by charlie don't surf at 5:37 PM on July 1, 2013
The Cray was using Symbolics 3D rendering software which was hopelessly convoluted but that's what they used for everything from 3D rendered scenes to video effects. The 1 minute/frame scenes tended to be movie logos rendered at 2k rez, IIRC. John Whitney was always complaining that they could not get the Cray to move fast enough to keep up with the demands of even simpler typography and still make it look good. And this was the machine they used to render scenes from The Last Starfighter.
posted by charlie don't surf at 5:37 PM on July 1, 2013
You guys are carping about fonts on your $1500 linux box, which is easily capable of rendering them at like .0001 CPU utilization. Back in the 1980s, I saw a Cray-XMP struggle to render fonts with that level of detail at 1 minute per frame. And you mostly sit there, staring at you screen while the CPU is idle. You're taking one little bite and tossing the rest in the dirt. You don't even understand the value of what you're wasting, as long as you get one bite.
I am genuinely mystified as to how saying something like "wow, this software tweak makes the Linux desktop environment more pleasant" is the moral equivalent of taking food that could be used to feed the hungry and throwing it in the dirt.
posted by en forme de poire at 6:22 PM on July 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
I am genuinely mystified as to how saying something like "wow, this software tweak makes the Linux desktop environment more pleasant" is the moral equivalent of taking food that could be used to feed the hungry and throwing it in the dirt.
posted by en forme de poire at 6:22 PM on July 1, 2013 [2 favorites]
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