Hi there,
I am using kde 4.3.4 with arch linux (chakra). The fonts on kdm looks terrible. Initiallty for root applications also it was like that. That one I fixed my launching systemsettings as root and enabling anti aliasing. But for kdm it still looks terrible though in the systemsettings -> Login Manager I enabled antialiasing.

Any one else facing same issue? Does anyone has any work around ?

Font used for kdm is Sans Serif

Hello there,

I turned on antialiasing in KDM by editing the kdmrc file.
On openSUSE it's located at...

/usr/share/kde4/config/kdm/kdmrc

Just "kdesu kwrite" in krunner and open the file and search for the line

#AntiAliasing=true

remove the hash at the start of the line and save.

Once you reboot things should look a bit smoother.

I already have that enabled in my kdmrc. In my arch linux its located at /usr/share/config/kdm/kdmrc and I use kde 4.3.4.

Still kdm looks bad.

Modify your /etc/fonts/local.conf to have the font settings you want.

Mine reads:

Code: Select all

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM 'fonts.dtd'>
<fontconfig>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
   <const>rgb</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hinting" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
   <const>hintslight</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="lcdfilter" >
   <const>lcddefault</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <selectfont>
  <rejectfont>
   <pattern>
    <patelt name="scalable" >
     <bool>false</bool>
    </patelt>
   </pattern>
  </rejectfont>
 </selectfont>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="antialias" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
</fontconfig>


This enables anti-aliased subpixel-rendered fonts using slight hinting and a LCD filter. Font filters are not distributed by default so to enable them you need to download a patched package from the AUR, see this ArchWiki page for instructions on how to do that.

yay, jo, solved that for me, too!
Big thanks!

By the way: are there any side-effect to expect from the patched lcd-packages?

Other than good looking subpixel rendering, none that I know of.

I guess, there IS indeed a little change: it seems to me, as if certain fonts are bolder than before. Don't get me wrong, that just seems to be 1~2 pixels here and there and not that it makes anything look bad.

Just wanted to mention it.