Fedora packages implementing LCD subpixel rendering

[David Hláčik]

Hello guys,

i thought it will be good idea to share my work results.

As you might know, Windows and Mac are using their own methods to
improve font rendering on LCD displays.
Ubuntu is using sub pixel rendering, byte code interpreter  and LCD
patches to cairo,libXft to provide nice font rendering.
We do not have it in Fedora, as there are some patent issues (lot of
patents from Microsoft about font rendering).

I wanted to have a nice fonts on my Fedora desktop also. So i took
patches from Ubuntu Intrepid to cairo (vector graphics library) and
libXft (X freetype library) and applied them to current Fedora 10
Rawhide packages. I also rebuilt freetype ( font engine ) with
subpixel rendering and bytecode interpreded which is disabled by
default in Fedora package.

Result is in my repository , which can be easily used by downloading
boss.repo to /etc/yum.repos.d/ directory  -
http://david.hlacik.eu/fedora/boss/boss.repo and doing  yum update .
It will update freetype cairo libXft to my patched packages . (it also
provides freetype-devel , cairo-devel, libXft-devel or SRPMS)

After X restart (logout and again login) you will enable LCD subpixel
smoothing in Gnome by going to System -> Preferences -> Look and Feel
-> Appearance , going to Fonts tab and in Rendering section choosing
Subpixel smoothing (LCD).

Thanks ,

David