Fonts? Fonts! (for sgi X11)

jenna64bit

Administrator
Apr 18, 2020
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So far I've always stuck with the built-in fonts on my Irix boxes. There are some pretty "banging" fonts in there. Right my fellow kids?

Anyway, if I wanted to add more scalable or bitmapped fonts, that looks straight forward enough. What I'm really interested in is what, if anything, other folks like to use? It has been a long time since I've looked into fonts not intended for anti-aliasing on a 1080p screen or scaling on a 4K+ theme. Any old favorites or new finds?
 
I guess there aren't many graphic designers here :) But for me 'nice to have' fonts would be all of the typical open source fonts Linux distros ship with these days. But I have a feeling they might be in RSE already.
 
I was just trying to load more, interesting how system vs. app fonts are treated.... Love some Data 70 for the retro feel.
 
I got this information from ChatGPT, so it might work, it might not... looks alright tho:

To add new fonts to your SGI IRIX 6.5.30 system, follow these steps:

1. Obtain Fonts

  • Ensure the fonts you want to install are in a supported format like PCF, BDF, or TTF (TrueType Fonts).
  • Download or copy the font files to a directory on your SGI IRIX machine.

2. Identify Font Directories

  • Typically, fonts are located in /usr/lib/X11/fonts/, but you can add your fonts to a custom directory or existing ones like /usr/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi/, /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/, etc.

3. Move the Fonts

  • Copy your new font files into one of the font directories, for example:
Code:
cp your-font-file.pcf /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/

4. Update Font Database

After copying the font files, you need to update the font database files:

  • Navigate to the font directory where you added the fonts:
Code:
cd /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/
  • Run the following commands to update the font database:
Code:
mkfontdir
mkfontscale
This will generate/update the fonts.dir and fonts.scale files used by the X server to recognize the fonts.

5. Restart X Server

For the changes to take effect, restart the X server. You can do this by either logging out and logging back in or by restarting the X server directly:
Code:
/usr/bin/X11/X -terminate

6. Verify Fonts

Once X is restarted, you can verify the new fonts by listing them with xset:
Code:
xset q
This will display the font path and show the fonts now available to the system.

7. Optional: Adding Fonts to the Global Font Path

If you'd like the newly added fonts to be available system-wide, you can add the font directory to the global X11 font path. Edit /usr/lib/X11/fs/config or use xset:

Code:
xset +fp /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc/
xset fp rehash

After following these steps, the new fonts should be available for use in your SGI IRIX 6.5.30 environment.
 
..and to make the new font path persistent after reboot, add the xset +fp... command to ~/.xinitrc or ~/.xsession, or edit /var/X11/adm/Xservers to extend the default font path for all users.

useful commands to verify installation and test fonts:
xlsfonts, xfontsel, xfd
 

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