Ubunutu 16.04.2 and Fonts

[jvl711]

When using the Ubuntu server without a GUI are there additional things that need to be installed to have all of the fonts need by sage available?

When I run a placeshifter client it seems that every font is the same. No matter what changes I make in the STV they get rendered the same. When I load the same STV on a windows client instance they get rendered as expected.

Thanks,
Josh


Example if the issue that I am seeing. Font is Arial

The font under the posters looks like it is a roller coaster
Placeshifter Client

The font under the posters looks perfect
Windows Client

[Narflex]

Take a look in the log file and see if there's any errors about loading fonts...that may tell you more. IIRC, it only loads the fonts from the 'fonts' subfolder in the SageTV folder; but it may also try to load system fonts as well...I don't really remember.

[jvl711]

Originally Posted by Narflex

Take a look in the log file and see if there's any errors about loading fonts...that may tell you more. IIRC, it only loads the fonts from the 'fonts' subfolder in the SageTV folder; but it may also try to load system fonts as well...I don't really remember.

So I confirmed that the correct fonts are loading. It seems like there is an issue rendering certain fonts on the placeshifter. The way the fonts are rendered on the Windows Client and Placeshifter seem to be varying greatly. The one is in a nice smooth line, the other looks like it is on a roller coaster. This has only started showing when I moved from Windows SageTV 7 to Linux SageTV 9. Not sure which variable is causing the issue.

Thanks,
Josh

[Narflex]

Ohhhh...that problem. Try removing the contents of the fontcache folder on Linux (it's a folder in the SageTV directory). Also, delete the entire imgcache folder on the Placeshifter client (it's a folder inside the user's home directory, then inside a .sagetv subfolder from there).

Between both of those, that should fix the problem.

[jvl711]

Originally Posted by Narflex

Ohhhh...that problem. Try removing the contents of the fontcache folder on Linux (it's a folder in the SageTV directory). Also, delete the entire imgcache folder on the Placeshifter client (it's a folder inside the user's home directory, then inside a .sagetv subfolder from there).

Between both of those, that should fix the problem.

OK... I did both of these, and I am still seeing the issue. If only appears to be happening with some fonts. Not sure if this is isolated to my install or not. I am only seeing this in a custom STV, so it is possible that most users are not using the same fonts.

Josh

[Narflex]

You can check the property ui/disable_freetype_fonts and if it is set to true, then it'll be loading fonts using the Java font system rather than Freetype...and that would make a difference, and it would also then allow it to use any system font.

When it's using Freetype, the fonts are expected to be in the font path for SageTV, which defaults to the 'fonts' subfolder. If it tries to load a font that doesn't exist for Freetype, it will then use the Java font loader by default...and maybe that's doing weird things on Linux. Try putting the .ttf file for whatever font you are using in the fonts subfolder for SageTV on Linux and then see if it works properly.