Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I'm thinking something to do with xfonts has changed or is missing in FossaPup.

I've long set my xlock screensaver to the digital clock, using a huge font with the command

xlock -mode dclock -messagefont "-*-dejavu sans-*-r-*-*-72-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"

However, even in a fresh install of FossaPup, I get the response

can not find font: -*-times-*-*-*-*-18-*-*-*-*-*-*-*, using fised...

and the result is a tiny, almost unreadable font for the screensaver.

I tried "helvetica" in place of dejavu sans, but the result is the same.

For reference, this post contains my original question and the answer I've implemented for the last 10 years in Puppy, but no longer works.

As always, thanks for any thoughts!

I am not in Fossapup64 right now.

the Puppy version I am using.
Looking at the name used for the files for dejavu sans.
They are named:
DejaVuSans

Maybe try making this the name in your command.

Example:
The dejavu sans mono font file is named:
DejaVuSansMono.ttf

Thanks, BigPup, I already tried several variations including that, no go. This command as written is how it's always worked thru several versions of Puppy. :-/

Subito Piano wrote: ↑Sat Sep 17, 2022 12:40 pm

I already tried several variations including that, no go.

The tool xfontsel lets you select the available parameters for your font string. Try clicking on -fmly for font names.

Same problem here in Slacko64 7.0

DejaVu Sans does not even appear in xfontsel

It also cannot find times or helvetica, it keeps falling back to "fixed" - perhaps some links aren't working?

MochiMoppel -- it's late, I'll give your suggestion a try soon.

Thanks, guys.

MochiMoppel -- I see what you were getting at, which HerrBert also checked into. I have more fonts (no DejaVuSans listed there) -- but trying fonts that are listed in the font sizes given, none worked. Obviously, I didn't try every single combination -- but it's obvious something is out of whack.

This is the readout from my terminal:

root# xfontsel
Warning: Missing charsets in String to FontSet conversion
Warning: Unable to load any usable fontset

The answer might be there but IDK what it's referring to....

I think that there are some settings which prevent using bitmap fonts, and that those settings are defaults in recent Puppies.

In /etc/fonts/conf.d, there is 70-no-bitmaps.conf. Try removing this and creating a link named 70-yes-bitmaps.conf.
The files in /etc/fonts/conf.d are links pointing to files in /etc/fonts/conf.avail.

Another setting which seems to be related is /etc/fonts/local.conf.

The following is part of local.conf:

<!-- suggested by 'upnorth' http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=54294&start=15
 Reject bitmap fonts -->
 <selectfont>
  <rejectfont>
   <pattern>
     <patelt name="scalable"><bool>false</bool></patelt>
   </pattern>
  </rejectfont>
 </selectfont>

So, those lines should be removed or commented out in order to use bitmap fonts.

Hmm...I followed your instructions, but no go. However, you've given me a lead. I'll compare these files in FossaPup with those in Xenial Pup and see if I see any differences. More later! (Might not be until Saturday....)

Thinkpadfreak -- I checked my XenialPup /etc/fonts/conf.d file; it also has the same lines that you suggested I comment out, ruling out those lines as the culprit. The /etc/fonts folder in XenialPup differs from that folder in FossaPup, so I backed up that folder in FossaPup and copied the same folder from Xenial into Fossa. Even after a reboot, no joy. Hmmm....

It's NOT the end of the world for me -- so if anyone really enjoys puzzles and sleuthing around the innards of Puppy, let me know what you find! That said, I certainly don't want to waste anyone's time on a screensaver -- I can use an alternate. Thanks for everyone's ideas.

Cheers --

Subito Piano wrote: ↑Wed Sep 21, 2022 4:25 pm

I followed your instructions, but no go.

I am sorry to hear that.

I searched the Internet for a while, and found that pango seems to prevent the use of some fonts.

Ubuntu 20.04 - Terminus font not working anymore
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1236769 ... ymore?rq=1

Edit:
When you search the Internet, you will find helvetica.ttf or courier.ttf. It may be possible to use them on Fossapup.

thinkpadfreak wrote: ↑Fri Sep 23, 2022 8:38 am

I searched the Internet for a while, and found that pango seems to prevent the use of some fonts.

Ubuntu 20.04 - Terminus font not working anymore
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1236769 ... ymore?rq=1

Edit:
When you search the Internet, you will find helvetica.ttf or courier.ttf. It may be possible to use them on Fossapup.

I don't know if pango has anything to do with your problem, but I posted about pango in my blog:

https://bkhome.org/news/202009/pango-ve ... aster.html

In EasyOS I use pango 1.43, refuse to upgrade it.

Accidentally found that in Puppy Slacko64 7.0 the files fonts.dir and fonts.scale are missing in /usr/share/fonts/default/TTF
After running mkfontscale /usr/share/fonts/default/TTF and mkfontdir /usr/share/fonts/default/TTF from terminal and restart X
DejaVu Sans is now available in xfontsel.

The fonts directory in Fossapup is much more complex, but it looks like it's also missing these files...

HerrBert wrote: ↑Mon Oct 10, 2022 10:51 am

The fonts directory in Fossapup is much more complex, but it looks like it's also missing these files...

This solves the problem on Fossapup64 too. The order of the commands is important: first mkfontscale then mkfontdir. It makes DejaVu Sans available in xfontsel and other X programs including the xlock screensaver.

KUDOS AND THANK YOU!!!!