From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with archive (Exim 4.43) id 1NDp0Y-00043m-Dz for mharc-grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:48:22 -0500 Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1NDp0W-00043Q-8t for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:48:20 -0500 Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1NDp0R-000402-3Z for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:48:19 -0500 Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=59039 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1NDp0Q-0003zi-NV for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:48:14 -0500 Received: from mail-qy0-f196.google.com ([209.85.221.196]:41083) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1NDp0Q-0003Kv-89 for grub-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:48:14 -0500 Received: by qyk34 with SMTP id 34so593167qyk.14 for ; Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:48:11 -0800 (PST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from :user-agent:mime-version:to:subject:references:in-reply-to :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=nTmDlnIUb1GTlEi2+EO/i+ibXQSBAEd7gQN0/x3WE3I=; b=qOPy3wKuhjOwTAE7xaiUXIYmTytyoHpZT6dcZcdzwK4ujQVBD+g15KfIzSF2+Br9a8 SZrMtuZ7xf/iMhJimWgUvfBdNvN2+W+PCkGovCIV+sPIHT083GHaizgNjDaUTMUnDRVH lXxspVPHBFXnFEhEfz2s0G8htzKfaK4fafxZw= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:subject:references :in-reply-to:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=n/ptAmN66pWoabGlM8eIEVO0v7QLeKCDnWoR8nkdMxOsW3P4K+NqWy9SVhcN8SdhiA UjkoevKXHDKXsmLQfB0OfOJSJZipzxMUvx0ot5WbpRiOtlZaqRpG+iss+uA9zJ3hr47T JJ2uPbIT9GJNG/aNi1Ffn7ZaMXWp48ihF0+z4= Received: by 10.224.100.132 with SMTP id y4mr181452qan.279.1259282891342; Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:48:11 -0800 (PST) Received: from ?192.168.1.5? (c-65-96-156-243.hsd1.ma.comcast.net [65.96.156.243]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id 7sm3347916qwb.22.2009.11.26.16.48.09 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:48:10 -0800 (PST) Message-ID: <4B0F21C8.3@gmail.com> Date: Thu, 26 Nov 2009 19:48:08 -0500 From: Qianqian Fang User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.23 (X11/20090817) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: The development of GNU GRUB References: <4B0E062F.6000000@gmail.com> <1259226689.2847.3.camel@fz.local> <4B0E9E51.4090803@gmail.com> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6 (newer, 2) Subject: Re: fonts for gfxmenu, help needed X-BeenThere: grub-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list Reply-To: The development of GNU GRUB List-Id: The development of GNU GRUB List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:48:20 -0000 Michal Suchanek wrote: > Grub is capable of displaying variable width fonts but monospace fonts > may be preferred for some uses. > Ideally grub should use as few fonts as possible so a font with both > CJK glyphs and Latin glyphs is preferable. > As you pointed out the glyphs in Unifont are mostly ported from wqy > fonts so unifont would be one such font. > We may need a special font for Japanese and a method to load different > primary font when displaying the grub menu in Japanese is desired or > extend grub to support combining variant marks. > > Unfortunately, unifont is only provided in single variant and size > which is most troublesome in my view. > I expect that theme authors would want at least two font variants > (Song, Hei) and some larger font sizes for captions or displaying > simple few line menu on high resolution screens. > ok, I think I am getting clear now. Grub can load pan-unicode (1-bit) bitmap fonts of various sizes. Grub needs 1) good bitmap fonts with CJK coverage (and possibility Latin) at multiple point sizes, 2) preferably with Song and Hei styles as well as 3) Han glyph CJK variant support. Personally, I would rank the likelihood of the above goals in 1>3>2. Basically, for #1, WQY Bitmap Song (xfonts-wqy in Debian/Ubuntu) is what you are looking for (together with GNU unifont). For #2, it depends on how grub handles language and fallback and does need a lot of cautions, otherwise, it can be a pain. AFAIK, there are not many good free Japanese bitmap fonts covers the 9~12pt ranges. Mplus [1] bitmaps have OK quality, but only have 8pt and 9pt (8pt is not a readable size); then efonts [2], xfonts-intl-japanese, GNU intlfonts [3] and HabianCJK [4] contain pretty much the same set of low-quality Kanji bitmaps at 9pt, 10.5pt, 18pt and 24px, where IMHO, the 9pt and 10.5pt are rather not readable; 18pt is sort of ok, but wider than GNU unifont by 1px. If you really want to include Japanese bitmaps, you may also try to convert DroidSansJapanese [5]. But I think it needs a lot of fine tuning in order to get the rasterized glyphs readable. For #3, it is difficult, and probably not necessary. The differences between Song/Mincho and Hei/Gothic is rather not distinguishable in screen sizes. You have to get above 20pt to see differences (which is largely weight different). We call WQY bitmap song, but truly, it is not really the Song style, because we eliminated all the serif due to small space. If what you meant is to have "another style" in addition to what we have in GNU unifont, then, you may rasterize WQY Micro Hei [6] or WQY Zen Hei [7] to bitmaps, but again, I don't have faith on the readability of the outcome unless someone spend years to manually fine tune. In summary, I think goal #1 is ready to go, #2 needs more input from Japanese users, and some additional work; #3 needs a lot of work, and perhaps not really that important. Also, I want to add that Japanese people CAN read simplified-Chinese styled Kanji. It's not pleasant, but not unrecognizable (it's like simplified Chinese users can understand traditional Chinese, but they don't use it). Qianqian [1] http://mplus-fonts.sourceforge.jp/mplus-bitmap-fonts/index.html [2] http://openlab.ring.gr.jp/efont/unicode/ [3] http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/intlfonts/ [4] http://wakaba-web.hp.infoseek.co.jp/hcjk/ [5] http://android.git.kernel.org/?p=platform/frameworks/base.git;a=tree;f=data/fonts;hb=HEAD [6] http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=ttf-wqy-microhei [7] http://packages.debian.org/search?keywords=ttf-wqy-zenhei