Baslinux mailing list

[keesan2 AT cyberspace.org]

>
>sindi keesan wrote:
>>
>> Is there some way to use larger screen fonts?
>
>It depends on the application.  Some HTML browsers,
>for example, allow the user to specify a minimum font
>size.  Or, when you open an xterm, you can specify the
>font to use (for example, see the xterm in the BL2 menu:
>the -fn parameter sets the font at 10x20).

It is not the xterm where font size is the problem, but Opera


Opera 7 lets you modify font sizes, in fact it lets you choose user styles
including one that looks like 'text-only' browers (all characters the same
size) or 'accessible' (all text large black on green).  Opera 6 does not. 
What library does Redhat 7 use?  Opera is available for it.  I think it
uses the same kernel as Slackware 7.1.   Opera 6.03 lets you zoom.  It
also unloads itself frequently, for instance when I press an arrow key
while it is doing something else.  Would more RAM (or swap space) help?
We have it set to go back to the same web page when it restarts.

I don't recall having this problem with plain VGA.  Perhaps the higher
resolution and more colors are overtaxing our 32M RAM.

Jim is annoyed at the backspace key not working in X.  I can copy my
remapped xmodmap file from the other computer some time and post it if
other people are having this same problem.  Backspace acts like delete in
our unmodified version.

My modified file also lets you use an XT keyboard - the arrow and other
keys on the number pad work as expected not as numbers. And I remapped a
couple of keys to act like F11 and F12. 


>> The aging recipient of this computer would prefer not
>> having to wear glasses to read the 14" screen at 1024
>> resolution.
>
>The max resolution I would recommend on an old 14" VDU
>is 800x600.
>

We fixed this problem by switching to the 17" monitor, but console mode
looks better on a smaller monitor.  Smaller gaps between pixels.


I chose 8-bit color as default when running XF86config, and if we want
more colors (for photo editing) we can choose them with startx:

startx -- -bpp 16

The above gives 16 bit color (64K colors) at 1024 (the resolution I chose
with XF86config), which is the most color depth our S3 card with 2M RAM
can produce. 

I will see if there is also some way to choose resolution with startx, so
that we can edit photos at 640x480 and 24bit color, but browse at 1024.  
It will be easier now that Steven and James have come up with a good way
to read man pages with man2html (for which many thanks).

After going online with Kermit, less will not work unless we first type
reset, otherwise it displays a blank file.  ?  No such problem when using
Kermit offline (just typing kermit then exiting).

>Cheers,
>Steven