using emacs with nx

using emacs with nx

[Andrew Michael Levin]

Hi,

When I use emacs with nx (which I downloaded at nomachine.org) I see the
following messages when I execute "emacs" to open an emacs window:

Warning: Cannot convert string
"-*-courier-medium-r-*-*-*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-*" to type FontStruct
Warning: Cannot convert string
"-*-helvetica-medium-r-*--*-120-*-*-*-*-iso8859-1" to type FontStruct

These warnings do not occur when I use emacs directly on the machine the
same machine (i.e. not using nx).

What can I add to my .emacs file to avoid these errors?

Thanks.

Andrew

Re: using emacs with nx

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 10.06.2013 um 09:34 schrieb Andrew Michael Levin:

> These warnings do not occur when I use emacs directly on the machine the
> same machine (i.e. not using nx).
> 
> What can I add to my .emacs file to avoid these errors?

Presumingly nothing. Although I don't understand what this "nx" is, the *Warnings* mean that the X server which manages to display your GNU Emacs instance does not seem to find these two fonts. This has to do with the X server's font path, retrieved by 'xset -q'. Just make sure that the responsible X server find its fonts – or set up a (local?) font server!

Modern Emacsen seem to prefer Xft rendered fonts from the libfontconfig based fonts service. These fonts have simpler names, for example 'Lucida Sans Typewriter:autohint=true:antialias=true:size=8', so I wouldn't care about these  *Warnings*.

--
Greetings

  Pete

"When you breath, you inspire. When you do not breath, you expire."

Re: using emacs with nx

[Andrew Michael Levin]

Hi,

nx is described here http://nomachine.org/

I think the problem is related to the fact that nx is trying to use fonts
stored on my laptop to display the emacs text.

Andrew


On Mon, Jun 10, 2013 at 1:14 PM, Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@web.de> wrote:

>
> Am 10.06.2013 um 09:34 schrieb Andrew Michael Levin:
>
> > These warnings do not occur when I use emacs directly on the machine the
> > same machine (i.e. not using nx).
> >
> > What can I add to my .emacs file to avoid these errors?
>
> Presumingly nothing. Although I don't understand what this "nx" is, the
> *Warnings* mean that the X server which manages to display your GNU Emacs
> instance does not seem to find these two fonts. This has to do with the X
> server's font path, retrieved by 'xset -q'. Just make sure that the
> responsible X server find its fonts – or set up a (local?) font server!
>
> Modern Emacsen seem to prefer Xft rendered fonts from the libfontconfig
> based fonts service. These fonts have simpler names, for example 'Lucida
> Sans Typewriter:autohint=true:antialias=true:size=8', so I wouldn't care
> about these  *Warnings*.
>
> --
> Greetings
>
>   Pete
>
> "When you breath, you inspire. When you do not breath, you expire."
>
>
>

Re: using emacs with nx

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 13.06.2013 um 13:35 schrieb Andrew Michael Levin:

> nx is described here http://nomachine.org/

I cannot find any documentation here… All I see is PR.

> 
> I think the problem is related to the fact that nx is trying to use fonts
> stored on my laptop to display the emacs text.

When the X server is running on your laptop and its font path is configured correctly, then all should work well.

Do you see the courier and helvetica fonts for example in xfontsel? Is xlsfonts listing them? Do the font files exist in your X installation?

Is libfontconfig installed on your laptop?

--
Greetings

  Pete

One of the main causes of dust is janitors.

Re: using emacs with nx

[Andrew Michael Levin]

My laptop is running windows. I don't know what or where xfontsel,
xlsfonts, or libfontconfig are. How can I check these things?

Is there a way to make emacs not use these fonts?


On Thu, Jun 13, 2013 at 2:13 PM, Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@web.de> wrote:

>
> Am 13.06.2013 um 13:35 schrieb Andrew Michael Levin:
>
> > nx is described here http://nomachine.org/
>
> I cannot find any documentation here… All I see is PR.
>
> >
> > I think the problem is related to the fact that nx is trying to use fonts
> > stored on my laptop to display the emacs text.
>
> When the X server is running on your laptop and its font path is
> configured correctly, then all should work well.
>
> Do you see the courier and helvetica fonts for example in xfontsel? Is
> xlsfonts listing them? Do the font files exist in your X installation?
>
> Is libfontconfig installed on your laptop?
>
> --
> Greetings
>
>   Pete
>
> One of the main causes of dust is janitors.
>
>
>

Re: using emacs with nx

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 29.07.2013 um 15:35 schrieb Andrew Michael Levin:

> My laptop is running windows. I don't know what or where xfontsel,
> xlsfonts, or libfontconfig are. How can I check these things?

These things are UNIX things. They get installed when you install X Windows or X11 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System).

> 
> Is there a way to make emacs not use these fonts?

Find at least one tool that can tell you which fonts are available in that "nx" environment. Then choose something useful from this set and make GNU Emacs use fonts from this set. If the Emacs running natively in MS and that in the "nx" environment are using the same init file, then you can check whether these Emacsen see that they are running in either this or that environment. If this works you can optimise the init file to make GNU Emacs use optimised (font) settings for this or that environment.

In X11 X resources are set up to tell GNU Emacs and other X clients which fonts, colours, geometries, etc. to use. On non-UNIX platforms maybe GNU Emacs is also reading the file .Xresources or .Xdefaults, if it exists in the HOME directory. The contents of these files can be, for example:

Emacs.font:               	Lucida Sans Typewriter:autohint=true:antialias=true:style=Regular:size=7
Emacs.menu*.font:               Vera Humana 95:style=Bold:size=7
Emacs.pane.menubar.font:        Libris ADF Std:size=7:autohint=true:antialias=true:style=Bold
Emacs.pane.menubar.*.fontList:  -*-luxi sans-bold-r-normal-*-*-60-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1
Emacs.pane.menubar.popup_*.*.fontList:  -*-new century schoolbook-bold-r-normal-*-*-70-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1
Emacs.menu*.fontList:           -*-utopia-bold-r-*-*-*-55-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1
Emacs.dialog*.font:             -*-lucidatypewriter-bold-r-*-sans-6-*-*-*-*-*-iso10646-1
Emacs.dialog*.font:             Lucida Sans Typewriter:autohint=true:antialias=true:style=Regular:size=7
Emacs.dialog*background:        RosyBrown4
Emacs.dialog*foreground:        SpringGreen3

(The font names containing the element "-*" are those delivered by the X server, the others are served by libfontconfig.)

If it does not read these files, then it's possible to launch GNU Emacs with arguments that "artificially" set X resource values: emacs -xrm 'Emacs.menu*.font: Vera Humana 95:style=Bold:size=7'. Or how ever this can be done in MS or "nx" environments!

--
Greetings

  Pete

Wasting time is an important part of living.

Re: using emacs with nx

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@web.de>
> Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2013 17:11:54 +0200
> Cc: help-gnu-emacs Help <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> 
> 
> Am 29.07.2013 um 15:35 schrieb Andrew Michael Levin:
> 
> > My laptop is running windows. I don't know what or where xfontsel,
> > xlsfonts, or libfontconfig are. How can I check these things?
> 
> These things are UNIX things. They get installed when you install X Windows or X11 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_Window_System).
> 
> > 
> > Is there a way to make emacs not use these fonts?
> 
> Find at least one tool that can tell you which fonts are available
> in that "nx" environment.

I'd start from Emacs itself.  Like this:

  M-: (list-fonts (font-spec :family "")) RET

Also, pressing S-mouse-1 should pop up a menu with an item that allows
to choose a font for the current buffer -- that is also a place where
one could see the available fonts.

Re: using emacs with nx

[Harry Putnam]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> Find at least one tool that can tell you which fonts are available
>> in that "nx" environment.
>
> I'd start from Emacs itself.  Like this:
>
>   M-: (list-fonts (font-spec :family "")) RET
>
> Also, pressing S-mouse-1 should pop up a menu with an item that allows
> to choose a font for the current buffer -- that is also a place where
> one could see the available fonts.

Another way that comes to mind is to run the command:

M-x set-default-font <ENTER>

Then at the prompt press the tab key a couple of times to see a list of
available fonts.

Don't necessarily pick one but save the buffer of  the fontnames as a
file then press Ctrl-g to get out of the command,  and look thru those
fontnames a bit.

Re: using emacs with nx

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 30.07.2013 um 04:28 schrieb Harry Putnam:

> Another way that comes to mind is to run the command:
> 
> M-x set-default-font <ENTER>

This is a bit out of sorts. The *Completions* buffer only lists a few thousand fonts served by the X server (i.e., XLFD format). Not one from libfontconfig is among them. IOW, the list contains mostly bitmapped fonts. This was OK and helpful last millennium. (OK, I also used it early this one, because there were no other means available.)

The GNU Emacs versions for non-X11 windowing systems seem to do a better job. At least my two Mac OS X variants (NS and AppKit) list the system's fonts – but in XLFD notation. Both have a simpler interface via S-mouse-1 which opens the system's standard dialog to choose a font. (Which does not have n XLFD name.)

--
Greetings

  Pete

Atheism is a non prophet organisation.

Re: using emacs with nx

[Harry Putnam]

Peter Dyballa <Peter_Dyballa@Web.DE> writes:

> Am 30.07.2013 um 04:28 schrieb Harry Putnam:
>
>> Another way that comes to mind is to run the command:
>> 
>> M-x set-default-font <ENTER>
>
> This is a bit out of sorts. The *Completions* buffer only lists a few
> thousand fonts served by the X server (i.e., XLFD format). Not one
> from libfontconfig is among them. IOW, the list contains mostly
> bitmapped fonts. This was OK and helpful last millennium. (OK, I also
> used it early this one, because there were no other means available.)

OK, the S-mouse1 seems better in some ways. 

> The GNU Emacs versions for non-X11 windowing systems seem to do a
> better job. At least my two Mac OS X variants (NS and AppKit) list the
> system's fonts – but in XLFD notation. Both have a simpler interface
> via S-mouse-1 which opens the system's standard dialog to choose a
> font. (Which does not have n XLFD name.)

XLFD? 

Just curious:
Why is better for fonts not to be in XLFD notation?

Re: using emacs with nx

[Peter Dyballa]

Am 30.07.2013 um 17:02 schrieb Harry Putnam:

> XLFD?

X Logical Font Description Conventions – when you have X11 installed you should be able to locate xorg-docs-X.Y/specs/XLFD/xlfd.{html,pdf,ps,txt,xml}…

The X11 font names contain a lot of information in a construct like: -misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-c-0-iso8859-1.

	foundry-font name-weight-slant-width-style-pixel size-point size-resolution X-resolution Y-spacing-average width-charset registry-charset encoding

> 
> Just curious:
> Why is better for fonts not to be in XLFD notation?

They are then supplied by libfontconfig which offers to automatically find a(nother) font that can deliver missing characters. Libfontconfig also provides vector fonts (PostScript, TrueType, OpenType) which together with libotf and m17n-lib allow bidi(rectional) typesetting and font shaping, necessary for some Asian scripts.

--
Greetings

  Pete

If you don't find it in the index, look very carefully through the entire catalogue.
		–  Sears, Roebuck, and Co., Consumer's Guide, 1897