Re: Display of undisplayable characters: \U01F3A8 instead of diamond

[Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de>]

Hello, Gregory.

On Fri, Sep 02, 2022 at 11:39:04 +0000, Gregory Heytings wrote:


> > Well, actually instead of 16, since all the colours come in a normal and 
> > a bright version.


> Are these "bright" versions used by Emacs?  I don't think so.

Yes they are, by activating the bold weight in the face customisation.
On XEmacs, there were 16 distinct colours.

> > But these 256 colours will be getting used, and that means work 
> > configuring faces that are not satisfactory to the user in the 256 
> > colour version.


> What do you mean?  It's not more necessary to configure faces in a 
> terminal than to configure faces under X.  If you don't like the defaults, 
> you can configure them, that's all.

Nobody likes all the defaults, and it's a continual annoyance coming
across faces you don't like, and having to change them one by one.
That's my experience, anyway.

> > Here's the rub.  The "pixelated" fonts were designed to be used in, say, 
> > an 8x16 matrix, and work very well indeed.  The "modern" fonts were 
> > designed to be used in X, and work less well in fbterm on a pixelated 
> > grid.

> Not if you use monospaced fonts, which were designed to be used in 
> terminals.

In my experience, they work less well than the fonts for the Linux
console.

> > All of the "modern" fonts available for fbterm on my machine are 
> > "spidery" single pixel thick fonts.  On the lat1-16 font I've been using 
> > in consoles for decades, the lines are two pixels thick.  I find this 
> > much more readable.


> Well, install another font?  I'd recommend DejaVu Sans Mono.

That was the first one I tried this morning.  I didn't like it.  It's a
"spidery" font like all the other ones I have available.

[ .... ]

> > There are all the problems with fonts.  You've got to remember to hack 
> > the fbterm binary each time a new version of fbterm comes out (unless 
> > you've got a system like Gentoo, and arrange for this to happen 
> > automatically).

> If you follow the instructions in the FAQ entry, you won't have to 
> remember any such hacks.

Surely that depends on the package manager you use?  What am I missing
here?

> > I will probably continue using the plain Linux console, for all these 
> > reasons.

I just came across another problem.  The GPM mouse utility won't transfer
text between an fbterm console and another console, not even a second
fbterm.

> You are of course free to do what you want, but you should not discourage 
> others to try it.

I think you were being too positive about the topic, and felt I should
express the other side of the argument.  By sharing my experience, I
might be saving time for other people.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).