From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Google has released a new open-source font:

<https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Google+Sans+Flex>

What does it look like? Here is a comparison, using
LibreOffice, between my favorite font, Liberation, and
Google-Flex-Sans:

https://i.postimg.cc/CxxyV51y/logsffont1.png

Not bad! In fact I believe that I tend to prefer it
over Liberation Sans, but with LO I usually employ a
"serif" font.

But how does it perform with Unicode? Check:

https://i.postimg.cc/BnnWGb6s/logsffont2.png

It seems to have good Unicode coverage as well.

What do YOU think? (Do you even think at all?)

Installing it is simple. Just copy to "~/.fonts"
and execute "fc-cache -r." That's all.

Distro lackeys, however, will need to search for
their pretty "button" that says "Font Install"
or other such DE bullshit.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
--
Gentoo: the only road to GNU/Linux freedom and perfection.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Farley Flud wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

Google has released a new open-source font:

<https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Google+Sans+Flex>

What does it look like? Here is a comparison, using
LibreOffice, between my favorite font, Liberation, and
Google-Flex-Sans:

https://i.postimg.cc/CxxyV51y/logsffont1.png

Not bad! In fact I believe that I tend to prefer it
over Liberation Sans, but with LO I usually employ a
"serif" font.

Li'l Marco wants you to use Time New Roman, not these woke fonts.

But how does it perform with Unicode? Check:

https://i.postimg.cc/BnnWGb6s/logsffont2.png

It seems to have good Unicode coverage as well.

Terminus (my current favorite) does pretty well on the Unicode
test page, except for Tamil, Bengali, Tibetan, and a few others.

<https://www.cogsci.ed.ac.uk/~richard/unicode-sample.html>

Installing it is simple. Just copy to "~/.fonts"
and execute "fc-cache -r." That's all.

The newer convention is ~/.local/share/fonts.

Distro lackeys, however, will need to search for
their pretty "button" that says "Font Install"
or other such DE bullshit.

I copied atarist-normal.otf to the above directory for fun and
nostalgia.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Easily amused, eh?
--
You and I need fresh pure water to replenish our precious bodily
fluids.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

But how does it perform with Unicode?

I don't think it actually includes many Unicode characters.

Modern systems do fall back to other fonts if characters are not present
in the font you specified. This is very likely to be the case here,
especially with those highly pixelated Chinese characters, which does
not match the style of Google Sans Flex at all.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Farley Flud wrote:

Google has released a new open-source font:

<https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Google+Sans+Flex>

What does it look like? Here is a comparison, using
LibreOffice, between my favorite font, Liberation, and
Google-Flex-Sans:

https://i.postimg.cc/CxxyV51y/logsffont1.png

Not bad! In fact I believe that I tend to prefer it
over Liberation Sans, but with LO I usually employ a
"serif" font.

Too "round" for my taste.
--
"Matter of fact, Google and Ubuntu barely acknowledge they use a Linux
kernel." - some dumb fsck
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 23:06:58 +0000, James Krueger wrote:

I don't think it actually includes many Unicode characters.

Google already did the entire “Noto” series specifically to address
this issue (“Noto” being short for “No Tofu”).
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 11:27:28 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

Installing it is simple. Just copy to "~/.fonts"
and execute "fc-cache -r." That's all.

The newer convention is ~/.local/share/fonts.

There are no "conventions" in GNU/Linux. The user is King and
determines all.

The user can specify any font directory in "/etc/fonts/local.conf"
and fontconfig will obey.

If I want to keep fonts in "/planet/pluto/darkside/fonts" then
I certainly can do so. It is MY system and therefore MY choice --
and that's how it always should be.

However, distro lackey have no choice but to conform to conventions.

They are a sad lot.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!
--
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Le 21-12-2025, Farley Flud <fflud@gnu.rocks> a écrit :

On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 11:27:28 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

Installing it is simple. Just copy to "~/.fonts"
and execute "fc-cache -r." That's all.

The newer convention is ~/.local/share/fonts.

There are no "conventions" in GNU/Linux.

There are.

The user is King and determines all.

Yes. It doesn't mean there are no convention, it means the user is free
to ignore them. It's not the same thing. I'm pretty sure there are
/home, /etc and /bin directories on your computer. You can use anything
you want instead, but you don't because you follow the conventions even
if you aren't aware of them.

However, distro lackey have no choice but to conform to conventions.

How can they conform to conventions if they don't exist? You see? Once
again you speak nonsense.
--
Si vous avez du temps à perdre :
https://scarpet42.gitlab.io
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On 21 Dec 2025 14:52:06 GMT, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:

There are no "conventions" in GNU/Linux.

There are.

Conventions = Defaults

There are "defaults" in GNU/Linux. There have to be. If a program
expects to grab data from somewhere then a default location must
be established or else there will be problems.

But these defaults must ALWAYS be configurable by the user.
The user must ALWAYS be acknowledged as the King and final
arbiter of his system.

The question that remains is whether IBM/Redhat, which sponsors freedesktop.org, will continue to allow user configurability.

Freedesktop.org produces a lot of critical software for the
GNU/Linux graphics subsystem and they certainly can unilaterally
decide that only they, and not the user, know what is best.
Those fascist pigs can eliminate user configurability and thereby
force everyone into a design of their own choosing.

This is no joke. This is no exaggeration. Fascist pigs are
controlling GNU/Linux development.

They can only succeed. The disgusting acquiescence shown by the
pathetic distro lackey will allow their success.
--
Gentoo: the only road to GNU/Linux freedom and perfection.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Le 21-12-2025, Farley Flud <ff@linux.rocks> a écrit :

On 21 Dec 2025 14:52:06 GMT, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:

There are no "conventions" in GNU/Linux.

There are.

Conventions = Defaults

No. There are always defaults, there is no way around, a variable must
have a default value. That doesn't mean that lot of people with agree to
chose the same defaults. That's the difference between convention and
default.

Those fascist pigs can eliminate user configurability and thereby
force everyone into a design of their own choosing.

As you are requesting every user to do the same choices as yours, that
makes you a fascist pig?
--
Si vous avez du temps à perdre :
https://scarpet42.gitlab.io
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On 21/12/2025 19:49, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:

As you are requesting every user to do the same choices as yours, that
makes you a fascist pig?

Touché...
--
Climate is what you expect but weather is what you get.
Mark Twain

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Knowing Goog, the font somehow copies your content
straight to Goog :-)

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Sun, 21 Dec 2025 15:30:10 -0500, c186282 wrote:

Knowing Goog, the font somehow copies your content
straight to Goog :-)

The fonts are distributed as TTF (True Type Font) format.

AFAIK, the TTF format does not embed any executable code
that could be exploited for such purposes.

But I agree. Google is a shit, fascist company.

However, Google has given the world, gratis, Google Maps
and Google Earth which are fantastic utilities. We are
all enriched by them.

Also, Google has developed the Noto Fonts. These are
open source and cover the entire Unicode character set.

Like the gangster Al Capone who opened many free soup
kitchens in Chicago during the Great Depression, Google
does good things but in essence they are a shit, fascist
company.
--
Gentoo: the only road to GNU/Linux freedom and perfection.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Sun, 21 Dec 2025 04:37:56 -0000 (UTC), Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 23:06:58 +0000, James Krueger wrote:

I don't think it actually includes many Unicode characters.

Google already did the entire “Noto” series specifically to address this issue (“Noto” being short for “No Tofu”).

I had to look that up. I'm using Noto Sans on a couple of machines but it might have been the default. I know font designers are very proud of their efforts but if I can read it it's good enough. On Windows I use Lucida if
I have to choose a font but I don't bother installing it on Linux.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On 2025-12-21, Stéphane CARPENTIER <sc@fiat-linux.fr> wrote:

Le 21-12-2025, Farley Flud <ff@linux.rocks> a écrit :

On 21 Dec 2025 14:52:06 GMT, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:

There are no "conventions" in GNU/Linux.

There are.

Conventions = Defaults

No. There are always defaults, there is no way around, a variable must
have a default value. That doesn't mean that lot of people with agree to chose the same defaults. That's the difference between convention and default.

If the variable is uninitialized, the default might be undefined.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
\ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

Le 21-12-2025, Farley Flud <ff@linux.rocks> a écrit :

On 21 Dec 2025 14:52:06 GMT, Stéphane CARPENTIER wrote:

There are no "conventions" in GNU/Linux.

There are.

Conventions = Defaults

No. There are always defaults, there is no way around, a variable must
have a default value. That doesn't mean that lot of people with agree to chose the same defaults. That's the difference between convention and default.

Those fascist pigs can eliminate user configurability and thereby
force everyone into a design of their own choosing.

As you are requesting every user to do the same choices as yours, that
makes you a fascist pig?

He's a freakin' whiner.
--
It's the Magic that counts.
-- Larry Wall on Perl's apparent ugliness
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Sun, 21 Dec 2025 21:28:17 +0000, Farley Flud wrote:

However, Google has given the world, gratis, Google Maps
and Google Earth which are fantastic utilities. We are
all enriched by them.

There is no such thing as gratis. If it's free, then (usually) you are
the product.

This video is 18 years old:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAx-6nHEWbE>

How do you think Google has evolved up until now?
--
s|b
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On 2025-12-22 9:35 a.m., s|b wrote:

On Sun, 21 Dec 2025 21:28:17 +0000, Farley Flud wrote:

However, Google has given the world, gratis, Google Maps
and Google Earth which are fantastic utilities. We are
all enriched by them.

There is no such thing as gratis. If it's free, then (usually) you are
the product.

This video is 18 years old:
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAx-6nHEWbE>

How do you think Google has evolved up until now?

According to Rob Braxman, the very moment you log into a Google service through your browser, the company is recording your every click. I
wouldn't have believed that in 2000, but at this point it seems very plausible. I can't imagine that our governments want us to conserve as
much energy and take as little space as possible, all the while allowing
these companies to drain as much energy as they want and build humongous facilities with the specific objective of surveilling us.
--
CrudeSausage
John 14:6
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On 12/21/25 09:30, Farley Flud wrote:

On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 11:27:28 -0500, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:

Installing it is simple. Just copy to "~/.fonts"
and execute "fc-cache -r." That's all.

The newer convention is ~/.local/share/fonts.

There are no "conventions" in GNU/Linux. The user is King and
determines all.

The user can specify any font directory in "/etc/fonts/local.conf"
and fontconfig will obey.

If I want to keep fonts in "/planet/pluto/darkside/fonts" then
I certainly can do so. It is MY system and therefore MY choice --
and that's how it always should be.

However, distro lackey have no choice but to conform to conventions.

They are a sad lot.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

Well, glad YOU have the time, energy and talent ......

Most of us have other things to do during a day.

The 'distro default' usually ain't so bad - and
takes minutes, rather than days/weeks, to get
working.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Tue, 23 Dec 2025 04:49:21 -0500, c186282 wrote:

Well, glad YOU have the time, energy and talent ......

Most of us have other things to do during a day.

The 'distro default' usually ain't so bad - and
takes minutes, rather than days/weeks, to get
working.

You have the wrong attitude.

GNU/Linux is not just another appliance that is pulled out of
the closet when needed. GNU/Linux is a whole philosophy and
way of life, and as such it calls out for total user engagement.

The personal computer, and computers in general, constitute a
technical revolution never before experienced in human culture
and GNU/Linux allows a deep immersion into that revolution.
The GNU/Linux user is constantly learning new things and, ideally,
constantly contributing back to the open source community.

If all that you desire is a closed box that performs highly
circumscribed tasks then please go to Microslop or Apphole.
Those who choose GNU/Linux should be prepared for a wild,
but ultimately very rewarding, technical adventure.

Using Microslop/Apphole is like going camping with a giant
Winnebago at a campground with electrical hookups, plumbing,
and even wifi.

Using GNU/Linux is like roughing it in an expansive wilderness
with nothing but a backpack and compass.

I'll let you determine which one leads to a better communion
with the wonders of nature.
--
Hail Linux! Hail FOSS! Hail Stallman!
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On 23/12/2025 11:19, Farley Flud wrote:

GNU/Linux is not just another appliance that is pulled out of
the closet when needed. GNU/Linux is a whole philosophy and
way of life

ROFLMAO!
Nice one Farley...
--
“when things get difficult you just have to lie”

― Jean Claud Jüncker

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On 12/23/25 06:19, Farley Flud wrote:

On Tue, 23 Dec 2025 04:49:21 -0500, c186282 wrote:

Well, glad YOU have the time, energy and talent ......

Most of us have other things to do during a day.

The 'distro default' usually ain't so bad - and
takes minutes, rather than days/weeks, to get
working.

You have the wrong attitude.

GNU/Linux is not just another appliance that is pulled out of
the closet when needed. GNU/Linux is a whole philosophy and
way of life, and as such it calls out for total user engagement.

Oh, I understand your philosophy here.

When I was younger I too would put a lot
more effort into customization (and Linux
REQUIRED more customization back then).
I remember spending a week getting proto-"X"
running on an ancient RedHat ...

But, now, the distros are MUCH better. Frankly
they don't require THAT much damned work anymore.
I'd rather spend my time writing apps than in
trying to change the underlying system.

The personal computer, and computers in general, constitute a
technical revolution never before experienced in human culture
and GNU/Linux allows a deep immersion into that revolution.
The GNU/Linux user is constantly learning new things and, ideally,
constantly contributing back to the open source community.

Hey, I started back in the punch-card days. Computers
HAVE become a 'revolution' (for better or worse depending
on your POV). It's now just amazing what a little PI can
do ... hell, even Arduino's are impressive.

If all that you desire is a closed box that performs highly
circumscribed tasks then please go to Microslop or Apphole.
Those who choose GNU/Linux should be prepared for a wild,
but ultimately very rewarding, technical adventure.

Using Microslop/Apphole is like going camping with a giant
Winnebago at a campground with electrical hookups, plumbing,
and even wifi.

Using GNU/Linux is like roughing it in an expansive wilderness
with nothing but a backpack and compass.

Well, YOU choose to make it that way.

For the 99% now it doesn't HAVE to be like that.

I'll let you determine which one leads to a better communion
with the wonders of nature.

Both 'customization' AND 'standardization' have their place.

If your thrill is customization then go for it - and we
HOPE some of that will improve the general product. If
it's really good stuff, send it towards Linus.

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote at 04:37 this Sunday (GMT):

On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 23:06:58 +0000, James Krueger wrote:

I don't think it actually includes many Unicode characters.

Google already did the entire “Noto” series specifically to address
this issue (“Noto” being short for “No Tofu”).

Oh, cool, I did't know that. So you're supposed to set Noto as the
backup font?
--
user <candycane> is generated from /dev/urandom
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:00:05 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 wrote:

Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote at 04:37 this Sunday (GMT):

Google already did the entire “Noto” series specifically to address
this issue (“Noto” being short for “No Tofu”).

Oh, cool, I did't know that. So you're supposed to set Noto as the
backup font?

A lot of software already does.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Tue, 23 Dec 2025 06:33:06 -0500, c186282 wrote:

When I was younger I too would put a lot more effort into
customization (and Linux REQUIRED more customization back then).
I remember spending a week getting proto-"X"
running on an ancient RedHat ...

I've got some not so great memories of building Sawfish from a tarball.
That was sort of a recursive operation since you also had to build the dependencies from their tarballs, and the dependencies...

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

On Tue, 23 Dec 2025 16:00:05 -0000 (UTC), candycanearter07 wrote:

Lawrence D’Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote at 04:37 this Sunday (GMT):

On Sat, 20 Dec 2025 23:06:58 +0000, James Krueger wrote:

I don't think it actually includes many Unicode characters.

Google already did the entire “Noto” series specifically to address
this issue (“Noto” being short for “No Tofu”).

Oh, cool, I did't know that. So you're supposed to set Noto as the
backup font?

Fedora and Endeavour default to Noto Sans. Ubuntu and Linux Mint use
Ubuntu so I assume all the fruit of the Ubuntu tree used the Ubuntu fonts.
I never have paid too much attention to fonts.

https://pi3g.com/interview-with-simon-long-of-raspberry-pi-about-the- raspberry-pi-desktop-ui-design-and-much-more/

He's a self confessed font geek. The Pi was using Roboto but Google
changed something with the fonts that upset him so the Pi now uses Piboto,
an older version of Roboto that they forked.



--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.linux.advocacy

Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> writes:

On 2025-12-21, Stéphane CARPENTIER <sc@fiat-linux.fr> wrote:

No. There are always defaults, there is no way around, a variable
must have a default value. That doesn't mean that lot of people with
agree to chose the same defaults. That's the difference between
convention and default.

If the variable is uninitialized, the default might be undefined.

In C it doesn’t have to have a coherent default at all. Consider:

int f(void) {
int x;
return x-x;
}

You might think that should always return 0 since (at least on
relatively normal platforms like x86) any integer subtracted from itself
always yields 0.

With GCC that’s what you get:

f:
xor eax, eax
ret

Compiler explorer link: https://godbolt.org/z/nshWTG96G


However Clang exploits the freedom the language specification gives it
to return whatever is lying around in the eax register:

f:
ret

Compiler explorer: https://godbolt.org/z/xfv5zzxM1

(It’s exploiting the undefined behavior rules.)
--
https://www.greenend.org.uk/rjk/
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2