The Solaris X Window System provides font support in both the X11 server and the Display PostScript (DPS) extension. Font formats from numerous vendors can be used to display text in English or foreign languages, including Asian languages. Symbol fonts can be used to display mathematical equations. The Solaris environment provides 55 Latin fonts for west European text and two symbol fonts. Other fonts can also be added to the system using the Font Administrator GUI or command line tools distributed with Solaris.
The Solaris X server can be a client of the X font server xfs. The X font server renders fonts for the X server. The Solaris X font server supports the same fonts as the standard X font server, plus TrueType fonts from Sun. It does not support Sun's proprietary F3 font format. Support for Type 1 fonts is provided via the Type 1 interpreter donated to the X Consortium.
xfs can be started manually or automatically. For more information on this command, see the xfs(1) man page.
Fonts from different vendors come in different formats. Table 4–1 and Table 4–2 list the various font formats, their vendors, and the associated file types supported by the Solaris environment. Table 4–1 lists outline fonts; Table 4–2 lists bitmap fonts.
Table 4–1 Outline Font Formats
Font Format |
Vendor |
File Type |
---|---|---|
TrueType |
Various foundries |
.ttf |
Type1 (ASCII) |
Adobe and various foundries |
.pfa |
Type1 (binary) |
Adobe and various foundries |
.pfb |
Type 3 |
Adobe and various foundries |
.ps |
Speedo |
Bitstream |
.spd |
F3 |
SunSoft |
.f3b |
Table 4–2 Bitmap Font Formats
Font Format |
Vendor |
File Type |
---|---|---|
Portable compiled format |
MIT |
.pcf |
Bitmap distribution format |
Adobe |
.bdf |
Big Endian prebuilt format |
Adobe (for sparc) |
.bepf |
Little Endian prebuilt format |
Adobe (for IA and ppc) |
.lepf |
The fonts provided by the Solaris X server are located in the /usr/openwin/lib/X11/fonts directory. For more information on the directory structure, see Locating Fonts.
The Solaris environment is configured so that most X11 fonts are also available in DPS (see Table 4–3). DPS supports a slightly different set of fonts than those supported by X11.
Table 4–3 Font File Availability
Font Format |
Available in X11 |
Available in DPS |
---|---|---|
TrueType |
Yes |
Yes |
Type1 outline fonts-ASCII |
Yes |
Yes |
Type1 outline fonts-binary |
Yes |
Yes |
Type 3 |
Yes |
Yes |
Speedo |
Yes |
No |
F3 |
Yes |
Yes |
Portable compiled format |
Yes |
Yes |
Bitmap distribution format |
Yes |
No |
Big Endian prebuilt format |
No |
Yes |
Little Endian prebuilt format |
No |
Fonts needed by end-user applications are installed with the End-User Cluster. However, some unusual applications may need fonts in the Developer Cluster. For these applications, the package to add is the SUNWxwoft package. It is not necessary to install the entire Developer Cluster.
The Solaris environment provides files with these extensions. They are not intended to be edited.