Linux Font Rendering: Ubuntu vs. Debian vs. OS X vs. Windows
I don't have a blog, so I'm afraid my review/question will go here.

My question, from the outset as I sit at this debian box, is why is the font rendering so good? This may seem like a strange question until you consider that I've tried most major Linux distributions, and some arcane ones, Mac OS X, and Windows. (I've used Linux and Windows extensively, OS X is still a tinkering platform for me.)

I'm something of a stickler about my "environment". I'm kind of finicky about it, for a programmer (by hobby for the time being, trying to decide if I should go the certification route or go for a degree, which'll be my next post on here).

Anyway, the font rendering on Ubuntu in my experience has been mostly bad. It wasn't outright horrible, because I've definitely used some Linux distros (especially in the old days, CHRIST) that had font rendering that made my eyes bleed. Those were the days I stayed in my damn terminal.

Mac OS X's font rendering is intriguing, in that they are super-aggressive across the whole platform in anti-aliasing. While I appreciate the effect they are trying to accomplish, I think cranking the AA to 11 was a little much, and sacrifices too much font rendering accuracy. Not to mention it annoyed the hell out of anyone who used Safari on Windows. (I don't think porting OS X font rendering to safari for windows was the best choice, as much as I may prefer it to IE. It has gotten bad reviews amongst my fellow typographically finicky users.)

Windows font rendering is what it is. On a decent resolution LCD or CRT, the zero-AA fonts are tolerable and functional, enough so that Windows is my 2/3's of the time OS. With AA turned on, I find XP's font rendering to be a bit thick and on the side of ugly. Kind of like that girl who seems a bit too fat for your taste, but seems to have potential for looking much better with a little TLC.

Then there's Debian. I just installed etch and the default user environment (netinst) on my Powermac G4 (I got it for 30 bucks. Whaddya want?) and the default font rendering is...IMHO, gorgeous. The AA is light but soft (not like a drag queen like Mac OS X), and it's the first time I've ever believed the font rendering in Open Office to not be utterly horrible. (Admittedly a different default font was used in OO.o as compared to Win32/Ubuntu, but I've used the font before and it didn't look this good.) (The debian install was vanilla gnome. Not that you'll hear me complain about vanilla gnome.)

Am I seriously facing a situation where the Debian guys have put together an auto-configged X.org that has the best font rendering I've ever seen as compared to the supposedly userspace obsessed Ubuntu/OS X?

Anyway, I'd like comments from any BSD users if they're out there. Does a BSD Ports install of X (or from the CD) autoconfig X? If so, what is the font rendering like?

Any Mac users have any positive/negative feelings regarding the heavy AA on OS X? I find it attractive, it's just...to heavy for me, and I can't really seem to change the AA in any meaningful manner that affects the output significantly.

Thanks for reading, if you got this far. You'll likely hear me shoot my mouth off about my (mis)adventures in Unix/Linux userspace further on as well.