Why does my terminal letter-spacing decrease when I disable a display and login to a /dev/tty?
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
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I've got a curious hardware situation, and I've run into a curious software quirk. I have a laptop with a broken screen that I have hooked up to an external display. I start up an X session and open a urxvt terminal. With the setting URxvt.letterSpace: -1 in my Xresources file, the text in my terminal displays like this:
Now I don't want the broken built-in screen still on, so I disable it with the line:
xrandr --output LVDS1 --off
If I open a new terminal now, the text will appear as it does above. But after logging into /dev/tty2 and then coming back to my graphical X session and opening up a new terminal, the text displays like this with the letter-spacing much tighter than before:
Reloading my Xresources file doesn't fix this. But increasing the value of URxvt.letterSpace from -1 to 0 and then reloading does appear to return the letter-spacing to what it was originally, so it seems that somewhere, after logging into /dev/tty, an extra -1 is being added to my letter-spacing.
Why does this happen? Why does going into a /dev/tty decrease the letter-spacing like this?
xorg tty fonts xrandr rxvt
asked Mar 29 '17 at 16:30
Mike Pierce
3651314
 |Â
show 2 more comments
up vote
8
down vote
favorite
I've got a curious hardware situation, and I've run into a curious software quirk. I have a laptop with a broken screen that I have hooked up to an external display. I start up an X session and open a urxvt terminal. With the setting URxvt.letterSpace: -1 in my Xresources file, the text in my terminal displays like this:
Now I don't want the broken built-in screen still on, so I disable it with the line:
xrandr --output LVDS1 --off
If I open a new terminal now, the text will appear as it does above. But after logging into /dev/tty2 and then coming back to my graphical X session and opening up a new terminal, the text displays like this with the letter-spacing much tighter than before:
Reloading my Xresources file doesn't fix this. But increasing the value of URxvt.letterSpace from -1 to 0 and then reloading does appear to return the letter-spacing to what it was originally, so it seems that somewhere, after logging into /dev/tty, an extra -1 is being added to my letter-spacing.
Why does this happen? Why does going into a /dev/tty decrease the letter-spacing like this?
xorg tty fonts xrandr rxvt
asked Mar 29 '17 at 16:30
Mike Pierce
3651314
Is this reproducible? IsletterSpaceset to -1 every time you switch to/dev/tty2?
– Dmitry Grigoryev
Mar 29 '17 at 17:14
It doesn't seem to happen every time, but I'm not sure what I'm doing in/dev/ttythat triggers it. The only way I've figured out to reset this effect is to restart the computer (maybe just restart the Xsession?). I'll play around and reply if I discover more concrete steps to reproduce this.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
And it doesn't appear that the value ofletterSpaceis actually being changed with this happens. The value ofURxvt.letterSpaceis -1 in both of those images in the question. It looks like another -1 is getting added somewhere for some reason.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
@DmitryGrigoryev , I've made discovery. I'll add details in the post.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:39
Sounds kind of like display driver weirdness, which acts like deep magic from normal userspace's perspective (my usual fix for problems along these lines is "update kernel and try again"; it sometimes works).
– Tom Hunt
Mar 29 '17 at 20:53
 |Â
show 2 more comments
up vote
8
down vote
favorite
up vote
8
down vote
favorite
I've got a curious hardware situation, and I've run into a curious software quirk. I have a laptop with a broken screen that I have hooked up to an external display. I start up an X session and open a urxvt terminal. With the setting URxvt.letterSpace: -1 in my Xresources file, the text in my terminal displays like this:
Now I don't want the broken built-in screen still on, so I disable it with the line:
xrandr --output LVDS1 --off
If I open a new terminal now, the text will appear as it does above. But after logging into /dev/tty2 and then coming back to my graphical X session and opening up a new terminal, the text displays like this with the letter-spacing much tighter than before:
Reloading my Xresources file doesn't fix this. But increasing the value of URxvt.letterSpace from -1 to 0 and then reloading does appear to return the letter-spacing to what it was originally, so it seems that somewhere, after logging into /dev/tty, an extra -1 is being added to my letter-spacing.
Why does this happen? Why does going into a /dev/tty decrease the letter-spacing like this?
xorg tty fonts xrandr rxvt
asked Mar 29 '17 at 16:30
Mike Pierce
3651314
I've got a curious hardware situation, and I've run into a curious software quirk. I have a laptop with a broken screen that I have hooked up to an external display. I start up an X session and open a urxvt terminal. With the setting URxvt.letterSpace: -1 in my Xresources file, the text in my terminal displays like this:
Now I don't want the broken built-in screen still on, so I disable it with the line:
xrandr --output LVDS1 --off
If I open a new terminal now, the text will appear as it does above. But after logging into /dev/tty2 and then coming back to my graphical X session and opening up a new terminal, the text displays like this with the letter-spacing much tighter than before:
Reloading my Xresources file doesn't fix this. But increasing the value of URxvt.letterSpace from -1 to 0 and then reloading does appear to return the letter-spacing to what it was originally, so it seems that somewhere, after logging into /dev/tty, an extra -1 is being added to my letter-spacing.
Why does this happen? Why does going into a /dev/tty decrease the letter-spacing like this?
xorg tty fonts xrandr rxvt
xorg tty fonts xrandr rxvt
asked Mar 29 '17 at 16:30
Mike Pierce
3651314
asked Mar 29 '17 at 16:30
Mike Pierce
3651314
edited Sep 21 at 20:33
asked Mar 29 '17 at 16:30
Mike Pierce
3651314
asked Mar 29 '17 at 16:30
Mike Pierce
3651314
asked Mar 29 '17 at 16:30
Mike Pierce
3651314
3651314
Is this reproducible? IsletterSpaceset to -1 every time you switch to/dev/tty2?
– Dmitry Grigoryev
Mar 29 '17 at 17:14
It doesn't seem to happen every time, but I'm not sure what I'm doing in/dev/ttythat triggers it. The only way I've figured out to reset this effect is to restart the computer (maybe just restart the Xsession?). I'll play around and reply if I discover more concrete steps to reproduce this.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
And it doesn't appear that the value ofletterSpaceis actually being changed with this happens. The value ofURxvt.letterSpaceis -1 in both of those images in the question. It looks like another -1 is getting added somewhere for some reason.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
@DmitryGrigoryev , I've made discovery. I'll add details in the post.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:39
Sounds kind of like display driver weirdness, which acts like deep magic from normal userspace's perspective (my usual fix for problems along these lines is "update kernel and try again"; it sometimes works).
– Tom Hunt
Mar 29 '17 at 20:53
 |Â
show 2 more comments
Is this reproducible? IsletterSpaceset to -1 every time you switch to/dev/tty2?
– Dmitry Grigoryev
Mar 29 '17 at 17:14
It doesn't seem to happen every time, but I'm not sure what I'm doing in/dev/ttythat triggers it. The only way I've figured out to reset this effect is to restart the computer (maybe just restart the Xsession?). I'll play around and reply if I discover more concrete steps to reproduce this.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
And it doesn't appear that the value ofletterSpaceis actually being changed with this happens. The value ofURxvt.letterSpaceis -1 in both of those images in the question. It looks like another -1 is getting added somewhere for some reason.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
@DmitryGrigoryev , I've made discovery. I'll add details in the post.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:39
Sounds kind of like display driver weirdness, which acts like deep magic from normal userspace's perspective (my usual fix for problems along these lines is "update kernel and try again"; it sometimes works).
– Tom Hunt
Mar 29 '17 at 20:53
Is this reproducible? Is
letterSpace set to -1 every time you switch to /dev/tty2?– Dmitry Grigoryev
Mar 29 '17 at 17:14
Is this reproducible? Is
letterSpace set to -1 every time you switch to /dev/tty2?– Dmitry Grigoryev
Mar 29 '17 at 17:14
It doesn't seem to happen every time, but I'm not sure what I'm doing in
/dev/tty that triggers it. The only way I've figured out to reset this effect is to restart the computer (maybe just restart the Xsession?). I'll play around and reply if I discover more concrete steps to reproduce this.– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
It doesn't seem to happen every time, but I'm not sure what I'm doing in
/dev/tty that triggers it. The only way I've figured out to reset this effect is to restart the computer (maybe just restart the Xsession?). I'll play around and reply if I discover more concrete steps to reproduce this.– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
And it doesn't appear that the value of
letterSpace is actually being changed with this happens. The value of URxvt.letterSpace is -1 in both of those images in the question. It looks like another -1 is getting added somewhere for some reason.– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
And it doesn't appear that the value of
letterSpace is actually being changed with this happens. The value of URxvt.letterSpace is -1 in both of those images in the question. It looks like another -1 is getting added somewhere for some reason.– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
@DmitryGrigoryev , I've made discovery. I'll add details in the post.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:39
@DmitryGrigoryev , I've made discovery. I'll add details in the post.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:39
Sounds kind of like display driver weirdness, which acts like deep magic from normal userspace's perspective (my usual fix for problems along these lines is "update kernel and try again"; it sometimes works).
– Tom Hunt
Mar 29 '17 at 20:53
Sounds kind of like display driver weirdness, which acts like deep magic from normal userspace's perspective (my usual fix for problems along these lines is "update kernel and try again"; it sometimes works).
– Tom Hunt
Mar 29 '17 at 20:53
 |Â
show 2 more comments
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Is this reproducible? Is
letterSpaceset to -1 every time you switch to/dev/tty2?– Dmitry Grigoryev
Mar 29 '17 at 17:14
It doesn't seem to happen every time, but I'm not sure what I'm doing in
/dev/ttythat triggers it. The only way I've figured out to reset this effect is to restart the computer (maybe just restart the Xsession?). I'll play around and reply if I discover more concrete steps to reproduce this.– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
And it doesn't appear that the value of
letterSpaceis actually being changed with this happens. The value ofURxvt.letterSpaceis -1 in both of those images in the question. It looks like another -1 is getting added somewhere for some reason.– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:24
@DmitryGrigoryev , I've made discovery. I'll add details in the post.
– Mike Pierce
Mar 29 '17 at 17:39
Sounds kind of like display driver weirdness, which acts like deep magic from normal userspace's perspective (my usual fix for problems along these lines is "update kernel and try again"; it sometimes works).
– Tom Hunt
Mar 29 '17 at 20:53