Hello to all the member of the community !

I'm new user of N900 and quite newby in Linux.
I'm starting to use N900 as trial phone (until the fix for MfE 2003 bug is released) and I found several little issue I'd like to be improved.

I'm waiting for the firmware update but for now I looked to the forums to see if I found an answer to my problem but didn't find any.

I have some problems with the very little dimension of the system character of the system apps (like calendar tags for row and colums for example or also some icon text or sub menu ).
I know I can change the Xterminal font size and appereance.
Can I do the same with the other system fonts ?

I need to increase a little the readability of at least 1-2 point in size of the system menu. Is there a way to do it ?
By setting or by modifying some config files ?

If not, I think it would be nice to add this feature as soon as possible because one of the reason I bought the N900 was its good, quite large ad defined screen but its so high resolution (and the not modificable appereance of fonts) is causing me problems of readability.

Thank to all for the reply.
SkyEagle

changing fonts for the system is described here by baksiidaa
http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=406720&postcount=2

If it's just the font size you want to change try editing the current theme's gtkrc and increasing the font sizes in there.

thanks for the reply.

I'll try the procedure in the link buy, if I understand , it is used to add new fonts to the device and then choose amoung them, but I think for the Xterminal window (also now you can have different choice of fonts).

The other suggestion is not clear for me...sorry...but I'm really new to linux and maemo. I looked to google and found some pages with Gnome and Ubuntu reference. Are they the same in Maemo 5 ?
Is there any apps to do it without messing with config files quite "dangerous" if not properly settled ?

Thanks again for your help,
SkyEagle

i tend to use the nseries theme so before editing change to another theme

open Xterminal and type

sudo gainroot

then type

cd /usr/share/themes/alpha/gtk-2.0

then to copy the file you want to edit type

cp gtkrc /home/user/MyDocs/.documents

this means you can now edit the gtkrc file in a text editor and still keep a original back up file for safety.

the file itself is fairly long and complicated looking.
The part you want is headed font definitions.
Just change the text sizes until you are happy.

don't forget to keep a copy of the original file.

when you want to put your edited file back
Open terminal and type

sudo gainroot

then

cd /user/home\MyDocs/.documents

finally copy by

cp gtkrc /usr/share/themes/alpha/gtk-2.0

switch to nseries theme to see changes
I'm still a fairly new user so this method might be a bit long winded, good luck.

thanks for the infos...I'll try as soon as I'll have a little time...

Anyway I ask to the community of developer to develop some UI interface for the customisation of aspects like these...it would be helpful for the newbye like me...

regards,
Skyeagle

Thanks a lot for the advice, much better now for my 40+ eyes.

Some more advice needed: how to enlarge the font also in the theme I found nicer, digital nature?

PS: Nano-tiny came in handy when editing the file over ssh.

For Digital nature the file to edit is /usr/share/themes/beta/gtk-2.0/gtkrc

scroll down to find the fonts and their sizes, it's trial and error really to change the fonts to the sizes that suit you.
just remember to backup the original file in case anything goes wrong

Is there no way of building an application to this easily for the "normal user"? And giving examples like "font for contact telephone numbers etc"? The method outlined above - very helpful, thanks! - doesn't allow you to know which fonts you're changing so it's trial and error with a lot of time wasting.
Although if you think about it, the best application would be one which allowed you to zoom fonts in any app - rather like the Psion used to be able to do about twenty years ago. Time doesn't always bring progress........

Here's modified gtkrc file for Nseries theme. It uses Droid font set and font sizes are adjusted +2.

http://193.166.155.1/~amoult/N900/gtkrc

1. Install Droid font set. Available from normal via app installer from default repositoires.
2. Copy gtkrc to /usr/share/themes/alpha/gtk-2.0 (root privileges needed)
3. Reboot or changing theme to another might be needed.

This is great, thanks! It doesn't however seem to affect all system fonts: for example: fonts in contacts for phone numbers, fonts in Conversations for SMS messages - how does one get at those?