Re: [gentoo-user] [SOLVED] How to set up monospaced xterm fonts?

[Walter Dnes]

I apologize if this is a duplicate.  My broadband ISP seems to be
having problems, and I don't think my previous attempt got through.
This post coming to you via glorious dialup.

On Sat, Nov 21, 2015 at 08:20:09AM +0000, Stroller wrote
>
> > On Fri, 20 November 2015, at 10:35 p.m., Walter Dnes <waltdnes@××××××××.org> wrote:
> >
> > ... Apparently,
> > some time ago, USE="nls" became necessary for basic xterm functionality
> > ???   If there was a news item, I missed it.
> >
> > ...in package.use actually works the way I want, which simplifies things
> > rebuilding now, and it'll automatically catch any updates or new fonts
> > in the future.
>
> Your phrases "became necessary for basic xterm functionality" and
> "if there was a news item" read like dissatisfaction.
>
> They read like you're unhappy that the package didn't behave as
> you expect.

  xterm stopped working properly on my system; yes, I was unhappy

> Maybe they would have behaved the way you expected, had you not
> disabled the default USE flags in the first place.
>
> This is the second time this year you've posted a problem to this
> list and then, a few days later, a [SOLVED] saying "it seems the
> solution is to enable this USE flag which is enabled by default in
> all the base profiles".

  I like to keep my install "lean and mean".  In fact, I have to.  My
main system is a Dell Inspiron 530 Core Duo Conroe, 3 GHZ Pentium 4 with
3 gigs of ram.  It shipped in June 2008 and still works fine, but it's
obviously not a "gaming rig".

  It's a prime candidate for Gentoo.  I subscribe to NHL GameCentre
Live.  After a fresh install, with vanilla unoptimized code, it can't
even keep up with the slowest stream speed of 800 kbits/sec.  After
optimizing and running "emerge @system && emerge @world", it handles the
fastest stream of 4500 kbits/sec.  At that speed the load is 2.4 on a
2-core cpu, because Flash is a resource hog, but it works.

  I have 2 newer systems that I use as "hot backup" as well as general
playing around.  I update them every so often, as well as rsyncing my
home directory over to them.  This is in addition to backups to an
external USB drive.  Until such time as the Inspiron 530 dies, or can't
handle stuff I need, I'm not going to take it to the regional ewaste
dump.

  As for base flags changing, what percentage of this list have an ISP
that runs IPV6?  And no, I'm not talking about a limited beta.  At one
point, I started with USE="-* blah blah blah".  The USE line got a bit
long with all the flags I added.  I was effectively building my own
custom profile.  Lately, I've run without USE="-*".  Now I have a lot of
USE="-blah -blah -blah" and my USE line is just as long.  Do you know
that Opera pulls in gstreamer by default unless I have "-gstreamer" in
either USE or package.use?  And fltk defaults to pulling in xinerama
unless explicitly over-ridden.  Etc, etc.

  When USE="netifrc" became necessary for OpenRC, a developer posted on
this list warning everbody who was running "USE=-*".  We got news items
for changes in how the libav and ffmpeg flags were being handled.
That's how this should have been handled.  There's something in the IT
industry called "the principle of least surprise" aka "the principle of
least astonishment".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principle_of_least_astonishment  If you're
doing something that has worked for years, it should not suddenly break
one day *WITHOUT NOTICE*.

-- 
Walter Dnes <waltdnes@××××××××.org>
I don't run "desktop environments"; I run useful applications