Problem with font in terminal.app

Question

Level 1

0 points

Problem with font in terminal.app

Hello all

I tried to use the font Inconsolata (downloadable from http://www.levien.com/type/myfonts/inconsolata.html) with the terminal.app. Prior to the update to snow leopard everything was alright. But now this font doesn't render anymore in the terminal.app (although it worked once till the next restart also under snow leopard!). Strange thing is, the font works absolutely normal in all other apps (e.g. macvim oder texteditor). So the font seems to be ok. But why does the font not work any more in the terminal.app? Is there a special font-cache for the terminal? I already tried to delete the user and the system font cache.

A picture might help to understand the problem:

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11881979/Bildschirmfoto%202010-09-27%20um%2021.54.47.png

Some hints on how to remedy this problem?

Greetings

Jerri

Macbook Air 1,1, Mac OS X (10.6.4)

Posted on Sep 28, 2010 2:09 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Sep 28, 2010 2:15 PM in response to jerriman

Try clearing the font cache files from the system.

Close all running applications. From an administrator account, open the Terminal app and enter the following command. You can also copy/paste it from here into the Terminal window:

sudo atsutil databases -remove

This removes all font cache files. Both for the system and all user font cache files. After running the command, close Terminal and immediately restart your Mac.

Reply

Answer 2

jerriman Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 28, 2010 2:27 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Hello Kurt

Thanks for the suggestion. I already tried deleting the font caches. First of all the user cache, then the system cache. Unfortunatly none of them helped. The font still is not shown correctly in the Terminal.app.

The font is also shown absolutely correctly in all other apps?!

Greetings
Jerri

Reply

Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Sep 28, 2010 2:34 PM in response to jerriman

Hmm. I downloaded the font and am having no issues with it in Terminal, or anywhere else. Possibly your copy is damaged? Might want to download it again and see.

Reply

Answer 4

jerriman Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 29, 2010 5:16 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks again for the suggestion and for the check on your mac. I already tried to remove and reinstall the font. Same effect. I will try do download the font from another computer to avoid getting some file from some cache on my mac.

Reply

Answer 5

BobHarris

Level 9

52,955 points

Sep 29, 2010 8:25 AM in response to jerriman

Have you tried creating a test user account, and seeing if the font/Terminal problem occurs in the new account.

If it works, then there is most likely an issue with a file in your home directory/Library/... tree. My first choice would be the Terminal preference file.

Reply

Answer 6

jerriman Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 29, 2010 8:42 AM in response to BobHarris

Havent't tried the idea with the extra user. But I already tried to delete the preferences file of the Terminal.app. So the problem does at least not seem to be in that file. Will try the idea with the other user when I get home. Thanks for the suggestion.

Reply

Answer 7

jerriman Author

Level 1

0 points

Oct 10, 2010 5:32 AM in response to jerriman

Well. I weren't able to fix the problem. But I found a copy of the font as a ttf-Font. No problems with that version. Using it now with Terminal.app.

Sorry, didn't try to create another user to check if the problem prevails there. But as the workaround has no problems for me now everything is ok.

It seems though that maybe mac os x has a problem with OpenType Fonts (otf). Or maybe it's only me and one unfortunate effect.

Thanks all for the help!

Reply

Answer 8

Kurt Lang

Level 9

57,792 points

Oct 10, 2010 7:51 AM in response to jerriman

That is very strange. OpenType was the format that had the least issues as Apple worked out the early bugs in the complete 64 bit rewrite of the font engine in Snow Leopard. Type 1 PostScript was where the majority of the trouble was.

As I noted above, I had no trouble with the font, so can only assume there's some sort of issue with your system. At least the TrueType version works.

The only thing not done was reinstalling the OS. If you want to take the time to try that, back up the drive and run the OS X installer from the desktop. That will put a fresh copy of OS X on the drive while keeping all of your third party apps, preferences and such intact. Then apply all available updates.

Reply

Answer 9

nekotwi

Level 1

0 points

Jan 1, 2011 5:52 PM in response to jerriman

Absolutely the same problem. Terminal.app doesn't render Inconsolata as well as CMU Typewriter Text. Seems like it's a bug in otf rendering.

Reply

Answer 10

Jan 7, 2011 7:36 PM in response to jerriman

Had the exact same problem with this font and Terminal.app. It also didn't work with OpenOffice.

However, I found a solution, that worked for me:
Converting the OTF (Open Type Font) to TTF (True Type Font). I used an online converter to do this:

http://onlinefontconverter.com/

Hopfully, this works for other users as well.

Reply