Windows 8 Fonts are not as sharp as Linux Mint on same PC

vinoman

Senior Member
I have a PC with two hard drives, My main one is Linux Mint 12 and the second one is Windows 8 Consumer Review. Overall I like the way Win 8 works, but the fonts are not as sharp as on my Mint 12 hard drive. It's all the same video running off my HP 4400 workstation w/4GB RAM.

I did the Clear font sharpening test but it didn't change anything. I just wonder why the fonts are more pixelated (Mainly in a browser, IE or Chrome) in Win 8 as compared to Mint? Any clues?
 
Probably drivers. It's going to take a bit to get drivers in the database for Windows 8. There's also some programs that won't run yet, but they will.

Just so happens that I also have Mint 12, it's on another HDD also. Mint 12 took longer than any prior version of Mint to get my graphic drivers right, almost a month. The first AMD/ATI drivers were really buggy. Finally, more acceptable drivers were available, and Mint 12 is fine now. Mint has a large following, more than Ubuntu now.

Zorin OS is going to climb the charts fast. Not only is it the fastest version of Linux that I run (Ubuntu 11.10, Mint 12 & Zorin OS 5.2), but when installed, you have the choice of the XP, Windows 7 or classic Gnome look. A lot of potential there.

Zorin OS - Home

Check it out. As far as your issue goes, probably drivers. I've tried to update the latest AMD Radeon drivers for my HP, it says "unsupported OS, XP, Vista & 7 is needed". Probably won't be long.

Cat
 
Thanks, I thought it was a video driver issue. I think this HP workstation has an ATI RV370 card. I think MS should get it figured out by September when the final version arrives.

My Mint install is using whatever generic video it comes with. it's funny that Mint renders the fonts better.;)

I just ran Zorin 5.2 from live CD. Looks very nice. I may install it on a hard drive. Funny how so many distros have taken Ubuntu and made it better. :)
 
Sorry to intrude. You can try to install the win7 drivers for your card. Those should work in win8 as well.Might not install at first, but you can run it in compatibility mode for win 7. As for Linux, I use OpenSUSE. Worked best for me and to me it seems the most complete and stable Linux distro. Might want to give it a try;)
 
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Hi Guy's, one reason why your fonts etc may not be pin sharp is that Windows 8 uses a updated WDM 1.2 driver which is only available through the latest cards (AMD 5000 series and upwards, Nvidia-Not too sure which models but I'm sure the latest have it).
I use a 5870 with the latest AMD win 8 compatible driver and the graphics whether it's either the GUI or games are simply awesome. Just using the GUI the visuals seem to have a real pop and zing to them.

Edit: Just to add that the old 1.1 WDM driver is still compatible. :)
 
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