Put the following in ~/.fonts.conf (for yourself) or /etc/fonts/local.conf (for the whole system): --- cut here --- <fontconfig> <match target="pattern"> <test qual="any" name="size" compare="less_eq"><int>12</int></test> <edit name="antialias" mode="assign"><bool>false</bool></edit> </match> </fontconfig> --- cut here --- If you already have such a file, cut out just the <match>...</match> part and put it between the existing <fontconfig> tags (obviously). Change the number 12 to suit your taste. In general fontconfig has a (perhaps too) sophisticated system for tweaking the fonts applications use based on all sorts of rules and calculations. See "man fontconfig" for the full guts; search for the "CONFIGURATION FILE FORMAT" section. Note there isn't a lot of "user level" documentation; it's all pretty developer oriented at the moment. I tried to add this answer to the FAQ on the Wiki but I can't get it to accept my login. Maybe something like this should be the default, since freetype's antialiased rendering really sucks at small pixel sizes? Dan