Comment # 9 on bug 1009924 from Petr Gajdos

(In reply to Jiri Slaby from comment #8)
> Petr, it could as well be a fontconfig configuration issue. I don't see
> 'font_type: "TT Instructed Font"(w)' in the noto fc-match output opposing to
> dejavu. Is is OK?

That is correct. The distinction between truetype instructed font and not
truetype instructed font comes from
/etc/fonts/conf.d/10-group-tt-non-hinted-fonts.conf originally from the
infinality project.

Fonts listed in that file will be rendered by freetype's truetype byte
interpreter and that is why you see DejaVu rendered less blurred. Noto are not
instructed at all as far as I know, so autohinter needs to be used (and I guess
it is used despite the fontconfig is not saying it explicitly -- thats why it
is 'force autohinting').

You can also try Liberation family of fonts if you like sharp rendering. You
can achieve it quickly for example by 'Black and White profile' and clicking on
'font aliasing' afterwards if you want font aliasing (which is then not black
and white anymore, obviously).

Personally, I use bitmap font (Misc Fixed) for terminal (I am looking on it
majority of time) because of nice black and white rendering.

I have tried the subpixel rendering several times, but I do not like it too
much because of color fringes (even on Windows).

Also, make sure your desktop honors fontconfig setting. I know firefox should
honor it for displaying pages, so I use it for testing.