How do I install ttf fonts?

genogebot · 07-08-2010, 06:36 PM

I have a CD full of truetype fonts.

I've used them on Windows, where it's easy to install them, but I can't find any way to install them on linux.

I'm using Linux Mint 9. I expected to find some kind of font management utility built into the operating system, but there doesn't seem to be one.

How do I install my fonts into linux?

Valvebox · 07-08-2010, 06:57 PM

Have you tried using any of the font managers in the Ubuntu repository - like Fontmatrix and Fonty Python?

genogebot · 07-08-2010, 07:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Valvebox

Have you tried using any of the font managers in the Ubuntu repository - like Fontmatrix and Fonty Python?

Thanks for the quick response.

No I haven't tried them yet. I looked at some info on the web about Fontmatrix but it looked like it was unfinished. I searched through Synaptic for 'font' but the list was so long I gave up about halfway through, so I never got as far as FontyPython.

I'll have another look at them. I was just assuming there'd be some built-in functionality to add fonts to the system.

pixellany · 07-08-2010, 08:12 PM

The trick is "built-in to what?" It could be part of Ubuntu, or it could be part of the Desktop (eg Gnome or KDE)

Using KDE 4, I have a nice font manager. (It's a KDE feature since Arch by itself comes with **nothing**.)

Did you check Ubuntu documentation for installing fonts?

And you can install fonts manually.....

Valvebox · 07-09-2010, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by genogebot

Thanks for the quick response.

No I haven't tried them yet. I looked at some info on the web about Fontmatrix but it looked like it was unfinished. I searched through Synaptic for 'font' but the list was so long I gave up about halfway through, so I never got as far as FontyPython.

I'll have another look at them. I was just assuming there'd be some built-in functionality to add fonts to the system.

I use Fontmatrix myself and it's simple to import a font: just choose the folder or single file and import it into your font list via a right click. No need to convert or anything, it read OTF and TTF and they worked instantly in every application.

frankbell · 07-09-2010, 10:01 PM

Font managers are nice, but you may not need them.

Copy the fonts into /usr/share/fonts/.

If you wish and if one does not exist, you can make a /usr/share/fonts/TTF or /usr/share/fonts/truetype directory and put them in there. That's probably a good idea, because it lets you keep track of the added fonts as opposed to the default fonts.

Reboot (there may also be a mkfont* utility you can run, depending on your distro, but the page that told me about it is gone).

More here: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-...ows-mac-linux/

John VV · 07-09-2010, 10:47 PM

also you can just plop them in your home folder i a .font folder

DavidMcCann · 07-10-2010, 10:52 AM

The simplest solution is this.
1. Click on the Home icon.
2. Press Ctrl-h to show the hidden stuff and look for a .fonts folder
3. If there isn't one, click on File and make one. Click on it.
4. Insert CD and get a display of its contents.
5. Drag and drop any useful fonts from the CD window into the .fonts window.
All done!

Valvebox · 07-10-2010, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMcCann

The simplest solution is this.
1. Click on the Home icon.
2. Press Ctrl-h to show the hidden stuff and look for a .fonts folder
3. If there isn't one, click on File and make one. Click on it.
4. Insert CD and get a display of its contents.
5. Drag and drop any useful fonts from the CD window into the .fonts window.
All done!

I did this method and it's nice and fast. I can't however keep all the typeface variants (bold/italic/standard etc) in their own tidy folders, Abiword fails to read them otherwise. Or am I doing something wrong?

DavidMcCann · 07-13-2010, 05:48 PM

You shouldn't need to do anything with the fonts but put them in the correct place. It may be an Abiword problem (in which case I can't help), but try the following in a terminal:

cd $HOME/.fonts
mkfontscale
mkfontdir
fc-cache