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TrueType and Linux

drag

Elite Member
I had a teacher in the school were I help out at get me a bit interested in the whole nature of fonts and their importance in communication and stuff, so I went and got the MS core fonts and got them to work correctly in my SLackware computer..... Do any of you guys know were I can get more of TrueType fonts?
 
Alright I already got the MS core stuff done, but I'll tell you how I did it, best to my rememberance...

OK you got the core fonts... they are in .exe format, but realy they are just cab files..
so get the cabextract program to unarchive them...
you need the files with .ttf extension,
put these in a file like this one...
/usr/X11/lib/X11/fonts/Truetype
then you need to get a program called mkttfontdir...
There is a program called mkfontdir that most distros have, and using that takes a couple extra steps but I used mkttfontdir... (do a search for mkttfontdir.tar.gz on google for the source, but I bet debian has it somewhere)
I made it from source, you download it, untar it (tar zxfv mkttfontdir.tar.gz) and it only took one "make" command to make it, then I copied it to my /usr/bin folder..

goto the /usr/X11/lib/fonts/TrueType and use mkttfontdir to make a specail file called fonts.dir

make sure that you have in your /etc/X11/XF86Config:
FontPath "/usr/X11/lib/fonts/TrueType"
in your FontPath section and
Load "freetype"
in your module section

BTW your fonts may be in a slightly different place like /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts or whatever SLack has a bunch of sym links everywhere to make it simple.

now use the /usr/X11/bin/fc-cache program (it wasn't in my search path(echo $PATH), so I had to go to the folder to execute it)

Now just shutdown X and restart it and you should be able to use the new fonts. Keep in mind though I am using SLackware 9 and supports XFree86 4.3.0 and the new freetype2 stuff, so it may be slightly different with you, but that's what worked for me.

Otherwise I am quite the newb when it comes to fonts and stuff like that, this made it quite a bit easier to read stuff on my blurry generic POS monitor...

hope that helps






 
Originally posted by: cleverhandle
In Debian, you can just use the "msfonts" deb package - it takes care of everything for you.

Yep, stuff like that is why I like Debian.
 
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Can you all really tell a difference between one font and another? Does it really matter?

Well to some people it does. I don't *really* care myself, though.
 
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Can you all really tell a difference between one font and another? Does it really matter?

Well to some people it does. I don't *really* care myself, though.

I'm sure it does to some people. But everyone I know doesn't have time for crap like that.
 
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Can you all really tell a difference between one font and another? Does it really matter?

Well to some people it does. I don't *really* care myself, though.

I'm sure it does to some people. But everyone I know doesn't have time for crap like that.

"apt-get install msttcorefonts", takes 'bout five minuts.

Yeah, whatever 🙂
 
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Can you all really tell a difference between one font and another? Does it really matter?

Well to some people it does. I don't *really* care myself, though.

I'm sure it does to some people. But everyone I know doesn't have time for crap like that.

"apt-get install msttcorefonts", takes 'bout five minuts.

Does that automatically go through all of the fonts with me to let me get a good look at them before I have to have work done? All in 5 minutes? Yeah, like you said, whatever 😛
 
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Can you all really tell a difference between one font and another? Does it really matter?

Well to some people it does. I don't *really* care myself, though.

I'm sure it does to some people. But everyone I know doesn't have time for crap like that.

"apt-get install msttcorefonts", takes 'bout five minuts.

Does that automatically go through all of the fonts with me to let me get a good look at them before I have to have work done? All in 5 minutes? Yeah, like you said, whatever 😛

No but it does download and install them for you. Hopefully you know how MS fonts look like already 😛. All else fails you could always just use Comic Sans 😀.
 
Originally posted by: wizardLRU

No but it does download and install them for you. Hopefully you know how MS fonts look like already 😛. All else fails you could always just use Comic Sans 😀.

I use whatever is default in the application I am currently using. My job doesn't require anything pretty 😉
 
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU

No but it does download and install them for you. Hopefully you know how MS fonts look like already 😛. All else fails you could always just use Comic Sans 😀.

I use whatever is default in the application I am currently using. My job doesn't require anything pretty 😉

😀
 
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Can you all really tell a difference between one font and another? Does it really matter?

Well to some people it does. I don't *really* care myself, though.

I'm sure it does to some people. But everyone I know doesn't have time for crap like that.

Of course they have time for it. What I guess you mean is, they don't care about it.

If you can't tell the difference between helvetica 14pt and arial 14pt, then yeah, you probably have no use for different fonts, but most people apparently can tell. (I sure can, and helvetica 14pt is god awful, not to mention Times vs. Times new roman, or Georgia - Georgia is awesome! 😉)
 
Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Can you all really tell a difference between one font and another? Does it really matter?

Well to some people it does. I don't *really* care myself, though.

I'm sure it does to some people. But everyone I know doesn't have time for crap like that.

Of course they have time for it. What I guess you mean is, they don't care about it.

Ok, I do not care about it enough to get less than the 4 hours of sleep I get now each night. So yes, I meant some of us don't have time for it. 🙂

If you can't tell the difference between helvetica 14pt and arial 14pt, then yeah, you probably have no use for different fonts, but most people apparently can tell. (I sure can, and helvetica 14pt is god awful, not to mention Times vs. Times new roman, or Georgia - Georgia is awesome! 😉)

Are those actual font names?
 
Originally posted by: BingBongWongFooey
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Can you all really tell a difference between one font and another? Does it really matter?

Well to some people it does. I don't *really* care myself, though.

I'm sure it does to some people. But everyone I know doesn't have time for crap like that.

Of course they have time for it. What I guess you mean is, they don't care about it.

If you can't tell the difference between helvetica 14pt and arial 14pt, then yeah, you probably have no use for different fonts, but most people apparently can tell. (I sure can, and helvetica 14pt is god awful, not to mention Times vs. Times new roman, or Georgia - Georgia is awesome! 😉)

Georgia is a very nice font, but I prefer Verdana or Tahoma for readability.

 
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Originally posted by: wizardLRU
Originally posted by: n0cmonkey
Can you all really tell a difference between one font and another? Does it really matter?

Well to some people it does. I don't *really* care myself, though.

I'm sure it does to some people. But everyone I know doesn't have time for crap like that.

"apt-get install msttcorefonts", takes 'bout five minuts.

Yeah, whatever 🙂
I love these new fonts, Linux is so awesome.
😉
 
Once again Debian saves me from spending hours learning about something I'm not particularly concerned with =)

Defoma (The Debian Font Manager) is badass.
 
hasn't anyone learned by now to not piss off the monkey 😉

Us linux not-noobs-but-still-ignoramouses like me need his help.

BTW......regarding true type.....I thought the only true benefit of using true-types was when you're on an LCD. I mean I can tell the fonts look diff't in XP w/ clear type....but I don't think they look "better" on my CRT (and it's a trinitron). And I've not tried installing them on my slack box either b/c after I got it up and running, I decided to never screw with it since it was such a tremendous PITA for me to even get it to do that.

Install.....took about 3 days. Finally got it.

X-->what do you mean....have to edit the Xfree86.conf file? But it has a wizard, doesn't it? What do you mean, what's my monitor refresh rate? Can't you auto-detect? What do you mean can't open display?

X-->After. Goddam it. My mouse acts like it's on crack. What do you mean I have to edit my damn xfree86 file again.

I really should have tried learning Linux from one of the hard distros first. Redhat/Mandrake/Suse spoiled me like an unbeaten red-headed step child.

 
I mostly did it to get decent readability with mozilla. My monitor sucks and I need all the help I can get. It is also very important when making artwork with that has any print in it. Fonts are used in words and the written form is one of the major ways to communicate. Different fonts evoke different emotional responses, and there is definately a difference between the qualities of fonts. Also not having decent scalable fonts is a very crippling when trying to use gimp to make any sort of fliers or artwork, badly designed or choosen fonts can make a peice of visual communication look amaturish and ineffective, where a better choice in size, quality, spacing, style, and placement would make it look like it was made by a professional design studio.

Generally the fonts supplied with linux would be best described as good-enough for a desktop, or most programs. They are clear enough for easy reading and decent enough for everyday use. If you never gave a thought to fonts before, then it is probably not important to you. It certainly isn't going to make a program more stable or run quicker or anything like that.
 
Originally posted by: drag
I mostly did it to get decent readability with mozilla. My monitor sucks and I need all the help I can get. It is also very important when making artwork with that has any print in it. Fonts are used in words and the written form is one of the major ways to communicate. Different fonts evoke different emotional responses, and there is definately a difference between the qualities of fonts. Also not having decent scalable fonts is a very crippling when trying to use gimp to make any sort of fliers or artwork, badly designed or choosen fonts can make a peice of visual communication look amaturish and ineffective, where a better choice in size, quality, spacing, style, and placement would make it look like it was made by a professional design studio.

Generally the fonts supplied with linux would be best described as good-enough for a desktop, or most programs. They are clear enough for easy reading and decent enough for everyday use. If you never gave a thought to fonts before, then it is probably not important to you. It certainly isn't going to make a program more stable or run quicker or anything like that.

gtk2 is nice as far as fonts go, the gtk2 version of the gimp can make really nice looking stuff with those fonts example
 
X-->what do you mean....have to edit the Xfree86.conf file? But it has a wizard, doesn't it? What do you mean, what's my monitor refresh rate? Can't you auto-detect? What do you mean can't open display?

XFree86 4 shouldn't need any modelines, it uses DDC to get all the info from the monitor.
And 'XFree86 -configure' should set up 99% of the config file for you, I normally just have to change the mouse type to ImPS/2 to get the wheel working and change nv to nvidia to get 3D working.
 
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