FontFAQ
- Q: Which server can I use for my fonts?
A: Try:
apt-get install xfstt
* Xfstt serves TrueType fonts to X11 servers.
- Q: Where are my truetype fonts?
- A: In /usr/share/fonts/truetype
- Q: After a dist-upgrade I lost my fonts. I have only a couple of fonts to choose from and none of them are Helvetica that I use for my desktop and the konsole font is also not as it used to be.
A: Chances is that fontconfig has been upgraded and the standard local.conf has overwritten your version. The following fc-cache run has then removed all cached bitmap fonts. In order to solve this problem, edit /etc/fonts/local.conf and enable the bitmapped fonts by removing the <!-- and --> comment markers below the sentence <!-- Uncomment below to enable bitmapped fonts --> then, as root, rerun the command 'fc-cache -fv' to recreate the font cache. Programs can now be restarted to use the proper fonts.
- Q: I don't understand how to configure X fonts under debian and I don't have time to learn. Am I doomed to look at crappy fonts for the rest of my life?
A: Not at all. Follow these simple instructions: http://web.archive.org/web/20050306015258/http://egads.ertius.org/~rob/font_guide.txt
- As of 2017 these instructions don't help as they reference packages no longer available.
- Q: There is no true-type font for Helvetica. How can I fix this?
- A: Replace Helvetica with sans-serif.
(copied from iMacG5 configuration) You need to create a new font configuration file. In the terminal:
{{{cd ~ nano -w .fonts.conf}}}
and add these lines. If you already have text in this file (because you have set up font-smoothing, for example) then you need to copy the lines inside the <fontconfig> tag, since the header and <fontconfig> tags already exist in your file
<?xml version="1.0"?> <!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd"> <fontconfig> <!-- Helvetica is a non true type font, and will look bad. This replaces it with whatever is the default sans-serif font --> <match target="pattern" name="family" > <test name="family" qual="any" > <string>Helvetica</string> </test> <edit mode="assign" name="family" > <string>sans-serif</string> </edit> </match> <dir>~/.fonts</dir> </fontconfig>