If you are used to Windows or Mac or you just suddenly start using Ubuntu, there are few things that you will want to know sooner or later.

Usually sooner…

VitalBodies recently switched all of our computers over to Ubuntu and upgraded from Hardy Heron to Intrepid Ibex to Jaunty Jackalope to Karmic Koala.

Glad we did, but there was a learning curve.

Below is a list of posts originally done for Hardy Heron but work equally well for Intrepid Ibex, Jaunty Jackalope and Karmic Koala.

The list of How Tos below is intended to reduce the incline of your learning curve…

Having the right help is like having the right chocolate…

TOP OF THE LIST TO YA:

Installing Applications / Programs / Software In Ubuntu:

• How To Install Programs In Ubuntu

• How To Install A Windows Program In Ubuntu

Installing Fonts:

• Installing Fonts Using Synaptic In Ubuntu
  
• Installing Fonts In Ubuntu
  
• How To Find Fun New Fonts For Ubuntu
• Configuring Fonts and Enabling Bitmapped Fonts In Ubuntu
• Where Are Fonts Stored / Located In Ubuntu?
• How To Create Or Edit Fonts In Ubuntu
• Installing Microsoft MS Core Fonts In Ubuntu
• Advanced Font Information And Settings In Ubuntu
• Installing Fonts In Wine On Ubuntu

Wireless That Works Out Of The Box:

• Wireless In Ubuntu

Wireless Range:

• Improving Wireless Range In Ubuntu

Shockwave Or Flash:

• How To Install Flash In Ubuntu

Java:

• How To Install Open Source Java In Ubuntu

FTP:

• FTP In Ubuntu - FileZilla

Firewall:

• Installing And Using A Firewall In Ubuntu

Resource Monitor:

• HTOP Resource Monitor In Ubuntu

Terminal Commands:

• COMMANDS that can be used in Ubuntu

Web Building or Development:

• XAMPP: Apache, PHP, MySQL Webalizer, OpenSSL etc

LightScribe:

• Getting LightScribe To Work In Ubuntu

What Version Are You Running?:

• Finding Version Information On Ubuntu

64-Bit Ubuntu:

• How To Tell If An Application Is 64-bit In Ubuntu

Blender 3D:

• How To Install Blender 2.46 In Ubuntu

Wireless Monitor:

• Applications > Add/Remove… > Show: All Open Source Applications > Search: Wireless
  

Screen Capture:

• Press the PrtSc button on your keyboard…

Where Are My Documents?:

• Places > Home Folder or home/username

VitalBodies would like to thank the countless Ubuntu teams and free software teams that make Ubuntu possible!

How does one install fonts in Wine? The answer is simpler than you think!

Applications > Wine > Browse C:\ Drive.

Navigate to: Windows > Fonts.

VitalBodies ended up here: /home/username/.wine/drive_c/windows/Fonts

Copy and paste your fonts in into the Fonts folder.

See, that was easy.

Font Stuff From the Wine User Guide: http://winehq.org/site/docs/wineusr-guide/index

Font Stuff From the Wine Wiki: http://wiki.winehq.org/

2.7. What is this “winetricks” thing? Where do I get it?

winetricks is a shell script that downloads missing DLLs and fonts for you from the best known source. It was written to help Wine developers, but it turned out to be useful for end users, too. See the wiki page about winetricks for more info.

2.31. Using wine over remote X11 sessions and No text or damaged text displayed

Please make sure not have added any fonts to wine. Font conflicts can sometimes cause a similar issue. If a fresh wine prefix.(A copy of wine that nothing has been done to yet) Is having this problem. Try setting following in registry

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wine\X11 Driver]
"ClientSideWithRender"="N"

Place above in text file and it can be inserted into registry by “regedit settings.txt”.

This was report as been required of OS X on the 1 Dec 2007. This may change. Please apply only as required.

2.32. How can I make Wine fonts anti-aliased?

^TODO

2.33. How do I change font size / DPI ?

First, you should try editing with winecfg. Go to the Graphics tab, and slide the “Screen Resolution” slider accordingly. Changes will not effect the winecfg window until you restart it.

If windows and fonts are so big you can’t get to the controls in winecfg, see the next question

2.34. Wine’s windows and fonts are extremely large, and the whole window can’t fit on the screen

Sometimes you can use the ALT key and the mouse to move the window so you can run winecfg and fix this as described in the previous question

If that doesn’t work, you can shut down your windows applications and change the registry value the hard way:

wineserver -k
sed -i 's@"LogPixels"=.*@"LogPixels"=dword:00000060@g' ~/.wine/system.reg

Alternately, you could remove your ~/.wine directory and reinstall your Windows applications.

Visit WineHQ.org

-

VitalBodies Guides – The How Tos Of Fonts In Ubuntu

Advanced Font Information: At some point you might want to consider where you what your fonts and if you need them to be System Wide or Per User Account.

Secret Locations Of Fonts:

The secret locations of your fonts whereabouts are defined in /etc/fonts/fonts.conf.

gedit /etc/fonts/fonts.conf

Standard Locations:

/usr/share/fonts

/usr/local/share/fonts

/home/<username>/.fonts (where <username> is your user name).

Note that the .font folder is a hidden folder.

Places > Home Folder > View > Show Hidden Files.

System Wide: If you add them system-wide, then new users can use them. Below is the default location for system wide fonts.

/usr/local/share/fonts

Per User Account: You can create a .fonts directory in your /home folder if there in not one there already. Put all of the fonts you want in the user account in the .fonts folder. This would allow the fonts to used by one user and allow for backing them up if you only back up the home folder. the fonts will only be accessible by your user account, thus, new users will have to add fonts to their own accounts. Below is the default location for Per User Account

/home/<username>/.fonts (where <username> is your user name).

Note that the .font folder is a hidden folder.

Places > Home Folder > View > Show Hidden Files.

Reconfiguring Your Font Settings In Ubuntu Hardy Heron:

The command below does a clean up of your font configuration and should be used at your own risk.

	sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig

Learn more: dpkg Help On Ubuntu Hardy Heron.

Defoma:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure defoma
man defoma

NAME
defoma – Debian Font Manager, a framework for automatic font configura‐
tion.

SYNOPSIS
defoma-font [options] command args..
defoma-app [options] command args..
defoma-subst [options] command args..

DESCRIPTION
Defoma stands for Debian Font Manager.  It  provides  a  framework  for
automatic  font  configuration.  This manpage introduces general Defoma
concepts, please refer  the  manpage  of  defoma-font,  defoma-app,  or
defoma-subst for the detailed information of each command.

Fonts  are used by numerous applications, but generally need to be con‐
figured separately for each application. Defoma solves this problem  by
calling  configuration  scripts  to  update  the  font configuration of
applications whenever a font is installed or removed.

A Defoma-configuration script is a perl library that  each  application
should       install       as       application-name.defoma       under
/usr/share/defoma/scripts and which configures a font for that applica‐
tion. The following is an example of a script named foo.defoma.

@ACCEPT_CATEGORIES = qw(type1 truetype);

package foo;

sub type1 {
my $com = shift;
…
}

sub truetype {
my $com = shift;
…
}

1;

This  example  represents  an  application  foo that wants to configure
truetype and type1 category fonts. A function by the same name  as  the
relevant category is called by Defoma with a command as the first argu‐
ment, and then additional arguments depending on the command.  The fol‐
lowing is a list of commands.

* register
* unregister
* do-install-real do-install-alias do-install-subst
* do-remove-real do-remove-alias do-remove-subst
* init
* term
* purge

do-install-*  and  do-remove-*  commands are only called from Id cache.
init and term are called at the start and end (respectively) of the en‐
tire process.

Id cache is another feature of Defoma. A common problem during automat‐
ic configuration is name space conflicts. Usually  applications  access
fonts through logical font names (like XLFDs and PostScript font names)
rather than the fonts themselves  (as  font  filenames).  Logical  font
names,  called  identifiers  in  Defoma, can easily conflict especially
when font aliases are permitted. Through the Id cache  mechanism,  only
one  font  is actually installed for each identifier even if it is pro‐
vided by several fonts.

Id Substitution is an additional feature of Id  cache.   It  selects  a
font  to provide an id specified by a rulefile.  The rulefile describes
rules giving required ids and their hints.  A rule is used to have more
similar-looking  fonts  with  the  same characters substitute for a re‐
quired id. This feature can also be used for the  purpose  of  grouping
fonts into different categories.

A  category represents  a type of font. Generally fonts that belong to
the same category are configured the same way.

Hints represent essential font  information  and  typeface  information
about  the font.  They consist of some HintTypes and their values. They
can be specified from the  command  line  options  of  defoma-font,  or
through a hintfile.

Hintfile describes one or more fonts and their hints in a single file.
It is supposed to be put under /etc/defoma/hints as a conffile, so that
users can modify the hints.
Below  is an example hintfile.  defoma-hints is a tool to help generat‐
ing hints as well as the hintfile, so you do not  have  to  create  one
from scratch.

category type1
begin /usr/share/fonts/type1/foo.pfa
FontName = Helvetica
Charset = ISO8859-1
Family = Helvetica
Weight = Medium
Shape = Upright NoSerif
GeneralFamily = SansSerif
X-FontName = -urw-helvetica-medium-r-noraml–0-0-0-0-p-iso8859-1
end
begin /usr/share/fonts/type1/foob.pfa
FontName = Helvetica-Bold
Charset = ISO8859-1
Family = Helvetica
Weight = Bold
Shape = Upright NoSerif
GeneralFamily = SansSerif
X-FontName = -urw-helvetica-bold-r-noraml–0-0-0-0-p-iso8859-1
end

SEE ALSO
defoma-font(1).    defoma-app(1).   defoma-subst(1).   defoma-hints(1).
defoma-psfont-installer(1).  defoma-reconfigure(1).  Defoma::Font(3pm).
Defoma::Id(3pm).        Defoma::Subst(3pm).        Defoma::Common(3pm).
/usr/share/doc/defoma-doc/developers.html/index.html
/usr/share/doc/defoma-doc/defoma-script.html/index.html

March  4, 2001                       defoma(1)

More Font Information:

For more detailed Font Information: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Fonts

Xfree86 Font Information: http://www.xfree86.org/current/fonts.html

-

VitalBodies Guides – The How Tos Of Fonts In Ubuntu

The terminal command below will only install the MS Core fonts rather than ALL of the fonts an artist may have used to create documents. For example, a CorelDraw user may have over 1000 fonts that comes with CorelDraw. VitalBodies is attempting to move away from using proprietary fonts like the fonts owned by MS but we understand that not all users are able to do so.

The graphical way to install (or uninstall) these fonts:

Applications > Add/Remove… Show: All Available Applications > Search: Fonts > Enable:

Microsoft Core Fonts:
Installer for Microsoft TrueType core fonts
This package allows for easy installation of the Microsoft True Type Core Fonts for the Web including:
Andale Mono Arial Black Arial (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) Comic Sans MS (Bold) Courier New (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) Georgia (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) Impact Times New Roman (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) Trebuchet (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) Verdana (Bold, Italic, Bold Italic) Webdings
You will need an Internet connection to download these fonts if you don’t already have them.

From the Ubuntu Wiki: “The msttcorefonts package contains the Microsoft freeware (non-Free because they are non-modifiable) web fonts. (Note: Most Microsoft fonts are included in this package; however, it does not include Tahoma or Arial Narrow. For more information on installing msttcorefonts please refer to RestrictedFormats”

Learn More About MS Core Fonts Controversy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_fonts_for_the_Web

sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

-

VitalBodies Guides – The How Tos Of Fonts In Ubuntu

Did you know you can create and edit fonts too? You could create a new unique font and offer that font for everyone in the world to use. Or perhaps you need to view, compare or manage fonts…

In Ubuntu Applications > Add/Remove… >

Show:

Supported Applications, All Open Source Applications, Third Party Applications or All Available Applications.

Search: Fonts

Then add a check to the check box of the application you want to install, click Apply Changes and then Apply and type you password and click Close.

Font Related Tools:

FontForge:

Font editor for PS, TrueType and OpenType fonts
FontForge (formerly PfaEdit) allows you to edit outline and bitmap fonts. You can create new ones or modify old ones. It is also a font format converter and can convert among PostScript (ASCII & binary Type 1, some Type 3s, some Type 0s), TrueType, and OpenType (Type2), CID-keyed, SVG, CFF and multiple-master fonts.
This package also provides these programs and utilities: fontimage – produce a font thumbnail image; mensis – examine and modify some of the tables in a truetype or opentype font; sfddiff – compare two font files; showttf – decompose a font file into its various tables and display it.

http://fontforge.sourceforge.net

Specimen Font Previewer:

Simple font preview and compare application for Gnome
A simple tool to view and compare fonts installed on your system. It has currently following features,
* A list of all fonts available (the left pane)
* A list of font previews (the right pane)
* Configurable preview text and font size
* Configurable foreground and background colors used in the preview pane

This application is provided by the Ubuntu community.
Homepage: http://uwstopia.nl/geek/projects/gnome-specimen

Fonty Python:

A GUI tool to manage ttf fonts
FontyPython is a GUI tool to manage ttf fonts on GNU/Linux system. It is written in Python and WxWidgets.
You can collect any fonts together (even ones not in your system font folders) into ‘pogs’ and then install and remove the pogs as you need them. In this way you can control what fonts are in your user font folder – thus avoiding long lists of fonts in the font chooser dialogues of your application.

This application is provided by the Ubuntu community.
Homepage: https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/fontypython

Waterfall:
View all characters of a font in all sizes
This program facilitates comparison of various fonts and font rendering parameters.
It displays sample lines of text in sizes from 5 to 36px simultaneously and allows changing of font size range and increment, hinting, autohinting, anti-aliasing, subpixel smoothing, and aspect, immediately showing the changes on the screen. All Unicode characters are divided into blocks of 128 characters, and user can choose block of 128 characters to use as sample line of text.

This application is provided by the Ubuntu community.

FSF:

http://directory.fsf.org/category/fonts/

FontImage:

http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/fontimage.html

-

VitalBodies Guides – The How Tos Of Fonts In Ubuntu

Are they being held captive?

Secret Locations:

The secret locations of your fonts whereabouts are defined in /etc/fonts/fonts.conf.

gedit /etc/fonts/fonts.conf

Standard Locations:

/usr/share/fonts

/usr/local/share/fonts

/home/<username>/.fonts (where <username> is your user name).

Note that the .font folder is a hidden folder.

Places > Home Folder > View > Show Hidden Files.

-

VitalBodies Guides – The How Tos Of Fonts In Ubuntu

	sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config

Copy the command above.

Open the terminal: Applications > Accessories > Terminal

Paste the command: Edit > Paste

Press the Enter Key on your keyboard > type in your password > Press the Enter Key on your keyboard.

Configure some of the settings Ubuntu uses when handling fonts.

Configuring Fonts:

Screen Rendering: You can set how Ubuntu handles screen rendering of fonts: Native, Autohinter None.

Subpixel Rendering: You can set how Ubuntu handles Subpixel Rendering: Automatic, Always or Never.

Enabling Bitmapped Fonts Or Outline Fonts: You can Enable Bitmapped Fonts or continue to use outline fonts in Ubuntu if you want to.

-

VitalBodies Guides – The How Tos Of Fonts In Ubuntu

How To:

• Installing Fonts Using Synaptic In Ubuntu Hardy Heron
  
• Installing Fonts In Ubuntu Hardy Heron
  
• How To Find Fun New Fonts For Ubuntu Hardy Heron
• Configuring Fonts and Enabling Bitmapped Fonts In Ubuntu Hardy Heron
• Where Are Fonts Stored / Located In Ubuntu Hardy Heron?
• How To Create Or Edit Fonts In Ubuntu Hardy Heron
• Installing Microsoft MS Core Fonts In Ubuntu Hardy Heron
• Advanced Font Information And Settings In Ubuntu Hardy Heron
• Installing Fonts In Wine On Ubuntu Hardy Heron

NEW! 465 Fonts: http://crunchbang.org/archives/2008/06/14/aenigma-fonts-for-ubuntu/

Very exciting that there is an easy way to install a large number of wild and amazing fonts! VitalBodies downloaded the DEB file (from crunchbang’s PPA) and chose to use the Gdebi Package Installer which automatically installed the fonts. Could not have been easier. The fonts loaded and all that was required to see them in Inkscape was to reboot. We could not find them with Fonty Python until we looked in /usr/share/fonts/truetype/aenigma.

Even then only 10 show up…

…Unless you press the forward button. At that point one notices they show up ten at a time and that they seem to all be there. Not noticing that button must be one of the drawbacks of having a really wide screen. : )

The font thing in Ubuntu is a bit challenging and this package is VERY helpful. VitalBodies wants to thank crunchbang, their helper and the artist…

According to crunchbang’s site the package and fonts are released under the Artistic License 2.0.
http://www.perlfoundation.org/artistic_license_2_0

Peaceloveandhappiness:

http://peaceloveandhappiness.org/?q=taxonomy/term/2

FSF:

http://directory.fsf.org/category/fonts/

Open Font Library:

http://openfontlibrary.org/

Typoasis:

http://moorstation.org/typoasis/themes.htm

-

VitalBodies Guides – The How Tos Of Fonts In Ubuntu

The packages available through Synaptic are mostly programs, tools and libraries.

But are there font packages in the system?

Yes!

From the Ubuntu Wiki: “You will need to enable the Universe and Multiverse repositories to get all the fonts available. See AddingRepositoriesHowto for instructions, and SynapticHowto if you need more information on Synaptic.”

VitalBodies suggests not enabling the Multiverse if you are new to Ubuntu.

Here is a quick way to enable repositories: System > Administration > Software Sources > (type you password if needed and click the Authenticate button) > Check the check boxes you wish to enable > Close > Reload.

From the Ubuntu Wiki: “Once the repositories are set up, search for “font” in Synaptic. You should get a list of over a hundred packages. (If you get far less, then you may need to press Reload, to make sure your repository data is up to date.) Not all of these packages are fonts, some are font utilities for editing or managing fonts. Clicking on a package will show a description.”

System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager.

VitalBodies also found that pushing the SEARCH BUTTON and searching for “ttf font” gave much better results. If you also sort to what is installed then you do not have to wade through what is already installed. Install the ttf fonts. We then tried another search for Bitmap (bdf, pcf or snf) Type 1 (pfa or pfb), Bitstream Speedo (spd), TrueType (ttf or ttc), OpenType (otf or otc) and CIDFont font formats and did not find much but can be worth while if youare looking for something super specific.

Note: After you install new fonts, you will need to make sure that the programs you want to use the new fonts within can recognize them. Usually all that is needed is closing and reopening the programs; however, some programs may require you to log out and log back in.

-

VitalBodies Guides – The How Tos Of Fonts In Ubuntu Hardy Heron