Some people say that Windows has better font than Linux. But on Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick (I use this version), I think it has a good font too, named Ubuntu, as its’ default font. Also, font rendering in Firefox or Chromium is better now. But for some people, especially who works on design, default fonts are not enough. They need more fonts than that are provided. And maybe they have their own favourite font. So, they need to install it.

As I know, there are two ways to install font. First, installing it globally using root priviledge (using sudo in example). Second, installing it locally using default user priviledge.


Here are what I did to install my fonts:

Global Installing

  1. Copy your fonts directory to /usr/share/fonts/truetype, for example we have fonts directory /media/C/Windows/fonts and will copy it to /usr/share/fonts/truetype/windows, using command:
    sudo cp -R /media/C/Windows/fonts /usr/share/fonts/truetype/windows

    Note: -R above means recursive (deep copy).
  2. Change the priviledges of fonts, so it will be usable for any user. For example, we use 755, means root has full priviledge and others have read+executable priviledge.
    sudo chmod -R 755 /usr/share/fonts/truetype/windows
  3. Install font use command:
    sudo fc-cache
  4. I don’t know whether reboot is needed or not. I think it is not needed, CMIIW :)

Local Installing

  1. For local installing using user priviledge, I just use the font application that is default installed on Ubuntu.
  2. Open Nautilus Explorer (or what explorer you have), go to font directory. Double click the font you wish to install.
  3. There is a font explorer window opened. Just click Install Font button on right bottom.
  4. The font is installed.

Uninstall/Remove Fonts

Sometimes we need to remove some fonts because it makes something annoying or maybe for get more space in harddisk.

For global installed font, you can use the same method like when installing new fonts. Just remove the directory and do fc-cache.

And for local installed font, I don’t know about using the same application, because it has no Uninstall Font button. But don’t worry, you can found the installed font on directory ~/.fonts.

  1. Go to the directory:
    cd ~/.fonts
  2. Remove the font you wish to uninstall, for example I have Monaco Linux.ttf that I wish to uninstall:
    rm Monaco\ Linux.ttf

    As you see on the code that for filename we need backslash (\) before space
  3. I don’t know about directory ~/.fontconfig. Maybe if you remove all local fonts, you might delete it too :D
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