One thing Microsoft has done well is create good looking fonts. Linux traditionally has had a terrible font set, but it has improved tremendously compared to the old RedHat days. Still, it could be a lot better. As a result of this, we are going to install Microsoft's TrueType core fonts for the web, following the directions from:
Installation programs
To start, make sure that you have the appropriate packages (rpm-build, wget, and tkmkfdir) installed on your system:
~>
rpm -q rpm-build wget ttmkfdir
If you hare missing any one of
these packages, use yum
to install it.Install cabextract, chkfontpath, libFS, and xorg-x11-xfs
The utilities are available in the Fedora repository. Use yum to install it:
~>
sudo yum install cabextract chkfontpath libFS xorg-x11-xfs
Hit Enter and 'y' when asked
if you want to download and install the rpm.Download the msttcorefonts spec file
Download the latest msttcorefonts spec file from the corefonts.sourceforge.net webpage. Look for the "here" link under Point 3. If you using Firefox, the file will be downloaded to your Desktop directory, unless you have changed it.
Build the binary rpm
Change into the directory that the msttcorefonts spec file was downloaded to:
~>
cd ~/Download
and build the rpm: ~>
sudo rpmbuild -bb msttcorefonts-2.0-1.spec
This will download about 8 MB
of fonts from a sourceforge mirror and repackage them for installation
using an rpm
file.Install the rpm
Change your directory to the location that the rpm file was created:
~>
cd /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/noarch/
Use sudo to
install the rpm
package: ~>
sudo rpm -vhi msttcorefonts-2.0-1.noarch.rpm
If you want, you can now
delete the rpm file, as well as the msttcorefonts build directory: ~>
sudo rm /usr/src/redhat/RPMS/noarch/msttcorefonts-2.0-1.noarch.rpm
~> sudo rm -r /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/msttcorefonts
Install the X Font Server xfs~> sudo rm -r /usr/src/redhat/BUILD/msttcorefonts
Use yum to install the xfs Font server:
~>
sudo yum install xfs
Press 'y' when
prompted to install the programs and any additional dependencies. Next, run mkfontscale and mkfontdir: ~>
sudo mkfontscale
~> sudo mkfontdir
Then build new font information cache files:~> sudo mkfontdir
~>
sudo fc-cache -f -v
Finally, restart the font server: ~>
sudo service xfs restart
You should see the X Font
Server successfully start:
Starting
xfs:
[ OK
]
To enable it during boot time, use chkconfig:~> sudo chkconfig --level 345 xfs on
Verify
the InstallationCheck to make sure that the fonts have been installed:
~>
xlsfonts |grep microsoft
and ~>
xlsfonts |grep monotype
You should see a large number
of microsoft
and monotype
font names listed as a result of these two commands. Note that
all of your programs will need to be restarted if you want them to be
made aware of the new fonts. For some older applications, you may
need to log out of Gnome, KDE, or Enlightenment and log back in (you do
NOT need to reboot, however).