Corel Linux True Type Fonts Mini HOWTO

Jim Riedmueller, vmlinuz@sdf.lonestar.org

Version 0.5, 17 January 1999
Making True Type Fonts available for use with Corel Linux

1. Introduction

2. Required Software

3. Adding Fonts and Configuring X

4. Credits and Legalities









1. Introduction

I decided to create this mini HOWTO after seeing numerous requests for help with setting up Corel Linux to use true type fonts. Being a long time victim of the ugly X desktop, and having just recently figured it all out, I decided it'd be best if I wrote it down. Corel Linux is a commercial distribution based on Debian, and as such, the setup is biased towards the Debian way of doing things. A lot of information is available on how to set up true type fonts with Redhat and other distributions, but the information doesn't correctly apply to Corel Linux. So...here it is.

This file (in the standard HOWTO format) will be available at http://vmlinuz.freeshell.org/corel/true-type.html. The flat-format version will be available at http://vmlinuz.freeshell.org/corel/flat-true-type.html

1.1 Change Log

0.1 - Posted messages on corelsupport.linux.corellinux
0.3 - Wrote it all down myself. Researched some of the available Mini HOWTOs to see if I was being redundant
0.5 - Assembled in standard and flat HOWTO format and submitted to newsgroup






2. Required Software

To make True Type Fonts available to Corel Linux, you need the following software:

2.1 How and Where to get it

2.1.1 XFS

XFS is installed by default on your Corel Linux system...you already have it :) . XFS can also provide true-type font services, through the use of another library called freetype. Adding how to use these two to provide true type fonts is my single "TODO" item.

2.1.2 XFSTT

XFSTT is available from the Debian servers. It is not provided with Corel Linux 1.0 (Download Version). To get XFSTT...

  1. Run Corel Update
  2. Select Options and Set File Sources from the menu bar
  3. Put a check in the Custom Path(s) box
  4. Put a check next to the line that says deb http://www.us.debian.org/debian slink main contrib non-free and click OK
  5. Update your profile
  6. Move to the Available Software tab, and click the + next to X11
  7. Scroll down the list until you see xfstt. Click the red X to it's left to change it to black and red arrows
  8. Select File and Upgrade & Install packages
  9. Wait for the box that says all upgrades, installations, and removals have been completed.
XFSTT is now running on your machine!

2.1.3 True Type Fonts

True Type Fonts are available all over the place. If you have a Windows partition or a windows machine on your network that you can access, look in c:\Windows\Fonts . If you have no Windows available to you...first pat yourself on the back, and then head out to the web. Here are some links: (Warning...these are sites with free stuff...expect a lot of ads) There are many many free font sites...fire up your favorite search engine if these sites don't have what you want.





3. Adding Fonts and Configuring X

Now we go through the steps of making XFSTT work for you. For these steps, you need to be logged in as ROOT.

3.1 Adding Fonts to your system

True Type Fonts used by XFSTT are located in the directory /usr/share/fonts/truetype/. First, check to make sure the directory truetype exists. It should have drwxr-xr-x permissions. If it doesn't have those permissions, you need to change the permissions to match. There are several ways to do this. The fastest is to open a console window and type:


Once we know the directory is there and it's permissions are correct, we can copy our true type fonts to that directory. True Type fonts have a file extension of .ttf . If you are getting fonts from a Windows disk, simple copy and past the .ttf files (normally located in C:\windows\fonts\) to the /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ directory. If you downloaded fonts from the web, more than likely they have to be unzipped. Here's how to do it with Corel's File Manager and Archive Administrator:

  1. Navigate to where ever the .zip file is
  2. Double click the .zip file
  3. Click on the filenames ending with .ttf
  4. Click Extract. You will be prompted for a destination and asked what files to extract. Put /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ in the destination box and click "Selected Files", then press ok
  5. The files are then extracted to the truetype directory
  6. Navigate to the /usr/share/fonts/truetype/ directory and make sure the font(s) is there and that its permissions are set at -rwxr-xr-x . If not, change them to match

Now that fonts are present in the directory, xfstt should be able to find them. Open a console window and type xfstt --sync. The response should be that X found how ever many fonts are in the directory. You can test this now by typing xset fp+ unix/:7101. If there are no errors, type xlsfonts | grep ttf. You should see a list of your true type fonts. It will look someting like this:
-ttf-arial black-medium-i-normal-italic-0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
-ttf-arial black-medium-r-normal-regular-0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
-ttf-arial narrow-bold-i-normal-bold italic-0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
-ttf-arial narrow-bold-r-normal-bold-0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1

If running xset fp+ unix/:7101 gets you an error something like: 

xset : bad font path element (#38), possible causes are:
Directory does not exist or has wrong permissions
Directory missing fonts.dir
Incorrect font server address or syntax
restart the font server by typing /etc/init.d/xfstt force-reload. Remember, you must be ROOT. The reply should be 
Reloading X True Type Font Server configuration...
Stopping X True Type Font Server: xfstt not running.
xfstt: sync in directory   "/usr/share/fonts/truetype/."
Found ## fonts
Starting XTruetype Font Server: xfstt
When you see this, run xset fp+ unix/:7101 and xfstt should find all your fonts.

3.2 Configuring X to find your true type fonts

The next step is to modify X' configuration files so it can use the font server you've just set up.

In your console window, type the following: You just created a backup of your X config. This step is VERY important, because things can ALWAYS go wrong!

To make the necessary changes to your XF86Config file, open kwrite and navigate to the /etc/X11/ directory, then open up XF86Config. One of the first parts of the configuration is a section named "Files". It looks like this: 
Section "Files"
   RgbPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
EndSection
Edit this section, placing FontPath "unix/:7101" right after the RgbPath line. The result should look like this: 
Section "Files"
   RgbPath    "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/rgb"
   FontPath   "unix/:7101"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc:unscaled"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi:unscaled"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi:unscaled"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Type1"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/Speedo"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/misc"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/75dpi"
   FontPath   "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/100dpi"
EndSection
Save the file and exit kwrite. Now your system is ready to use true type fonts. All you have to do is restart X. To do that, press CTL + ALT + BACKSPACE (or just log out and log back in).

3.3 Finishing the installation

Once you've restarted X, checking to see if true type fonts are working is as simple as running the KDE Font Manager ( Applications - System - Font Manager ). If all is well, your true type fonts will be listed under "Current KDE Fonts". Congratulations! Your true type fonts are now available to all your X applications.

If your true type fonts are NOT listed, go back and check your work. If you are getting no errors from xset fp+ unix/:7101, then check the XF86Config file and make sure it is modified as stated above.

Now, whenever you find a cool font on the web that you want to download...go for it! After you get the font in the /usr/share/font/truetype/ directory, just run (as root) xfstt --sync and you will be able to use it.





4. Credits and Legalities

This is all derivative...so I have to give credit where credit is due!

4.1 Credits

Bear Giles and his True Type Fonts in Debian mini-HOWTO
Doug Holland and his XFree86 Font Deuglification HOW-TO
Debian and Corel and their outstanding Linux Distributions, both of which forced me to figure this out on my own.

4.2 Legalities

Copyright © 2000 Jim Riedmueller.

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