Fonts - they're pretty sh!t in Linux (on Ubuntu anyway) aren't they?

[daniel.m.tripp (Dan Tripp)]

I spend a fair bit of time in and out of Inkscape - it’s one of my favourite OSS apps - it’s about 80% as powerful as CorelDraw (that other 80% is Corel’s mulptiple page document support, and unparalled bitmap tracing to vector), and I can do just about everything I used to do in Corel, in Inkscape…

So much so - I probably won’t bother even trying to find a CorelDraw that might work on OS X (probably haven’t done an OS X port since the PowerPC era), and I won’t bother with Adobe Illustrator’s massive learning curve. I’ll just use Inkscape on Mac :

https://inkscape.org/forums/questions/is-inkscape-gonna-work-better-in-m1-chip/

I’ve taken delivery of a M1 8Gb Mac Mini today.
installed Inkscape and Rosetta and it flies.
so much quicker than my 2012 i5 Mac Mini with 16Gb of ram.
looking forward to working with it now.

But what I HATE - is the all the fonts that show up - none of the names are much of hint about what families they belong to - are they Times or Palatino related, or like Helvetica / Arial, seriphed or not (some have sans in the name - which is a hint) and many of them just have names that indicate which non-Latin character set they also support. I’m something of a typeface “fanboi” - entertained thoughts of being a signwriter when I was a teenager (until I failed the colour blindness test when a career guidance counsellor took me and my mate to a technical college), did a “ticket writing” course at night school when I was out of work as 17 / 18 year old. When I was a juvenile delinquent in inner city Melbourne, I used to “tag” graffiti using Old English characters (mid / late 1970’s) - one of my tags lasted 10 years!

I mean what the F are “aakar” or “Chandas”?

Yeah - I guess I can just try and remember where Ubuntu installs its fonts, and maybe just delete them?

I’ve got archives of TTF font files dating back 20+ years (including about 4 fonts I made myself using CorelDraw [yeah way back when on Windows 3.11 with CorelDraw 3.0 - you could make your own TTF fonts!] and then Fontographer) - so I could just plonk them on my Ubuntu instead… and most of them only support US and UK English subset of the Latin character set - but - that’s all I need…

I think there’s even a Ubuntu package you can install with a simple “apt get” that will install all the “default” Microsoft fonts…

That’s my plan for the evening anyway - figure out how to get rid of ALL the useless fonts I’ll never use (mental note : keep : “Purisa” I actually use that one!). Then install the stock Microsoft truetype fonts as a package, then hunt through my archive and install the ones I think I’ll use…

It’s not a huge complaint, but it’s an annoying niggle, and it bugs me in applications like Libre Office and Inkscape - all those seemingly hundreds of fonts I will never use with (to me) meaningless names, getting in the way of fonts I’ll be more likely to use (mental note : don’t delete powerline or the ubuntu / gnome fonts used by gnome terminal )…

[daniel.m.tripp (Dan Tripp)]

Lovely lovely Ubuntu with ZSH completion (command completion, in ZSH, seems more “complete” than the same feature in bash) :

╭─x@titan ~/MPZ/LinguaIgnota
╰─➤ sudo apt remove font<TAB TAB>
fontconfig fonts-liberation fonts-samyak-deva fonts-tlwg-kinnari-ttf
fontconfig-config fonts-liberation2 fonts-samyak-gujr fonts-tlwg-laksaman
fontmanager.app fonts-lklug-sinhala fonts-samyak-mlym fonts-tlwg-laksaman-ttf
fonts-3270 fonts-lohit-beng-assamese fonts-samyak-taml fonts-tlwg-loma
fonts-beng fonts-lohit-beng-bengali fonts-sarai fonts-tlwg-loma-ttf
fonts-beng-extra fonts-lohit-deva fonts-sil-abyssinica fonts-tlwg-mono
fonts-cantarell fonts-lohit-gujr fonts-sil-padauk fonts-tlwg-mono-ttf
fonts-dejavu fonts-lohit-guru fonts-smc fonts-tlwg-norasi
fonts-dejavu-core fonts-lohit-knda fonts-smc-anjalioldlipi fonts-tlwg-norasi-ttf
fonts-dejavu-extra fonts-lohit-mlym fonts-smc-chilanka fonts-tlwg-purisa
fonts-deva fonts-lohit-orya fonts-smc-dyuthi fonts-tlwg-purisa-ttf
fonts-deva-extra fonts-lohit-taml fonts-smc-gayathri fonts-tlwg-sawasdee
fonts-droid-fallback fonts-lohit-taml-classical fonts-smc-karumbi fonts-tlwg-sawasdee-ttf
fonts-freefont-ttf fonts-lohit-telu fonts-smc-keraleeyam fonts-tlwg-typewriter
fonts-gargi fonts-mathjax fonts-smc-manjari fonts-tlwg-typewriter-ttf
fonts-gubbi fonts-mlym fonts-smc-meera fonts-tlwg-typist
fonts-gujr fonts-nakula fonts-smc-rachana fonts-tlwg-typist-ttf
fonts-gujr-extra fonts-navilu fonts-smc-raghumalayalamsans fonts-tlwg-typo
fonts-guru fonts-noto-cjk fonts-smc-suruma fonts-tlwg-typo-ttf
fonts-guru-extra fonts-noto-color-emoji fonts-smc-uroob fonts-tlwg-umpush
fonts-inconsolata fonts-noto-mono fonts-taml fonts-tlwg-umpush-ttf
fonts-indic fonts-opensymbol fonts-telu fonts-tlwg-waree
fonts-kacst fonts-orya fonts-telu-extra fonts-tlwg-waree-ttf
fonts-kacst-one fonts-orya-extra fonts-thai-tlwg fonts-ubuntu
fonts-kalapi fonts-pagul fonts-tibetan-machine fonts-urw-base35
fonts-khmeros-core fonts-povray fonts-tlwg-garuda fonts-wine
fonts-knda fonts-powerline fonts-tlwg-garuda-ttf fonts-yrsa-rasa
fonts-lao fonts-sahadeva fonts-tlwg-kinnari

All I have to do is select (double click the string) all the ones I want gone and paste them with middle-button paste (not looking forward to the risk that won’t work in OS X), press enter, and they’re gone, out of my life forever and good riddance

– edit –

Whoops! Doh! Disaster! Accidentally removed Purisa with

sudo apt remove fonts-tlwg-\*

and fixed it with

sudo apt install fonts-tlwg-purisa\*

and - discovered one AWESOME feature with Inkscape on Linux, it’s dynamic! Add a font while Inkscape’s running and you can use it straight away! Haven’t stuff around with fonts in Windows for years, but I remember you couldn’t use a newly installed font in an application without exiting the app and reopening it…

I had a document open in Inkscape that was using Purisa font - it went “ordinary” (arbitrary font substitution algorithm - I think it attempts to replace with another one in the same “family”) - the soon as I re-installed those fonts, Inkscape “righted itself”!
– edit –
I’ve still got too many fonts, but I’ve culled about 30-40 useless fonts I’ll NEVER use and less clutter in apps when I’m looking for another font to use…

[clatterfordslim (mark)]

I use a lot of fonts from movies and computer games on thumbnails for videos. Have a lot of them, but make a share folder in .local folder, called fonts, rather than .fonts in your hidden home folder.

[daniel.m.tripp (Dan Tripp)]

Nothing’s changed in ~8 months - the fonts that Canonical pre-install with Ubuntu are pretty much universally SHIT…

Like 25 variations on the same piece of crap! Utter garbage… and just WTF are all these :

• cmmi10
• cmext10
• cmsy10
• …
  ad nauseam

Pretty sure this is still the same install of Ubuntu (20.04 on Ryzen 7) I complained about in July 2021…

I’ve since installed the MS core TTF fonts package so I can at least get Arial and Times New Roman :

sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

And even though I removed a shitpile of shit fonts already - there’s too many HIDEOUS pointless fonts left over… Ubuntu really needs some kinda cleanup all the EXCESS baggage… And whoever made the decision to overload it with GARBAGE, should be taken down the back paddock behind the knackering shed and ended with a “kind” bullet, and out of our misery…

The main thing I use fonts in is Inkscape… And everytime I try to pick a font to use I’m DROWNING IN EFFLUENT there’s so many that barely look any different from one another!

ARRRRGHHHH!

Here’s an interesting page :

https://www.riksoft.it/wikiriks/linux/remove-foreign-fonts-get-rid-asian-oriental-fonts

I’m guessing this is probably irrelavant to non-Anglophone / Latin alphabet users… I’m going to give his script a go anyway, but if you’re in India, South or East or South East Asia YMMV :

#!/bin/bash
# www.riksoft.it/wikiriks
# Remove all oriental fonts in Mint 18 (surely OK for Ubuntu 16 as well)
 
for i in fonts-kacst fonts-kacst-one fonts-khmeros-core fonts-lklug-sinhala fonts-guru fonts-nanum fonts-noto-cjk fonts-takao-pgothic fonts-tibetan-machine fonts-guru-extra fonts-lao fonts-sil-padauk fonts-sil-abyssinica fonts-tlwg-* fonts-lohit-* fonts-beng fonts-beng-extra fonts-gargi fonts-gubbi fonts-gujr fonts-gujr-extra fonts-kalapi fonts-lohit-gujr fonts-samyak-* fonts-noto-unhinted fonts-noto-hinted fonts-navilu fonts-nakula fonts-orya-extra fonts-pagul fonts-sahadeva fonts-sarai fonts-smc fonts-telu-extra fonts-wqy-microhei; do
  sudo apt purge -y $i
  echo
done
 
echo "==== Fixing font cache"
sudo fc-cache -f -v && sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig
 
echo "==== Packages remained (each containing multiple fonts)"
dpkg -l fonts\*|grep ^ii|awk '{print $2}'
 
 
echo
read -p "Press any key to close."

I’ll probably save this script as something like fuck-off-fonts.bash. Hmmm I might think about his some more - Mint 18, I’m running Ubuntu 20.04 :

Improved version here :
https://www.riksoft.it/wikiriks/linux/remove-foreign-fonts-from-debian-ubuntu
– edit update –
I heavily edited Rik’s shellscript - I kinda hate Firefox, but I use it as a portable app anyway, stuck on whatever ESR version I copied into ~/sbin/fuckedfox folder (so it can’t force restart on me when I want to open a new tab). I made the libre office and firefox sections into separate functions that I don’t run. I’ve run it and I’ve still got like (exaggeration) 10,000,000 ugly fonts I’ll never f–king use!
– another edit update –
I did a “sudo apt purge fonts-mathjax” and that’s removed about 25 utterly useless fugly fonts I’ll NEVER use…
— rant over for today — Peace and love brothers and sisters

[Fast.Edi (Edgar Hoffmann)]

Hey.
As for Inkscape, there are some font defining files in:
etc/fonts/ and etc/fonts/conf.d
But I think, you can’t exclude the system fonts, just add user defined fonts, that are not installed

[kgwoo (Kim Whitmyre)]

Just used this to prune the unnecessary fonts

[jimofadel (Jim K)]

Amen, ditto, me too, and I agree. I would PAY (there are limits) for an app that would allow me to select the fonts that I want, and then REMOVE all the rest of them. When we do our OS installs, we are asked for our time zone and our favorite language… why punish 10,000 to meet the needs of 1?

[daniel.m.tripp (Dan Tripp)]

So glad I started this topic - I can refer back to it from time to time - like I just did now with Ubuntu 20.04.4 rebuild on this Thinkpad E495!

I’d forgotten what I’d called my version of Rik’s script!

- one thing I did notice - recent distro-hopping -

During Garuda’s endless “ass-istant” popup and nags, one of the options was to install like 35 BILLION ASIAN fonts, or not, and the default was “not”… Ubuntu when installing for UK, USA, Canada, Australia, most of Europe etc, should offer to NOT install 35 gazillion fonts you will never use!

[daniel.m.tripp (Dan Tripp)]

OK - Pop!_OS is also guilty of this unholy transgression - FONT overload like 50 billion variations on some fonts called px_blah blah blah… and more…

My purloined version of :

# Author: Rik - www.riksoft.it

Now also does this :

#remove orphans/rubbish
sudo rm -r /usr/share/fonts/opentype/fonts-hosny-amiri \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/andika \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/arphic \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/arundina \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-bpg-georgian \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/khmeros \
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/malayalam \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/malayalam \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/malayalam \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/culmus \
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/ipafont-gothic \
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/ipafont-mincho \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/farsiweb \
/usr/share/fonts/opentype/fonts-hosny-thabit \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-ukij-uyghur \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-yrsa-rasa \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/scheherazade \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/unikurdweb \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/dzongkha \
/usr/share/fonts/truetype/fonts-deva-extra \
/usr/share/fonts/pc/Px_*

(i.e. just added another “\” and added a line to remove Px_ files…)*

Seems to spit out a few errors in Pop!_OS but it does the job…

After running that a simple

sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Now sometimes - I do like to install fonts on a adhoc basis… But I didn’t need 50 f–king billion fonts that I would NEVER EVER EVER use!

Font overload is bullshit - how are you EVER going to find the font you want when there a bazillion of them!

It’s worst in InkScape… Just AWFUL when there’s too many superfluous fonts…

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@daniel.m.tripp

Font overload is bullshit - how are you EVER going to find the font you want when there a bazillion of them!

There may be a place for an app that helps people choose fonts.

[artytux]

@daniel.m.tripp

how are you EVER going to find the font you want

Use @clatterfordslim suggestion, I do that for Gimp.

Fonts - they're pretty sh!t in Linux (on Ubuntu anyway) aren't they?

I use a lot of fonts from movies and computer games on thumbnails for videos. Have a lot of them, but make a share folder in .local folder, called fonts, rather than .fonts in your hidden home folder.

[JoelA]

on Ubuntu variations try font-manager. Allows you to disable fonts, add, delete , etc…

[daniel.m.tripp (Dan Tripp)]

@clatterfordslim

I use a lot of fonts from movies and computer games on thumbnails for videos.

Sometimes I grab fonts that a based on band logos, or even TV shows…

But that’s on a as-needed adhoc basis… There was recently a TV show called “The Righteous Gemstones” - and I wanted to use a social media image from the show, to make a parody meme of Australian politics - and - the font they used in the show credits and promotional material was widely available :

And the original :

Crikey - I can’t remember the font name… But it’s there somewere in my collection of fonts on my cloud sync (that doesn’t use the cloud) solution…

Now : I’ve rebuit ALL my main desktop computers several times over since I made that meme (we had a different prime minister when I made it) - and for the life of me - wouldn’t have a clue what the font was! Back in the mists of time. So if I open the document (SVG) in InkScape - it displays a different font (some default sans-seriph glyph). So how can I remember the font name?

SVG is a TEXT file!

╭─x@titan ~/Pictures/working/schlomo  
╰─➤  grep -i righteous RighteousF__kwads.svg|grep -v F__kwads|grep font
         style="font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:10.5833px;font-family:'Festival Budaya XXXI';-inkscape-font-specification:'Festival Budaya XXXI, Normal';font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-variant-numeric:normal;font-feature-settings:normal;text-align:start;writing-mode:lr-tb;text-anchor:start;stroke-width:0.264583">Righteous</tspan></text>

And there it is “Festival Budaya XXXI”… Too easy! Try doing that with CorelDraw or Adobe Illustrator!

[nevj (Neville Jackson)]

@daniel.m.tripp

grep -i righteous RighteousF__kwads.svg|grep -v F__kwads|grep font

So you can remember that grep statement, but not the font name?

[artytux]

@daniel.m.tripp

There was recently a TV show called “The Righteous Gemstones”

Since it is recent
then if you can you could revisit the page in question
then highlight the text you need
then right click the highlighted text
then select ‘Inspect’
then depending on Dirtro/browser blah blah blah search the columns for the font family
and then you are done.

[daniel.m.tripp (Dan Tripp)]

No - the webpage (don’t even know if there was one for the show - I got my copies from my friendly neighbourhood pir8 corner store) didn’t have the logo as a font…

In fact not many webpages do have fancy logo style fonts… too many issues trying to render fonts in a remote browser… mostly just tell the browser session which font family…

@nevj

So you can remember that grep statement, but not the font name?

Why not? I know the filename… (RighteousF__kwads.svg) … I know the string (contains “righteous”)… I just don’t know the font name! That string is stored inside the SVG file as a “string”, and an SVG file is basically just a fancy text file, with searchable text… Damn - you just made me curious - I might try using sed on an SVG file

In 35 years of using computers and doing graphical shit with them in Corel Draw, Photoshop, creating fonts from scratch myself, on Windows, Mac nad Linux - I must have come across I dunno 500-1000 different fonts, how can I remember all those names??? I can still remember a time when Windows (3.0) only offered a tiny selection of bitmap fonts - if you wanted something fancier you had to install Adobe Type Manager for postscript fonts!

[pdecker]

@daniel.m.tripp

I can still remember a time when Windows (3.0) only offered a tiny selection of bitmap fonts - if you wanted something fancier you had to install Adobe Type Manager for postscript fonts!

I don’t know that I ever used Adobe Type Manager myself. They did at work some. Too expensive for me. Then True Type came out. I kind of figured Adobe was done for at that point, but they seemed to have pivoted and survived.

[daniel.m.tripp (Dan Tripp)]

@pdecker

Too expensive for me.

If you paid for it
Back in the day, nearly everything was a “portable app” - you just needed the exe file and you had ATM on your Windows 3.0 system!