Microsoft fonts
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This article explains how to install TrueType Microsoft fonts and emulate Windows' font rendering.
Contents
Installation
Using fonts from a Windows partition
If there is a Windows partition mounted, its fonts can be used by linking to them.
For example, if the Windows C:\ partition is mounted at /windows
:
# ln -s /windows/Windows/Fonts /usr/share/fonts/WindowsFonts
Then regenerate the fontconfig cache:
# fc-cache
Alternatively, copy the Windows fonts to /usr/share/fonts
:
# mkdir /usr/share/fonts/WindowsFonts # cp /windows/Windows/Fonts/* /usr/share/fonts/WindowsFonts # chmod 755 /usr/share/fonts/WindowsFonts/*
Then regenerate the fontconfig cache:
# fc-cache
Current packages
Available in the AUR:
- ttf-win7-fontsAUR — Windows 7 fonts
- ttf-office-2007-fontsAUR — Microsoft Office 2007 fonts
- ttf-ms-win8AUR — Windows 8.1 fonts
Legacy packages
ttf-ms-fontsAUR is available in the AUR.
According to original Microsoft's End User License Agreement, there are some legal limitations when using the fonts.
The package includes:
- Andalé Mono
- Arial
- Arial Black
- Comic Sans
- Courier New
- Georgia
- Impact
- Lucida Sans
- Lucida Console
- Microsoft Sans Serif
-
Symbol - Times New Roman
- Trebuchet
- Verdana
- Webdings
- Wingdings
You can also obtain ttf-tahomaAUR from the AUR, which as you might expect contains Tahoma.
ttf-vista-fontsAUR is also available in the AUR and includes:
Fontconfig rules useful for MS Fonts
Often websites specify the fonts using generic names (helvetica, courier, times or times new roman) a rule in fontconfig replaces this fonts with (ugly) free fonts:
/etc/fonts/conf.d/30-metric-aliases-free.conf
to make full use of the MS fonts it is necessary to create a rule mapping those generic names to MS specific fonts contained in the various packages above:
<?xml version="1.0"?> <!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd"> <fontconfig> <alias binding="same"> <family>Helvetica</family> <accept> <family>Arial</family> </accept> </alias> <alias binding="same"> <family>Times</family> <accept> <family>Times New Roman</family> </accept> </alias> <alias binding="same"> <family>Courier</family> <accept> <family>Courier New</family> </accept> </alias> </fontconfig>
It is also useful to associate serif,sans-serif,monospace fonts in your favourite browser to MS fonts.
Windows XP
A complete guide on how to make the MS Fonts look as in Windows XP is found at http://www.sharpfonts.co.cc/ (site down, try sharpfontsAUR in the AUR). In short, install the fonts as described above and use the author's modified XML files.
Windows 7
Use Infinality's patched freetype2 package, and use the Windows 7 profile in the provided local.conf
.
Windows 8
The ttf-ms-win8AUR split package is intended as a more up-to-date replacement for the ttf-ms-fontsAUR, ttf-vista-fontsAUR and ttf-win7-fontsAUR AUR packages.
Although it provides newer versions of the fonts, it cannot automatically download the fonts due to license issues .
You can acquire fonts from an installed and fully updated Windows 8.1 system. Any edition of Windows 8.1 build Windows 8.1 6.3.9600.17238 will work.
On the installed Windows 8.1 system fonts are usually located in %WINDIR%\Fonts
and license file is %SYSTEM32%\license.rtf
.
You need the files listed in the source=()
array. Place them in the same directory as this PKGBUILD file, then run makepkg.
makepkg --pkg ttf-ms-win8
will make just the Windows 8.1 core fonts package which should cover even more than ttf-ms-fontsAUR.
Fonts are best viewed with Infinality. Infinality offers great font rendering and customization.