For those who prefer the old system font, now it’s easy to get it in Ubuntu 23.10 via a new package!

Since Ubuntu 23.04, Ubuntu takes use a new slim font for the text in system menus, documents, and app windows.

Some users do NOT like the change, because the new font is thin and hard to focus on. And, I’ve written about how to get the previous font back in Ubuntu 23.04.

Now, Ubuntu 23.10 includes a new package fonts-ubuntu-classic in system repository. Make it easy to do the job even without a system restart.

Install the Classic Font in Ubuntu 23.10

To install the font, simply press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal.

When terminal opens, run command:

sudo apt install fonts-ubuntu-classic

Run sudo apt update to update package cache if it says package not found.

After installation, your system font change without restart! For opened app windows, you need to close and re-open them. For ‘Files’, just run nautilus -q to reload.

(Optional) Install ‘fonts-ubuntu-console’

The package above does not install the old font for the command console.

For choice, you may download the package for Ubuntu 22.04:

wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/fonts-ubuntu-console_0.83-6ubuntu1_all.deb

Then, install it via:

sudo apt install ./fonts-ubuntu-console_0.83-6ubuntu1_all.deb

How to Uninstall

To restore the system default fonts, just open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install the stock font packages back:

sudo apt install fonts-ubuntu fonts-ubuntu-console

Since Ubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster, the default system fonts for the texts in system menus, documents, and app windows have been changed.

The new font is slim. And, I’ve written a tutorial about how to try it out in Ubuntu 22.04 and 20.04. If you prefer the old one, here’s how to revert it back in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Compare to Ubuntu 23.04/23.10, the new font in Ubuntu 24.04 looks better now in my opinion. Because, the default fonts have been changed:

• from ‘Ubuntu Regular‘ to ‘Ubuntu Sans‘ for interface text.
• from ‘Ubuntu Mono Regular‘ to ‘Ubuntu Sans Mono‘ for monospace text.

Default fonts changed in Ubuntu 24.04

Install old Ubuntu Fonts in Ubuntu 24.04

1. Install the classic font

Since Ubuntu 23.10, a new package fonts-ubuntu-classic is available in system repository for those who prefer the classic font.

To install the package, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open up a terminal window. Then, run command:

sudo apt install fonts-ubuntu-classic

You may run sudo apt update to refresh system package cache first if the command above somehow does not work for you.

After installing the classic fonts, text in terminal may become un-readable. In the case, just log out and back in.

2. Download & install classic font for Console (Optional)

The classic font for console (terminal) so far is NOT available in Ubuntu 24.04 repository. For choice, you may manually download and install the package for Ubuntu 22.04.

To do so, launch a terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T), and download the classic font for console package via command:

wget -c https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/fonts-ubuntu-console_0.83-6ubuntu1_all.deb

Next, install the package by running command:

sudo apt install ./fonts-ubuntu-console_0.83-6ubuntu1_all.deb

3. Apply the classic fonts

Option 1: Use Gnome Tweaks to apply classic fonts:

After installed the classic fonts, it won’t apply automatically, because the default font names have changed as mentioned.

To switch back the old ones, first search for and install GNOME Tweaks from App Center.

Next, launch Gnome Tweaks, and in the first “Fonts” tab:

• Select Ubuntu Regular as Interface Text font. It will be displayed as ‘Ubuntu’ after selection.
• And select Ubuntu Mono Regular for Monospace Text, if you also installed the classic font for console.

Option 2: use Linux commands to apply the classic fonts
For those who are OK with Linux commands, open up a terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the commands below one by one instead:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface font-name "Ubuntu 11"

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface monospace-font-name "Ubuntu Mono 13"

Lock & Prevent updating to new fonts

To prevent your system from automatically updating to the new fonts, you have to lock the old fonts packages that were just installed via the previous step.

Thanks to @Alex Farran, lock package version via Synaptic package manager only prevents itself and ‘Software Updater’ from upgrading the package. However, apt command and may be other tools can still upgrade the fonts. So, the best choice can be running the command below in terminal:

sudo apt-mark hold fonts-ubuntu fonts-ubuntu-console

For the graphical way (NOT work for apt), first open App Center, search for and install Synatic Package Manager.

Then launch “Synaptic”, click “Search” and search “fonts-ubuntu“. Finally, do:

• Press and hold Ctrl then highlight both “fonts-ubuntu” and “fonts-ubuntu-console” packages.
• Go to menu “Package -> Lock Version”.

How to go back the new Ubuntu Fonts

First, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to unlock the font packages:

sudo apt-mark unhold fonts-ubuntu fonts-ubuntu-console

Then, also search for and launch Synaptic package manager.

When it opens, search “fonts-ubuntu“. Then do:

• highlight both “fonts-ubuntu” and “fonts-ubuntu-console” packages via Ctrl + mouse click.
• Go to menu “Package” and un-check “Lock Version” (skip if NOT enabled).
• Next, right-click on both packages and select “Mark for Upgrade“.
• Finally, click on “Apply” button.

When done, reset the font names by running commands in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) one by one:

gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.interface font-name

gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.interface monospace-font-name

The Ubuntu design team is working on new Ubuntu fonts and proposes to use as default in the upcoming Ubuntu 23.04.

For testing purpose, the team posted the .deb packages for the new fonts in this thread. User can try it out by installing in all current Ubuntu releases and report any issue in this page.

I’ve tried out the new fonts in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. The text in system menu and application window becomes a bit thin and compact than before.

And, the document text in text editor looks enlarged, that I even doubted if the font size was changed mistakenly.

How to Install the New Fonts

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run single command below to download the 2 font packages:

wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/fonts-ubuntu_0.863-0ubuntu3_all.deb https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/fonts-ubuntu-console_0.863-0ubuntu3_all.deb

Install wget via sudo apt install wget if it says command not found.

After downloaded the packages, use command to install them:

sudo dpkg -i fonts-ubuntu-console_0.863-0ubuntu3_all.deb fonts-ubuntu_0.863-0ubuntu3_all.deb

You can then remove the 2 packages in user home folder. And restart computer to apply changes after installation.

How to Restore original fonts

The stock fonts package version varies on different Ubuntu editions, so I would recommend to first install Synaptic package manager in Ubuntu Software.

Then, open “Synaptic” and do:

1. Search and highlight “fonts-ubuntu” package.
2. Go to menu “Package -> Force Version”.
3. Select the old stock version from pop-up dialog, then click “Force Version” button.
4. Finally, click “Apply”.
5. Also, do the previous steps one by one for “fonts-ubuntu-console” package.

Also, restart computer to apply changes and done!

This simple tutorial shows how to fix the launching issue for TypeCatcher in Ubuntu 22.04 or other Linux with Python 3.9 & higher.

TypeCatcher is a simple GTK application to download and install Google webfonts for off-line use. The app is available to install in Ubuntu Software for all current Ubuntu releases. However, it does not launch in Ubuntu since 21.10.

TypeCatcher, download & install Google Fonts

When trying to launch it from command line, it outputs something like this:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/typecatcher_lib/Application.py”, line 30, in on_activate
self.window = TypeCatcherWindow.TypeCatcherWindow()
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/typecatcher_lib/Window.py”, line 47, in __new__
builder = get_builder(‘TypeCatcherWindow’)
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/typecatcher_lib/helpers.py”, line 44, in get_builder
builder.add_from_file(ui_filename)
File “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/typecatcher_lib/Builder.py”, line 86, in add_from_file
ele_widgets = tree.getiterator(“object”)
AttributeError: ‘ElementTree’ object has no attribute ‘getiterator’

The issue is because of the removal of getiterator() methods from xml.etree.ElementTree module in Python 3.9, which was deprecated since Python 3.2.

As the announcement indicates, simply use iter() method instead will fix the issue.

Methods getchildren() and getiterator() of classes ElementTree and Element in the ElementTree module have been removed. They were deprecated in Python 3.2. Use iter(x) or list(x) instead of x.getchildren() and x.iter() or list(x.iter()) instead of x.getiterator().

1. First, search for and open a terminal window from either start menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your desktop environment.

2. When terminal opens, run command to edit the file that contains the ‘getiterator()’ method (see the first screenshot). In the case, it’s “/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/typecatcher_lib/Builder.py”.

sudo gedit /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/typecatcher_lib/Builder.py

replace gedit to your favorite text editor, or use nano command line editor that works in most Linux.

3. When files opens, find out and replace tree.getiterator with tree.iter.

For Gedit text editor, just go to menu, click open ‘Find and Replace’ dialog. Finally, insert tree.getiterator as ‘Find’, and ‘tree.iter‘ as ‘Replace with’, then click on ‘Replace All’ button.

For nano text editor, press Alt+R when the file opens in terminal window. Then type tree.getiterator when it indicates ‘Search (to replace)’, hit Enter, and insert tree.iter when prompts ‘Replace with’. Finally, hit Enter and type y. Or, just use arrow keys to find and replace the keyword (there are 2) manually. And, press Ctrl+x, type y, and hit Enter to save changes.

After saving the file, try to launch it either from ‘Activities’ overview or command line, and enjoy!