Archives For November 30, 1999

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

One of the visible changes in Ubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster is the new font for the texts in system menus, documents, and app windows.

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 fonts, it’s also easy to get it in Ubuntu 23.04 (also tested and works in Ubuntu 23.10)!

And, here’s a GIF image shows the changes between the old and new Ubuntu fonts. NOTE: In the GIF image below, “After” is the new fonts, while “Before” is the old one.

Install old Ubuntu Fonts in Ubuntu 23.04/23.10

To install the old fonts, just download the packages from Ubuntu 22.04 repository and install them.

UPDATE: Ubuntu 23.10 includes a fonts-ubuntu-classic package for old fonts. Just install it by sudo apt install fonts-ubuntu-classic will restore system fonts without restart!

1. To do so, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command to download the 2 packages:

wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/fonts-ubuntu_0.83-6ubuntu1_all.deb https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/fonts-ubuntu-console_0.83-6ubuntu1_all.deb

2. After downloading the packages, install them by running command:

sudo apt install ./fonts-ubuntu*.deb

If you saved the packages in Downloads folder, run sudo apt install ~/Downloads/fonts-ubuntu*.deb instead.

Once installed, restart your computer to apply changes.

For those hate Linux commands, go to this page in your browser, then select download the 2 .deb packages for Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish) and then click install them one by one.

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 Ubuntu Software, 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 process done, restart your computer and enjoy!

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!

How to install FreeType 2.7 in Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA

Last updated: September 12, 2016

FreeType, a popular font rendering engine, has reached the 2.7 release with a new default mode for bytecode hinting: Subpixel hinting.

In case you are already using subpixel hinting (for example, by using the ‘Infinality patches’ as provided by some GNU/Linux or BSD distributions, or directly from bohoomil.com), be noted that the new mode might provide subtle differences; the code was simplified to make it much faster. If you are used to the old full-pixel hinting, you will see many rendering changes. If you really dislike them, you can disable them at compile time or using the new FREETYPE_PROPERTIES environment variable.

The new release also has improvements to its smooth rasterizer to make it about 20% faster, fixes to fuzzer, handling of raw CID fonts, and various other bug fixes and improvements. See details at FreeType.org.

Install FreeType 2.7 in Ubuntu 16.04:

The Ubuntu 16.04 build has been made into PPA, available for install/upgrade by following the steps below:

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the PPA repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:no1wantdthisname/ppa

Type in your password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter.

2. To upgrade from a previous release, just launch Software Updater and you’ll see the new release available in the update list:

Or run the commands below to install or upgrade it from command line:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install libfreetype6

Undo:

Simply purge the PPA via ppa-purge will downgrade FreeType to the stock version in Ubuntu 16.04 repository:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:no1wantdthisname/ppa

Want to install Microsoft fonts or Google web fonts for off-line use, or you just found a favorite font on the web and want to install it in Ubuntu?

Well here’s how to install the font files (.ttf, .ttc) downloaded from web, Google fonts page, or copied from your Windows OS.

Here are 4 font files shown in the picture above. In the steps below I’ll show you how to install and use it in Ubuntu Desktop:

1. Launch Terminal from Unity Dash, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard:

When it opens, paste following commands and run one by one.

2. In Ubuntu Linux, font files are installed to /usr/lib/share/fonts or /usr/share/fonts. The former directory is recommended in this case for manual installation.

First create a sub folder in the font directory, ms_fonts, as example:

sudo mkdir /usr/local/share/fonts/ms_fonts

Type in your password when it asks (no visual feedback) and hit Enter.

3. Move all font files from your Downloads directory to the new created folder:

sudo mv ~/Downloads/*.ttc ~/Downloads/*.ttf /usr/local/share/fonts/ms_fonts/

4. Set permissions to these files by running the commands below one by one:

sudo chown root:staff /usr/local/share/fonts/ms_fonts -R

sudo chmod 644 /usr/local/share/fonts/ms_fonts/* -R

sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/share/fonts/ms_fonts

5. Finally builds font information caches for apps using fontconfig for their font handling:

sudo fc-cache -fv

Now you can apply new installed fonts via Unity Tweak Tool:

For Chrome browser, go to Settings -> Advanced settings-> Web contents -> Customize fonts.