Installing Microsoft Fonts (msttcorefonts) on Debian Linux
Sometimes when moving to the linux world we miss a few things that windows had to offer. A lot of times it is because we simply got used to them. Microsoft’s true type fonts are one of those things. Besides just the comfortability factor the other reason to install the MS true type fonts is for better internet browsing. Often times web designers forget to check what their pages look like in Linux with Linux’s default font package sometimes leading to some weird results. Since Microsoft has released these fonts for free we might as well save the headache and just install them.
Since Debian Linux is best known for only bundling completely free and open source software with their distribution we need to change a few things to allow other software to be installed.
You need to add two words in your /etc/apt/sources.list file. Those words are, non-free and contrib. Open /etc/apt/sources as root.
Find the following lines:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main
and make them look like this:
deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main non-free contrib
deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ etch main non-free contrib
You may also want to add contrib to your security updates if it isn’t already.
deb http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
deb-src http://security.debian.org/ etch/updates main contrib
In order for apt to understand the new changes we must update it:
apt-get update
Install the package with:
apt-get install msttcorefonts
For those of you using Ubuntu, the steps are essentially the same.
All done! Now you can enjoy websites and other things in those Microsoft fonts that you have learned to love.
You state “Since Microsoft has released these fonts for free”. Can you show me somewhere a statement from Microsoft to this end ?
@Robert Forbes,
It used to be available as a download from Microsoft called Web Fonts. The url WAS:
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fontpack/default.htm
You can see this from their reference chart here:
http://www.microsoft.com/typography/web/fonts/fonts02.htm
Since it is no longer offered as a free download I am not really sure if it is now considered non-free.
[...] Installing Microsoft Fonts (msttcorefonts) on Debian Linux [...]
Thanks Mark Sanborn I was looking like crazy on google and a Debian forum with no clear answers anywhere. Until I found your webpage with some more googling.
###### This doesn’t exist anymore.
$ apt-get install msttcorefonts
###### Use this instead for Lenny.
$ apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer