Score:0

Not "install," Not "View" Print out Fonts?

tk flag

Ubuntu: Print out fonts? Answer seems available nowhere... I'm certain I'm not the first to ask this question?

user10489 avatar
in flag
Unclear what you want. Do you want a list of fonts? A proof sheet showing all the characters in a font?
waltinator avatar
it flag
Are you using Ubuntu? Which supported release? Which fonts?
tk flag
Yes, I am looking to print a proof sheet of all the fonts on my computer. I am using Ubuntu 21.10. I cannot find a font manager that offers that function.
Score:0
in flag

Most of the fonts that come with ubuntu are meant for the screen, not for printing, so it's not surprising you are having trouble finding a font proof sheet generator.

Having said that, and surveying tools in ubuntu, here's what I've found. None of these are a complete solution.

font-manager

font-manager is designed specifically for "desktop fonts" and has no print function. However, it allows easy browsing of fonts and can generate decent on screen single font proof sheets in multiple different formats and even has a "compare" mode where you can add multiple fonts one at a time to an on screen proof sheet of sorts.

fontforge

fontforge is meant as a font authoring tool rather than a browser. It expects you to know where the font files are and open them from a file browser. It only does one font per window, but it can print a proof sheet for a single font.

ghostscript

Ghostscript is not a font browser, but a postscript interpreter and previewer. However, it does come with fonts and mechanisms to use them. There are external resources that include postscript font proof sheets, for example https://superuser.com/questions/379384/ghostscript-how-do-i-find-out-what-fonts-are-available That question shows how to get the list of fonts and hints at ways to render them in a proof sheet. Anything from this should be viewable on screen or printable. It shouldn't be hard to write something short to generate a sheet using ghostscript/postscript.

tk flag
Appreciate the insight. I guess I want my voice to be added to those who believe (and would really appreciate) a choice of which set of fonts to install with Ubuntu. I have over 300 fonts of which only about 100 are in US English! Font Manager will only allow me to uninstall the ones I don't want, one at a time (very, very tedious) unless I select (check) them on a list. To do this, I need to see (and visually compare) each font by sample to decide which ones to keep. Good Grief! I only need one (count 'em "1") font that looks like Ariel. I must have at least 50 on my computer right now.
user10489 avatar
in flag
Viewing the fonts side by side in font manager is as easy as clicking a checkbox. Just, instead of a checkbox, there's an add button.
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