Open Source Software vs. Commercial Software:
Migration from Windows to Linux
An IT Professional's Testimonial

FontMatrix, the X11 Window System Font Manager (Adobe Type Manager, Font Navigator, Suitcase replacement)

Back when I used Windows XP, one of the disconcerting factors was font management. The system had a ton of fonts installed by default, and lacked a nice clean way to add or remove additional fonts. And, what if you want to view the font list and see what they look like? This requires 3rd party software. Adobe came to the rescue with Adobe Type Manager, however it didn't let me browse the fonts and see what they look like. Suitcase was really expensive. I found an application called Font Navigator that came with a Corel suite, that fit the bill. It worked good, admittedly.

When I moved to Linux, I needed something to manage fonts. And this is when I discovered FontMatrix. This is the best font manager I have ever seen, it easily excels over any font manage I have seen in Windows. It is completely customizable, you can change the sample text string and it will even give you a catalog of your fonts so that you can no only view the list but see what they all look like.

To get it, install the "fontmatrix" package. It requires these packages: autotrace-0, fontforge-2008. Then do the following:

• Copy the fonts you want to use to /usr/share/fonts-extras (or another folder, it can even go in your home folder if you want).
• Open Fontmatrix as the current user that you want to activate the fonts for (each user is separate).
• Go to File / Import, and select the folder /usr/share/fonts-extras/ (or whatever folder you placed all of the fonts in). A list of imported fonts will come up, press OK.
• Browse to each font on the left and activate them, or use the Activate All button.

Fonts will immediately be available to applications, including those in Wine, too! There, that was easy!

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