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!
Next Section : Migration from Windows to
Linux: Additional Software: Kino, Cinelerra
Previous Section: Migration from Windows to Linux:
Additional Software: CUPS PDF Writer, PDFEdit
Table of Contents |
- 1. Preface, People Are Habitual, A Little History
- 2. A Little Politics
- 2A. Open or Closed, Software
Editions, Market Usage
- 2B. Monopoly Game, Support Nightmares,
Competition, Piracy, Licensing, Activation, Developer Pool
- 2C. Web Browser Wars, Web Application
Wars
- 2D. Windows Failures, Windows
Jokes, Windows Problems, Behind Closed Doors, Windows Mutation to
Linux
- 3. Maintenance Headache of Windows
- 4. A Matter of Cost?
- 5. How About Standards?
- 6. Conclusion, Goodbye Microsoft
- 7. Migration Experiment
- System Settings / Tweaking
- Mozilla Firefox, Thunderbird and
Sunbird
- OpenOffice Office Suite (Microsoft
Office replacement), Dia (Microsoft Visio replacement), Gnome Planner
(Microsoft Project replacement)
- WINE (the Windows Emulator)
- Rsync (File Synchronization / Replication
Utility)
- CUPS PDF Writer (Adobe Acrobat
Writer replacement), PDFEdit (Adobe Acrobat Standard / Professional
replacement)
- FontMatrix, the X11 Window System
Font Manager (Adobe Type Manager, Font Navigator, Suitcase replacement)
- Kino and Cinelerra, the Video
Capturing / Editing tools (Adobe Premier replacement)
- Sun VirtualBox (VMWare Player,
VMWare Workstation, Microsoft VirtualPC replacement)
- Scribus (Adobe Pagemaker, Adobe InDesign
replacement)
- Gens (Sega Genesis Emulator)
- Miscellaneous Additional (Optional)
Settings / Software
- Nvidia Video Card 3D Support
- CDEmu (Mounting Virtual CDs, DVDs)
- Troubleshooting Tips
- 8. Additional Migration Considerations
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