CrunchBang - Code, Design & GNU/Linux

Aenigma Fonts for Ubuntu

Last October I packaged some free fonts for Ubuntu and made them available from my PPA on Launchpad. More recently, I have received some emails asking if I am going to update the package for Ubuntu Hardy Heron. As it happens, last month Martin F. Krafft kindly offered to help out with the package and sponsor its upload to Debian.

With Martin's guidance I have worked on the package and fixed numerous issues; though unfortunately, we have now hit a stumbling block regarding the package/fonts license. As a result of this, I am currently unsure if the package will pass Debian's strict quality control and make it into the repositories.

Still, as a result of this work, the package has been updated and is now available for Hardy.

Examples

The package itself contains a collection of over 400 fonts. The fonts were created by Brian Kent, who kindly agreed to let me package them for Ubuntu. There are numerous different types of fonts in the collection, see some examples below:

Embossing Tape:

Hack & Slash:

Hassle:

Licorice Strings:

Line Dings:

Stagnation:

Swirled:

Technique:

Unlearned:

Some more examples can be seen on the original post, 465 Free Fonts for Ubuntu.

Installing the fonts

You can grab the package directly from my PPA, or follow the instructions below to install:

1. Open your apt sources.list file for editing with the following terminal command:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Add the following line to the bottom of the file:

deb     http://ppa.launchpad.net/corenominal/ubuntu hardy main

3. Close gedit and issue the following terminal command to update apt:

sudo apt-get update

4. Still in the terminal, enter the following command to install the package:

sudo apt-get install ttf-aenigma

5. Enjoy your new fonts!

Note: You can also browse and download Brian's fonts directly from his website.

License

Package and fonts are released under the Artistic Licence 2.0.
http://www.perlfoundation.org/artistic_license_2_0

Conduit Available via PPA

I'm torn on the idea of Conduit. I really like the concept of an all-in-one synchronisation tool for the desktop; however, whenever I've tried it I've found that I would typically use less than 10% of its features/data providers. Also, being fairly adept at scripting, I tend to Bash my way through my syncing needs.

Having said that, Conduit is still an interesting and impressive application and I'm glad to see that John Carr has set-up a PPA on Launchpad for Conduit releases. The PPA should make it much easier to test the most up to date versions with Ubuntu based Linux distributions.

Also, John Stowers has just released Conduit 0.3.8. If you've not done so already, go check it out.

URL: http://www.conduit-project.org/

Personal Package Archives out of Beta

From the Ubuntu developers list:

Personal Package Archives are now out of beta and available to all Launchpad users and teams. Find out more in our quick-start guide at https://help.launchpad.net/PPAQuickStart

This is great news. I love it when a service/software comes out of beta, it leaves me with a greater sense of confidence. I've been using my Launchpad PPA for a couple of months now and it's been a real help by introducing me to the process of uploading packages to a remote repository. I recommend PPAs to anyone wanting to experiment with packaging for Ubuntu. There's a PPA introduction class at 15.00 UTC on Wednesday 28th November in #ubuntu-classroom.

MOTU, REVU & NOCLUE

I've been thinking about trying to get my PPA packages included in the Ubuntu Universe repositories. To this end, I've started researching the MOTU process. Daniel Holbach was kind enough to leave me a link to the correct page on the Ubuntu wiki [UbuntuDevelopment/NewPackages] for my new gimp-brushes package. Christer Edwards and Jorge O. Castro have also been supportive and encouraging over email — thank you :)

Inspired by the encouragement, I've managed to read through the information and yesterday I uploaded my first package to REVU. I'm now waiting for the fallout reviewers to comment and hopefully provide some guidance/constructive criticism.

So anyway, on the slim chance that any of the MOTU team read this, please take a look at my first REVU package. And remember, go easy on me, I'm a noob at this packaging lark.

150 Extra GIMP Brushes for Ubuntu

I love playing around with GIMP, it's a fantastic piece of software. I use it to design websites and web graphics. I have to admit that it took me a while to really get used to using it. I was used to using Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Fireworks. GIMP in comparison to these seemed archaic and not too user friendly. I can see now that this is not the case and I'm glad that I persevered and continued to use GIMP. GIMP is now my friend.

Anyhow, by default GIMP comes with a rather limited set of brushes. There's a package available from the Ubuntu repositories to install some extra brushes, however this is also a little limited. To this end, I've created a new package containing over 150 additional brushes for GIMP.

Example GIMP brushes included in the package

Solid square brushes, ideal for leaders, dotted leaders and headers [best used with Pen tool]:

Various pixel shape brushes, again ideal for decorative leaders etc [best used with Pen tool]:

Miscellaneous shaped brushes for decorative use [best used with Brush tool]:

Barcode brushes, not overly useful but a personal favourite :)

Star and snowflake brushes, ideal for creating those Christmas greeting cards [best used with Brush tool]:

Get the Brushes

I've made the brushes available through a number of sources. Firstly you can get the .deb package directly from my PPA on Launchpad: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/10450525/gimp-brushes_0.0.1~ppa1_all.deb

The .tar.gz archive file is also available here: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/10450317/gimp-brushes_0.0.1~ppa1.tar.gz

Or to install via apt simply follow the instructions below [only tested with Gutsy]:

1. Open your apt sources.list file for editing with the following terminal command:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Add the following two lines to the bottom of the file:

deb     http://ppa.launchpad.net/corenominal/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/corenominal/ubuntu gutsy main

3. Close gedit and issue the following terminal command to update apt:

sudo apt-get update

4. Still in the terminal, enter the following command to install the package:

sudo apt-get install gimp-brushes

5. Enjoy your new GIMP brushes!

License

The brushes are licensed under GPL. Please feel free to modify, repackage and redistribute — it would be good if people created packages native to their Linux distros.

OpenPGP Key Install for PPA & APT

I've received some good feedback about the font packages that I've made available from my PPA. A couple of people have asked if I have a public key available to import into APT. I do and here is how to add it to APT's keyring:

1. Open a terminal and enter the following to download my public key:

wget http://crunchbang.org/misc/corenominal.key

2. Import the key into gpg with the following command:

gpg --import corenominal.key

3. Add the key to APT's keyring with the following command:

gpg --export --armor FC2682F1 | sudo apt-key add -

4. Finally, enter the following to update:

sudo apt-get update

Liberation Fonts for Ubuntu

Last night I read a post by Christer Edwards about installing the free Liberation fonts from Red Hat. I remember reading about and installing these fonts when they were first released. I also remember thinking that they do make good free alternatives to some of the more popular commercial fonts [Arial, Times New Roman, Courier New etc.]

Liberation Examples

Packaged for Ubuntu

I was surprised when reading Christer's instructions that there wasn't a package available to easily install these fonts. With that in mind I made one and uploaded it to my PPA on Launchpad.

You can get the .deb file here: http://launchpadlibrarian.net/10220496/ttf-liberation_0.0.1-0ubuntu1%7Eppa2_all.deb

Or, to install via apt simply follow the instructions below. The instructions should work for both Feisty and Gutsy.

1. Open your apt sources.list file for editing with the following terminal command:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Add the following two lines to the bottom of the file:

deb     http://ppa.launchpad.net/corenominal/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/corenominal/ubuntu gutsy main

3. Close gedit and issue the following terminal command to update apt:

sudo apt-get update

4. Still in the terminal, enter the following command to install the package:

sudo apt-get install ttf-liberation

5. Enjoy your new fonts!

465 Free Fonts for Ubuntu

Update: A package update is now available for Ubuntu Hardy Heron.

Brian Kent is a prolific font designer. At 32 years old he has already amassed an impressive collection of handmade fonts. He's also a really nice guy and has agreed to let me package his free fonts for Ubuntu.

I have used Brian's fonts in many design projects. Some of my favourite fonts from his collection include:

3DLET

Blackoninaut

BLOX2

Dephunked

Symmetry

Xtrusion

That was just 6 of the 465 free fonts in the package. And according to Brian, all of the fonts are Freeware and you can use them in anyway you want [personal use, commercial use, or whatever.]

How to Install the Fonts

You can browse and download Brian's fonts directly from his website. Or, to install all of the fonts simply follow the instructions below. The instructions should work for both Feisty and Gutsy.

1. Open your apt sources.list file for editing with the following terminal command:

sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Add the following two lines to the bottom of the file:

deb     http://ppa.launchpad.net/corenominal/ubuntu gutsy main
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/corenominal/ubuntu gutsy main

3. Close gedit and issue the following terminal command to update apt:

sudo apt-get update

4. Still in the terminal, enter the following command to install the package:

sudo apt-get install ttf-aefonts

5. Enjoy your new fonts!

Why Package the Fonts?

I've recently joined the Launchpad Beta Testers team and I wanted to have a play with the Personal Package Archive [PPA] feature. This is my first attempt at packaging for Ubuntu and I wanted to package something that might be of use to other members of the community.

I found the process quite rewarding and at times a little puzzling — but I got there in the end. The packaging guide on the Ubuntu Wiki is fairly comprehensive and well worth a read if you're interested in packaging.