This software offers a collection of free outline fonts.
The FreeFont project offers a range of free outline fonts that cover the ISO 10646/Unicode UCS (Universal Character Set), comprising PostScript Type0, TrueType, OpenType, and more. This project addresses the need for free UCS outline fonts since many users of free software have recently turned to Microsoft's proprietary Truetype fonts, given their availability for free download on the Microsoft Typography page. These fonts have a decent subset of the ISO 10646 UCS, are high-quality, well-hinted, scalable, and work well with Freetype, a free high-quality Truetype font renderer that's now in the latest release of XFree86.
Relying on non-free software, even for fonts, is a dangerous proposition. In fact, the Microsoft Truetype core fonts were never completely free; they were merely costless. Despite the fonts usually being freely available for download, those who did download them had to adhere to strict licensing guidelines that prohibited the distribution of derivative fonts based on Microsoft's fonts in a way that added value to commercial products.
Fortunately, there are other alternatives. For example, the German digital typefoundry URW++ has incorporated their own version of the 35 Postscript Type 1 core fonts, which they've licensed under GPL as their contribution to the Ghostscript project. The Wadalab Kanji committee also produced Type 1 font files with filigree Japanese glyphs, while Yannis Haralambous drew beautiful glyphs for the Omega typesetting system. There are many other free resources available online for other national scripts, with many of these aiming to match popular Latin fonts such as Times or Helvetica.
The Free UCS outline fonts cover a wide range of character sets, including ISO 8859 parts 1-15, CEN MES-3 European Unicode Subset, IBM/Microsoft code pages 437, 850, 852, 1250, 1252, among others. Furthermore, Microsoft/Adobe Windows Glyph List 4 (WGL4), KOI8-R and KOI8-U, DEC VT100 graphics symbols, International Phonetic Alphabet, Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopian, Thai, and Lao alphabets (including Arabic presentation forms A/B), Japanese Katakana and Hiragana, mathematical symbols, the entire TeX repertoire of symbols, and APL symbols are also included.
Relying on non-free software, even for fonts, is a dangerous proposition. In fact, the Microsoft Truetype core fonts were never completely free; they were merely costless. Despite the fonts usually being freely available for download, those who did download them had to adhere to strict licensing guidelines that prohibited the distribution of derivative fonts based on Microsoft's fonts in a way that added value to commercial products.
Fortunately, there are other alternatives. For example, the German digital typefoundry URW++ has incorporated their own version of the 35 Postscript Type 1 core fonts, which they've licensed under GPL as their contribution to the Ghostscript project. The Wadalab Kanji committee also produced Type 1 font files with filigree Japanese glyphs, while Yannis Haralambous drew beautiful glyphs for the Omega typesetting system. There are many other free resources available online for other national scripts, with many of these aiming to match popular Latin fonts such as Times or Helvetica.
The Free UCS outline fonts cover a wide range of character sets, including ISO 8859 parts 1-15, CEN MES-3 European Unicode Subset, IBM/Microsoft code pages 437, 850, 852, 1250, 1252, among others. Furthermore, Microsoft/Adobe Windows Glyph List 4 (WGL4), KOI8-R and KOI8-U, DEC VT100 graphics symbols, International Phonetic Alphabet, Arabic, Hebrew, Armenian, Georgian, Ethiopian, Thai, and Lao alphabets (including Arabic presentation forms A/B), Japanese Katakana and Hiragana, mathematical symbols, the entire TeX repertoire of symbols, and APL symbols are also included.
What's New
Version 20090104: N/A