In 2010, with the release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Canonical decided to paint Ubuntu purple, replacing the brown theme it used before. It also took the redesign as an opportunity to include a new font simply called Ubuntu Font. While the sans-serif font is ideal for desktops and mobile, the font was picked for other uses too by other companies and projects thanks to its open license.
Thirteen years after its release, Canonical is now working on an updated version of Ubuntu Font which it hopes to include in Ubuntu 23.04 “Lunar Lobster”, which is due next month. To ensure that the font is ready, Canonical is calling on the community to download the updated font and look out for any problems and report back with screenshots.
People who use a language on their computer with a Latin script will not notice much of a difference with the updated font. According to the announcement, more improvements have been made for non-Latin script users and this is primarily where the feedback is needed. The company is collecting feedback via Launchpad and is also encouraging users to accompany their reports with screenshots to help explain the problem.
If you want to try out the new font, enter the following commands and then reboot your system, but be warned, it’s unclear how to revert back to the older font version:
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wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fonts-ubuntu/0.862-0ubuntu2/+build/25677616/+files/fonts-ubuntu_0.862-0ubuntu2_all.deb https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fonts-ubuntu/0.862-0ubuntu2/+build/25677616/+files/fonts-ubuntu-console_0.862-0ubuntu2_all.deb -
sudo dpkg -i fonts-ubuntu-console_0.862-0ubuntu2_all.deb fonts-ubuntu_0.862-0ubuntu2_all.deb
If you want to test the new fonts, you do not have to be running Ubuntu 23.04, instead, you can install them on any supported version of Ubuntu, including the current LTS, Ubuntu 22.04. Just ensure you know how to remove the fonts in case you don’t want them anymore.