TrueType font support is now built into XFree86. The following items need to be completed to make the fonts available. Establish a directory for the fonts and move any TrueType fonts you want into that directory. Create the fonts.scale and fonts.dir files in the TrueType font directory. Ensure the truetype module is loaded in XF86Config. Ensure the FontPath in XF86Config contains the TrueType font directory. The build of XFree86 as given above automatically creates a TrueType font directory: /usr/X11R6/lib/Xll/fonts/TTF. This directory is already has some TrueType fonts and is set up correctly. If this directory is satisfactory, copy any other TrueType fonts you want into that directory. If not, create a new directory, preferably in the /usr/X11R6/lib/Xll/fonts/ directory and put your TrueType fonts there. To make the fonts.scale file, you have to build the program ttmkfdir. Unfortunately, this program needs libraries from the freetype project, so we need to make that first. Download location: Unpack the file and build with ./configure --prefix=/usr && make && make install && ldconfig Now build the ttmkfdir utility. Download location: The filename is ttmkfdir.tar.gz. This is a very short program that unpacks it is files in the current directory, so its best to make a separate directory. mkdir ttmkfdir && cd ttmkfdir && tar zxvf ../ttmkfdir.tar.gz Edit the Makefile to make the following changes: FREETYPE_BASE=/usr FREETYPE_INCL=$(FREETYPE_BASE)/include/freetype FREETYPE_LIB=-L$(FREETYPE_BASE)/lib -lttf Run make && install -m755 ttmkfdir /usr/bin Now change to the directory where you have your TrueType fonts and run ttmkfdir -o fonts.scale && mkfontdir The "Module" section should look like: Section "Module" ... Load "freetype" Load "speedo" EndSection The "Files"section should look like Section "Files" ... FontPath "/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/TTF/" EndSection XFree86 will now be able to use TrueType fonts when it is restarted. You can check to see if the new fonts are available with the xlsfonts program.