Ubuntu – Fonts in Google Earth look bad even after installing Microsoft Fonts

I've just installed Xubuntu 11.10 on my 64-bit machine, and downloaded and installed the 64-bit .deb package for Google earth 6.2, and had the same problem with the awful font.

I followed the instructions on page http://omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/01/how-to-make-google-earth-look-native-in-ubuntu, and they solved the problem. To paraphrase:

• First, close Google Earth if it's running.
• In a terminal emulator, give the following commands:
  • cd /opt/google/earth/
  • sudo rm libcurl.so.4 libGLU.so.1 libnss_mdns4_minimal.so.2 libQtCore.so.4 libQtGui.so.4 libQtNetwork.so.4 libQtWebKit.so.4
• Use any editor to edit file /opt/google/earth/googleearth -- but you have to do it as a root, so for instance, the following command from a terminal emulator would work:
  • sudo nano /opt/google/earth/googleearth
• Now add the line export LD_PRELOAD=libfreeimage.so.3 as the second last line of file googleearth -- that is, just before the line LD_LIBRARY_PATH=.:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH ./googleearth-bin "$@" -- and save the file.

• Obtain the file libfreeimage.so.3 (removed broken link) Edit: Since the link is broken you can obtain the file in this package

• If your machine is 64-bit, download the file libphonon.so.4 (removed broken link) Edit: Since the link is broken you can obtain the file in this package

• In a terminal emulator, give the following commands (the ones concerning libphonon.so.4 only if your machine is 64-bit):
  • cd /opt/google/earth/
  • sudo cp ~/Downloads/libfreeimage.so.3 .
  • sudo cp ~/Downloads/libphonon.so.4 .
  • sudo chmod a+x libfreeimage.so.3
  • sudo chmod a+x libphonon.so.4
  • sudo apt-get install libcurl4-openssl-dev libqtwebkit4
• Restart Google Earth. The fonts should now look normal.

I can confirm that you need to install ttf-mstcorefonts-installer.

If you start the application after installation you get the picture shown in your question.

However on logout and login the fonts in the application behaves correctly...