When and if an Ubuntu Serif counterpart happens depends on who comes forward with plans and finds the skilled font designers/engineers who can make an Ubuntu Serif! See more discussion on:
- Bug #720332 Expansion: Ubuntu Serif font style (comment #2)
The initial focus has been on building a firm foundation for the Ubuntu Font Family (style, quality, coverage). For the "bootstrapping" phase, Dalton Maag have been taking the lead with the initial drawing and engineering. The result will hopefully be a beautiful, highly-readable set of screen-optimised fonts, covering:
- Five scripts: Arabic, Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, Latin
- Thirteen fonts: Ubuntu (×4), Ubuntu Mono (×4), Ubuntu Light/Medium (×4), Ubuntu Condensed (×1)
With this foundation built we can hopefully all transition the project over to being "drawn by everyone". If you'd like to contribute a script, style, or font to the project please find a local skilled type designer and start working with them on it, it may also be possible to arrange some internships if you know a budding student! The philosophy behind Ubuntu is that "everyone should be able to use Ubuntu in their native language" and that includes excellent font coverage for their own language too!
Making a font (let alone thirteen!) takes a very, very long time so it's worth getting started on making connections. The end result will be seen and used by tens of millions of people, making each of their lives easier in the process:
- Find a type designer who is interested
- Work with them to make a beautiful, complementary and hinted expansion
This shouldn't be about just about making an Ubuntu Serif typeface "for the sake of it". The result is definitely worth doing if it will be truly better than the libre/open fonts that are already out there, or shipping in K/Ubuntu already!
The list is system dependent. To the get the list on your computer use fc-match and specify a font name to match against. The -s option gives a sorted list.
Here's the output from a 12.04 TLS Server listing serif, sans-serif, and monospace font styles to be thorough:
user@server:~$ fc-match -s serif
DejaVuSerif.ttf: "DejaVu Serif" "Book"
DejaVuSerif-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Serif" "Bold"
n021003l.pfb: "Nimbus Roman No9 L" "Regular"
DejaVuSans.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Book"
DejaVuSansMono.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Book"
s050000l.pfb: "Standard Symbols L" "Regular"
DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Bold"
DejaVuSansMono-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Bold"
user@server:~$ fc-match -s sans-serif
DejaVuSans.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Book"
DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Bold"
n019003l.pfb: "Nimbus Sans L" "Regular"
DejaVuSansMono.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Book"
DejaVuSerif.ttf: "DejaVu Serif" "Book"
s050000l.pfb: "Standard Symbols L" "Regular"
DejaVuSansMono-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Bold"
DejaVuSerif-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Serif" "Bold"
user@server:~$ fc-match -s mono
DejaVuSansMono.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Book"
DejaVuSansMono-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Sans Mono" "Bold"
n022003l.pfb: "Nimbus Mono L" "Regular"
DejaVuSans.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Book"
DejaVuSerif.ttf: "DejaVu Serif" "Book"
s050000l.pfb: "Standard Symbols L" "Regular"
DejaVuSans-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Sans" "Bold"
DejaVuSerif-Bold.ttf: "DejaVu Serif" "Bold"
Best Answer
Navigate to Tools ➜ Options... ➜ OpenOffice.org Writer ➜ Basic Fonts (Western) and select the Ubuntu font from the combobox.