texlive fonts configuration: cannot find Arial, Times

[Anton Shterenlikht]

>Date: Mon, 20 Jan 2014 13:51:40 +0100
>From: "Christopher J. Ruwe" <cjr at cruwe.de>
>To: freebsd-questions at freebsd.org
>Subject: Re: texlive fonts configuration: cannot find Arial, Times
>
>On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 11:40:40 +0100
>Polytropon <freebsd at edvax.de> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 20 Jan 2014 02:22:43 -0800 (PST), Anton Shterenlikht wrote:
>> > Hi
>> > 
>> > I'm starting to use texlive.
>> > I installed texlive-full-20120701.
>> > 
>> > I need to build a document with these
>> > declarations:
>> > 
>> > \usepackage{fontspec}
>> > \usepackage{subfigure}
>> > \setmainfont{Times New Roman}
>> > \setsansfont{Arial}
>> > 
>> > [...]
>> > 
>> > I presume these basic fonts should be available
>> > as part of the default installation, right?
>> 
>> I don't think so. Those are fonts made by MICROS~1 to avoid
>> licensing real fonts. :-)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> > So probably I haven't configured texlive fonts correctly?
>> 
>> I'm not sure in how far TeXlive is able to pick up fonts
>> installed on the system (usually fonts for use in X), but
>> maybe you could try installing the "webfonts" package? It
>> helps to make web pages look better when they have been
>> "optimized" for use with "Windows" (i. e., explicitely
>> requiring things like "Arial"). The results can then be
>> found in the /usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/webfonts/ directory.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> > I've these directories:
>> > 
>> > $ ls /usr/local/share/texmf-dist/fonts/
>> > afm             enc             misc            ovf
>> > sfd             truetype cid             fea
>> > ofm             ovp             source          type1
>> > cmap            map             opentype        pk
>> > tfm             vf
>> > 
>> > But not sure if this is enough.
>> 
>> Those are the fonts to be used with Metafont. As I said,
>> I'm not sure if those can interact in some way with other
>> fonts in the systmm.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Just as a sidenote:
>> 
>> If you want a good-looking serif font, just use the CMR
>> (Computer Modern Roman) that is the default font for many
>> LaTeX cases. If you want a Helvetica-like font (which "Arial"
>> is a poor replacement for), try this:
>> 
>> 	\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
>> 	\usepackage[scaled]{helvet}
>> 	\renewcommand{\familydefault}{\sfdefault}
>> 
>> Note that I'm using this when I need a sans serif font, and
>> it works in teTeX. Not sure if it will also work in TeXlive,
>> but I assume this functionality has been kept.
>> 
>> Also note that it isn't "the real Helvetica", but a very good
>> variation that comes with ligatures and looks _much_ better
>> than shabby "Arial".
>> 
>> Maybe if you use
>> 
>> 	\setmainfont{cmr}
>> 	\setsansfont{helvet}
>> 
>> you can get the same result? Again, note that I haven't tested
>> this. But giving it a try isn't a hard exercise. :-)
>> 
>> 
>> 
>
>If by some reasons such as e.g. "customer demand" you are forced to
>use fonts normally not available in common latex, you can try xetex.
>
>Then, you have all fonts available which are pulled in by fc-cache and
>declare for instance
>
>\setmainfont[Ligatures=TeX]{Avenir LT Std 35 Light}
>
>Cheers,

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!
! fontspec error: "font-not-found"
! 
! The font "Avenir LT Std 35 Light" cannot be found.
! 
! See the fontspec documentation for further information.
! 
! For immediate help type H <return>.
!...............................................  
                                                  
l.32 ...ont[Ligatures=TeX]{Avenir LT Std 35 Light}

It seems fontspec cannot find this font.

So do I only have availble what is returned by fc-list?

Thanks

Anton