I have many TrueType (.ttf) fonts I used on my old Windoze system which I wanted to use in Ubuntu. After a bit of investigating and after finding several different solutions relating to many different distros, I finally found one which worked. So here it is:

Adding TrueType fonts (fonts ending in .ttf) to OpenOffice in Ubuntu 8.10:

Ensure that all OpenOffice applications are closed (including the Quickstarter if you have it running).

Do an Alt+F2 to open the Run Application prompt.

Type gksu then press ok.

Type nautilus then press ok.

Type your password (or the password for root) and press ok.

A nautilus window will open with root privileges.

(Only if required) Do a Ctrl + l (L) to change the breadcrumbs to a location bar or click on the icon on the left.

Enter /usr/share/fonts/truetype/openoffice

Copy your .ttf fonts to this folder.

Open OpenOffice and you should now see the fonts in the list.

NB. In older versions of Ubuntu (prior to 8.10) you may need to:

Open a Terminal

Type sudo fc0cache -f -v