Closest alternative to Times New Roman

What is the closest alternative font of Times New Roman in Ubuntu 12.10? Is it serif or sans serif or something else ?

I have installed msttcorefonts already. Now in my Latex document I am preferring not to use Times New Roman as I found after a little browsing that there may be issues when compiling with pdflatex. I am preferring to stick to pdflatex, at least at this moment. This is the reason for asking the closest alternative.

According with Linux Font Equivalents to Popular Web Typefaces, FreeSerif may be what you need (considering that you do not want to install other fonts):

Liberation is the collective name of four TrueType font families: Liberation Sans, Liberation Sans Narrow, Liberation Serif and Liberation Mono. These fonts are metrically compatible with Monotype Corporation's Arial, Arial Narrow, Times New Roman, and Courier New (respectively), the most commonly used fonts on Microsoft Windows operating system and Office suite, for which they are intended as free substitutes.

• Liberation-fonts website
• Download

What is the closest alternative font of Times New Roman in Ubuntu 12.10? Is it serif or sans serif or something else ?

I don't know which exact font of those that come by default with Ubuntu 12.10 would be the closest visually to Times New Roman (though Liberation Serif seems a good fit), but:

• "serif" fonts have serifs. That's the little ornament or line at the end of the glyph lines. Serif fonts are typically used in print for large blocks of text, as they are generally considered easier to read when the resolution is high enough to properly render the serif.

• "sans serif" fonts lack serifs (that's where the "sans" comes from; it's French for "without"). The ends of the glyph lines are straight and terminate abruptly. This is commonly used when the font size is small relative to the medium's resolution or dot pitch, because the extra ornamentation at the end of the glyph lines would obscure the shape of the glyph itself. Examples of sans-serif fonts include many fonts normally used for headlines, fonts used for computer screen menus, and so on.

It follows from the above descriptions that Times New Roman is a serif font. Hence, to find something similar, you want to look at other serif fonts.