Verification that the problem is not in the .ttf file, this works (imagemagick):
convert -background lightblue -fill blue -pointsize 48 -font /usr/share/fonts/truetype/freefont/FreeSans.ttf label:test fonttest.png
Verification that the problem is not in the .ttf file, this works (imagemagick):
convert -background lightblue -fill blue -pointsize 48 -font /usr/share/ fonts/truetype/ freefont/ FreeSans. ttf label:test fonttest.png