sword@vu-vlsi.UUCP (09/02/87)
After playing with some publishing software, I'm becoming bored with the fonts that come stock with the Amiga. Has anyone out there some PD fonts to share? Better yet, does anyone know of some Amiga software for designing fonts? Does anyone know if there's a standard (like IFF?) for exchanging fonts? It would be really neat to have the little piggies and sheep fonts just like on the um, er, Mac. ;-) Thanks for listening. David Talmage UUCP: ...!vu-vlsi!excalibur!talmage or ...!vu-vlsi!sword BITNET: talmage@vuvaxcom ARPA-Gateway: talmage%vuvaxcom.bitnet@Eddie.Mit.Edu
peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (09/03/87)
In article <1106@vu-vlsi.UUCP>, sword@vu-vlsi.UUCP (David Talmage) writes: > After playing with some publishing software, I'm becoming bored with the > fonts that come stock with the Amiga. Has anyone out there some PD fonts > to share? Yes. I don't have any, but there are some floating around. Well, I do have a couple of 8-point fonts I replace the system font with. > Better yet, does anyone know of some Amiga software for designing > fonts? Yes, it's called "FED" and it came with the 1.2 upgrade on the extras disk. > Does anyone know if there's a standard (like IFF?) for exchanging fonts? Fonts are usually handed around in arc files containing foo.font and a bunch of files with anmes like "8" and "12". You create the directory "fonts:foo", copy the numbered files into it, and copy the foo.font file into fonts:. > It would be really neat to have the little piggies and sheep fonts just like > on the um, er, Mac. ;-) Why? PS: Peter the pedant strikes again: The Amiga "8 point" font is NOT an "8 point" font. It's an "8 pixel" font. The point size is a measure of characters per inch and depends on such variables as the size of your monitor. On an Amiga monitor the "8 point" font is about 8 or 9 point, and the "9 point" font is about 6 to 7 point. -- -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!seismo!soma!uhnix1!sugar!peter -- U <--- not a copyrighted cartoon :->
bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) (09/05/87)
In article <1106@vu-vlsi.UUCP> sword@vu-vlsi.UUCP (David Talmage) writes: >After playing with some publishing software, I'm becoming bored with the >fonts that come stock with the Amiga. Has anyone out there some PD fonts >to share? There are some. Fish disk 73 has a small, handwiting-like font. There is a large collection of ported Mac fonts. (I don't know where...) (some PD, some stollen from Apple or other Mac companies) > Better yet, does anyone know of some Amiga software for designing > fonts? A passable font editor comes with the V1.2 upgrade. It's on the extras disk. "Calligrapher" lets you do color fonts... and has a much better editor. >Does anyone know if there's a standard (like IFF?) for exchanging fonts? Yes. It pre-dates IFF, but all fonts come in standard format. They get placed in the FONTS: directory. Alternately you can "assign FONTS: MYDISK:FONTS" and take fonts from some other directory. You can't set a fonts search path (yet). >It would be really neat to have the little piggies and sheep fonts just like >on the um, er, Mac. ;-) "Alohafonts" has a "little pictures" font. Have not seen Zapf Dingbats yet (for all you Laserwriter fans). Sources: AlohaFonts ;pictures, borders, special use fonts PO Box 2661 Fair Oaks, Ca 95628-2661 $19.95 + tax for Ca Zuma Fonts, Volumes 1,2,3 ;mostly big fonts for video titling. Brown-Wagh Publishing 1-800-451-0900 408-395-3838 $34.95 each. (Nice fonts. $34.95 per disk is kind of expensive.) |\ /| . Ack! (NAK, EOT, SOH) {o O} . ( " ) bryce@hoser.berkeley.EDU -or- ucbvax!hoser!bryce U
richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (09/05/87)
In article <633@sugar.UUCP> peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: >In article <1106@vu-vlsi.UUCP>, sword@vu-vlsi.UUCP (David Talmage) writes: >> After playing with some publishing software, I'm becoming bored with the >> fonts that come stock with the Amiga. Has anyone out there some PD fonts >> to share? > >Yes. I don't have any, but there are some floating around. Well, I do >have a couple of 8-point fonts I replace the system font with. Yes, I have a couple of fonts that look like topaz with the serifs stripped off. While it is true that serifs make a typeface more readable, this doesnt seem to hold when you have a 200 line display with whopping great black gaps between the scan lines :-) >> Better yet, does anyone know of some Amiga software for designing >> fonts? > >Yes, it's called "FED" and it came with the 1.2 upgrade on the extras disk. 'it' is moderatly wretched. 'it' limits your font size to 32 pixels, which renders it useless when you have a 41 point font you want to edit. (32 pixels @ 72 dpi is just ~1/2" on a hires display). I've used it in spite of that of course, but I've noticed that sometimes when I do a save, the thing goes away for a little bit, then clicks and grinds the disk for a while writing to df0:fonts/filename/size, and after all that noise, *poof* nothing on the disk has actually been changed. Blek. We are starting to see some other font editors for the Amiga, Calligrapher is nice. Complex, but nice. Its a bit like Dpaint meets Draw+, but for fonts. For small fonts its more work using Calligrapher than FED though :-) >> Does anyone know if there's a standard (like IFF?) for exchanging fonts? > >Fonts are usually handed around in arc files containing foo.font and a >bunch of files with anmes like "8" and "12". You create the directory >"fonts:foo", copy the numbered files into it, and copy the foo.font file >into fonts:. The idea of using a number as a filename does have its disadvantages. If you just go and arc a fonts: directory, you end up with a bunch of font headers, and a file called 12 :-). You have to change all the numbered files to names, like helvetica/24 to helvetica.24. So you end up writing a script to take your arc file, dearc it, and mv all the files around. Ok, and them some nitwit is not using Matts/Steves shell, so you have to write something that EXECUTE can grok. Grr. *here comes the pitch* It'd be sorta nice if as well as the way it works now, ie a request for 24 point helvetica resolved to fonts:helvetica/24 would also 'reognize' fonts:helvetica/helvetica.24, this being the special case where the filename is *exactly* the fontdir name with the pointsize appended; files in directory helvetica whose name is not a number, or start with helvetica would not be a font file. I'll take the hit of the increased disk space for *all* those big names. Really. I'td also be nice if it couldnt find the font (such as 'helvetica/24' or 'helvetica/helvetica.24'), to take *one* last look in fonts: *just in case* it somehow ended up there. Once you have helvetica.18, helvetica.24, art_deco.12, bocklin.36 in a directory the tendancy is just to stick 'em in fonts: and be done with it. For a small collection of fonts this is wonderfully simple, and easy to manipulate. Yes, of course my font library disks are all organised as 'font:fontdir/size' because for archiving you want to stuff them all in seperate directories. But I have several 'project' disks that have 12 directories each containing a files called 12, and I'd really like to have just name.size in the fonts directory be recogniized. ** soapbox off * >> It would be really neat to have the little piggies and sheep fonts just like >> on the um, er, Mac. ;-) > >Why? > What have you got against piggies and sheep Peter ? >PS: Peter the pedant strikes again: The Amiga "8 point" font is NOT an "8 >point" font. It's an "8 pixel" font. The point size is a measure of characters >per inch and depends on such variables as the size of your monitor. On an >Amiga monitor the "8 point" font is about 8 or 9 point, and the "9 point" >font is about 6 to 7 point. Huh ? Whats this ? 8 is really 8 or 9, but 9 is really 6 or 7 ? You found a new branch of font mathematics here ? Is 5 really 2 or 7 depending on whether its raining ? A 'Point' is 1/72 of an inch, and there are roughly 72 dpi on my monitor. What realy kills you is not that fonts come out a different SIZE on paper than they are, (which they do), but that they come out with a different ASPECT RATIO, because of the aspect ratio the video display uses. The final printed on is correct; funny looking though it is, its the one you've been building in memory all this time. The display has been distorting your picture of it though. >-- >-- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!seismo!soma!uhnix1!sugar!peter >-- U <--- not a copyrighted cartoon :-> ^ | | | + ---- Isnt anyone going to do a unicycle in ascii ? -- Richard Sexton INTERNET: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard "It's too dark to put the key in my ignition..."
ruslan@ecsvax.UUCP (Robin C. LaPasha) (09/06/87)
In article <633@sugar.UUCP>, peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: > In article <1106@vu-vlsi.UUCP>, sword@vu-vlsi.UUCP (David Talmage) writes: > > After playing with some publishing software, I'm becoming bored with the > > fonts that come stock with the Amiga. Has anyone out there some PD fonts > > to share? > > Yes. I don't have any, but there are some floating around. Well, I do > have a couple of 8-point fonts I replace the system font with. > > > Better yet, does anyone know of some Amiga software for designing > > fonts? > > Yes, it's called "FED" and it came with the 1.2 upgrade on the extras disk. > > > Does anyone know if there's a standard (like IFF?) for exchanging fonts? > > Fonts are usually handed around in arc files containing foo.font and a > bunch of files with anmes like "8" and "12". You create the directory > "fonts:foo", copy the numbered files into it, and copy the foo.font file > into fonts:. > > > It would be really neat to have the little piggies and sheep fonts just like > > on the um, er, Mac. ;-) > > Why? > > -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!seismo!soma!uhnix1!sugar!peter > -- U <--- not a copyrighted cartoon :-> I know of a nice set of fonts - not PD but they won't break the bank either - they are former Mac PD fonts ported to the Amiga and sold for ~$12/disk by some folks called EarthBound Software (Suite 237, 1005 E. 60th St., Chicago IL 60637 (312)667-8048.) I don't know about the sheep, but there's some dogs and dinosaurs (on their Font Disk A-1.) There's about 30+ fonts in multiple sizes on each disk, including math, Cyrillic, and "runic" fonts on their first 2 collections, plus an installation routine, so the price seems okay to me. They also have an editor of sorts, called Font-A-Size (I've just ordered it but I don't have it yet and can't comment on it's usefulness;) its main features seem to be: 1)the ability to re-scale a font to any point size, and 2)to "trick" other programs into letting you use disk fonts (their ex.= Aegis Images,) and 3)to let you use more than they like (their ex.= DPaint, Notepad.) It costs ~$15. The only editor I've seen (other than Fed, that is) is the Calligrapher (advertised in the latest _Amazing_Computing_, p.59, by InterActive Softworks) which can do colors, and costs $100. (They also have some font collections @ $30-35/disk.) Not for me, at least for now - seems to be more for video titling and such. I am interested in getting some other Mac fonts to the Amiga - Richard Sexton (richard@gryphon) mentioned some program available to port them - does anybody know what this is and how to get it? (Tried to email to him but it seems to have died on the way twice... but feel free to email any info to me.) No, I'm not connected to anybody above, except as a reasonably satisfied customer (of Earthbound SW; a disk's worth of business.) Robin LaPasha ruslan@ecsvax.UUCP
kent@xanth.UUCP (09/06/87)
In article <1448@gryphon.CTS.COM> richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: >In article <633@sugar.UUCP> peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: [...who cares...] >>-- >>-- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!seismo!soma!uhnix1!sugar!peter >>-- U <--- not a copyrighted cartoon :-> > ^ > | > | > | > + ---- Isnt anyone going to do a unicycle in ascii ? > > >-- >Richard Sexton Since you asked: O O O ___ _____/ | O /_____ _ _| O | | O | | O | | O __| |__ _/ O\_ / O ---- \ / / \ | O / | | o | | O/ | Acknowledgement is made to Pixar(tm) \ /O / whose film "Red's Dream" inspired \_---- _/ this (immensely superior) Amiga(tm) \_______/ unicycle stabile. ;-) (Thanks for the preview showing!) Kent, the man from xanth.
peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (09/10/87)
In article <1448@gryphon.CTS.COM>, richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: > In article <633@sugar.UUCP> peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: > >In article <1106@vu-vlsi.UUCP>, sword@vu-vlsi.UUCP (David Talmage) writes: > >> Better yet, does anyone know of some Amiga software for designing > >> fonts? > >Yes, it's called "FED" and it came with the 1.2 upgrade on the extras disk. > I've used it in spite of that of course, but I've noticed that > sometimes when I do a save, ... > nothing on the disk has actually been changed. Blek. It's certainly not the greatest font editor I've ever seen (the one I did for the apple-][ in Forth was better), but it's not "wretched". I just noticed this bug. Hmmm... time for a quick port of fonted :-> (really :->, Fonts on the Apple are much simpler). > >> Does anyone know if there's a standard (like IFF?) for exchanging fonts? > >Fonts are usually handed around in arc files containing foo.font and a > >bunch of files with anmes like "8" and "12". You create the directory > >"fonts:foo", copy the numbered files into it, and copy the foo.font file > >into fonts:. > The idea of using a number as a filename does have its disadvantages. > If you just go and arc a fonts: directory, you end up with a bunch > of font headers, and a file called 12 :-). You have to change all the > numbered files to names, like helvetica/24 to helvetica.24. You could recursively arc the subdirectories. That's what I did to arc directory trees on the PC. Anyone want me to port ARCTREE to the Amiga? (serious this time, it shouldn't be too hard: it just calls ARC in all the right places). This is a better fix, 'cos it doesn't assume anything is broken. > ...Ok, and them some nitwit is not using Matts/Steves shell... I'me one of those nitwits. If it would handle EXECUTE files correctly and use AmigaDOS wildcards, I'd probably change my mind. Oh yes, and if it didn't take up so much of my 512K Amiga. -- -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!seismo!soma!uhnix1!sugar!peter -- 'U` <-- Public domain wolf.
childs@cadnetix.UUCP (David Childs) (09/11/87)
In article <1448@gryphon.CTS.COM>, richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: >In article <633@sugar.UUCP> peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) writes: >>PS: Peter the pedant strikes again: The Amiga "8 point" font is NOT an "8 >>point" font. It's an "8 pixel" font. ..point size is a measure of chars/inch POINT SIZE IS ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ >>and depends on such variables as the size of your monitor. On an >>Amiga monitor the "8 point" font is about 8 or 9 point, and the "9 point" >>font is about 6 to 7 point. > Huh ? Whats this ? 8 is really 8 or 9, but 9 is really 6 or 7 ? > You found a new branch of font mathematics here ? > Is 5 really 2 or 7 depending on whether its raining ? > A 'Point' is 1/72 of an inch, and there are roughly 72 dpi on my monitor. A 'Point' is an inch. A pixel (dot on the screen) is 1/72 of an inch on a monitor with 72dpi. A one 'point' font fits one character per inch. An 8 point font fits 8 characters per inch. His new branch of mathematics is called division. Divide the number of PIXELS per inch by the number of PIXELS per character give the point size of the font. Therefore, on a 72dpi monitor 8 is 9, 9 is 8, 10 is ~7. On an unrelated topic. Bryce Nesbitt writes "...either the Commodore-Amiga/ Metacomco assembler or the new Metacomco Macro Assembler is a prerequisite for any Amiga assembly work." (Amiga World - Sept/Oct 1987) Is this true? Bryce? Do these assemblers come with something that the other assemblers don't have? I need to know soon, so I can buy one right away if necessary. Thanks for your time. I hope I'm not wrong about the point size stuff. David Childs Cadnetix Corp. (303) 444-8075 childs@cadnetix.UUCP seismo!hao!ico!cadnetix!childs "The Amiga held the people in awe, much the same as IBM PC's don't" - DWC
bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) (09/12/87)
In article <852@cadnetix.UUCP> childs@cadnetix.UUCP (David Childs) writes: > > A 'Point' is an inch.... > A one 'point' font fits one character per inch. > An 8 point font fits 8 characters per inch. Lets get some definitions straight. Your statements are not correct. A "point" is a unit of measurment used by printers. It has no real relation to either the English or Metric systems. There are 12 points is every pica. There are almost exactly 6 picas in a non-standard US. inch (the world is metric folks... the inch is non- standard :-). 6 * 12 = 72 points per inch. A 8 point font is smaller than a nine point font. Point sizes meausure the height of a character, the width may change from character to character. (For proportional fonts) Often an extra point or two of lead is added to a font. The font I use on my Amiga is about 8 point, with 9 points of lead. This means that the "active" area of the font is 8 ponts tall (1/9 inch) and the space it takes up is 9 points tall. (an extra line between rows). >On an unrelated topic. Bryce Nesbitt writes "...either the Commodore-Amiga/ >Metacomco assembler or the new Metacomco Macro Assembler is a prerequisite >for any Amiga assembly work." (Amiga World - Sept/Oct 1987) Don't assume just becuase my name is on the article that I had much to say as to what the editors changed it into. I mean, really. 1/2 :-) >Is this true? >Bryce? Do these assemblers come with something that the other assemblers >don't have? I need to know soon, so I can buy one right away if necessary. Any assembler should be just fine. The Commodore version of the Metacomco Assember is older than what Metacomco sells now. I've heard good things about the new Metacomco. (Though I still hate their DOS :-) You can use the Assembler from the Aztec C disk stand alone... but last time I looked into that it was painful and increased your file size by $38? bytes. Lattice now makes an Assembler. I know nothing about it. There are some PD/Shareware assemblers. Depending on your situation, the cost of free software may prove to be too high. Personally, I'd like to upgrade my assembler. It's the old Metacomco and is kinda slow. (Except for ~2 bugs and the speed it's quite solid.) You do need to set your stack larger to prevent it from tossing its cookies with too many nested includes. |\ /| . Ack! (NAK, EOT, SOH) {O o} . (") bryce@hoser.berkeley.EDU -or- ucbvax!hoser!bryce U
richard@gryphon.UUCP (09/12/87)
In article <852@cadnetix.UUCP> childs@cadnetix.UUCP (David Childs) writes: > >A 'Point' is an inch. Really ? Dammit, theres a bug in my PostScript printer then. I told it to print a document in a one point font so I could get 1" letters and it put dots all over my page. Anyone know how to fix this :-) > A pixel (dot on the screen) is 1/72 of an inch on [...proof that 1 = 0...] >Therefore, on a 72dpi >monitor 8 is 9, 9 is 8, 10 is ~7. >On an unrelated topic. Bryce Nesbitt writes "...either the Commodore-Amiga/ >Metacomco assembler or the new Metacomco Macro Assembler is a prerequisite >for any Amiga assembly work." (Amiga World - Sept/Oct 1987) Is this true? >Bryce? Do these assemblers come with something that the other assemblers >don't have? I need to know soon, so I can buy one right away if necessary. Bryce must have a preference. Any assembler will assemble code for you, different assemblers have different features. >Thanks for your time. I hope I'm not wrong about the point size stuff. Dont mention it. Take egg, apply to face. :-) >David Childs Cadnetix Corp. (303) 444-8075 -- Richard J. Sexton INTERNET: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard "It's too dark to put the key in my ignition..."
childs@cadnetix.UUCP (David Childs) (09/14/87)
In article <852@cadnetix.UUCP>, childs@cadnetix.UUCP (David Childs) writes: - <1448@gryphon.CTS.COM>, richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) writes: - > Huh ? Whats this ? 8 is really 8 or 9, but 9 is really 6 or 7 ? - > You found a new branch of font mathematics here ? - > Is 5 really 2 or 7 depending on whether its raining ? - > A 'Point' is 1/72 of an inch, and there are roughly 72 dpi on my monitor. - - A 'Point' is an inch. A pixel (dot on the screen) is 1/72 of an inch on - a monitor with 72dpi. A one 'point' font fits one character per inch. An - 8 point font fits 8 characters per inch. His new branch of mathematics is - called division. Divide the number of PIXELS per inch by the number of - PIXELS per character give the point size of the font. Therefore, on a 72dpi - monitor 8 is 9, 9 is 8, 10 is ~7. - Thanks for your time. I hope I'm not wrong about the point size stuff. - - David Childs ^^^^^^^^^^^^ BOY IS THIS GUY STUPID!! Any dictionary will tell you that a point is a unit of measure equalling about 1/72 of an inch. Sorry about the mistake Richard. I guess I let my self get away with stupidity again. I got mixed up with typewriter pitch size. My equation does work extremly well for chars per inch though. I guess my font editor will need just a little more work. David Childs Cadnetix Corp. (303) 444-8075 childs@cadnetix.UUCP seismo!hao!ico!cadnetix!childs "The Amiga held the people in awe, much the same as IBM PC's don't" - DWC
daveh@cbmvax.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (09/14/87)
in article <852@cadnetix.UUCP>, childs@cadnetix.UUCP (David Childs) says: > Keywords: fonts, rant and rave, long, gibberish. > A 'Point' is an inch. A pixel (dot on the screen) is 1/72 of an inch on > a monitor with 72dpi. A one 'point' font fits one character per inch. An > 8 point font fits 8 characters per inch. His new branch of mathematics is > called division. Divide the number of PIXELS per inch by the number of > PIXELS per character give the point size of the font. Therefore, on a 72dpi > monitor 8 is 9, 9 is 8, 10 is ~7. No! The previous poster was correct. A point is a unit of measure for type, equal to 1/72 of an inch, which is the same as 1/12 of a pica. In respect to proportional and kerned fonts, an "N-Point" font is a font in which the "n" character measures "N" points long (it's been a number of years since my last graphics course, but I recall the "n" character being used as the basis character. It's certainly not "i" or "l"...). Thus, a 12 point font is larger than an 8 point font, which is exactly what you'd expect. By your definition, a 12 point font would be smaller than an 8 point font. And a poster font might come out to be a 0.004 point font, or something on that order. Most of the Amiga font-point names are concerned with the height of the font, which is really strange, since back when publishing meant hand-setting type, the width of the characters was the main thing to be concerned about. > David Childs Cadnetix Corp. (303) 444-8075 > "The Amiga held the people in awe, much the same as IBM PC's don't" - DWC -- Dave Haynie Commodore-Amiga Usenet: {ihnp4|caip|rutgers}!cbmvax!daveh "The A2000 Guy" PLINK : D-DAVE H BIX : hazy "God, I wish I was sailing again" -Jimmy Buffett
cmcmanis%pepper@Sun.COM (Chuck McManis) (09/14/87)
In article <852@cadnetix.UUCP> childs@cadnetix.UUCP (David Childs) writes: >A 'Point' is an inch. A pixel (dot on the screen) is 1/72 of an inch on >a monitor with 72dpi. A one 'point' font fits one character per inch. An >8 point font fits 8 characters per inch. His new branch of mathematics is >called division. Divide the number of PIXELS per inch by the number of >PIXELS per character give the point size of the font. Therefore, on a 72dpi >monitor 8 is 9, 9 is 8, 10 is ~7. I know absolutely nothing about typography and fonts etc, but I do know that when I use troff or have something typeset the bigger the point size the bigger the letters. That empirical knowledge disagrees with David's statements above, I suspect David is mistaken. The type people talk all the time about 'ems' and 'picas' all I wanted were some 'ems' and 'ems', peanut please. >On an unrelated topic. Bryce Nesbitt writes "...either the Commodore-Amiga/ >Metacomco assembler or the new Metacomco Macro Assembler is a prerequisite >for any Amiga assembly work." (Amiga World - Sept/Oct 1987) Is this true? >Bryce? Do these assemblers come with something that the other assemblers >don't have? I need to know soon, so I can buy one right away if necessary. Yes, no, and maybe. According to the Ad in Amiga World the mythical Lattice C compiler version 4.0 will include an Amiga compatible assembler. Others have used both the HiSoft and GenAm assemblers successfully, also there is a Freely Redistributable assembler that works well. The only true requirement is that the assembler can read in the Commodore include files, and support the macros therein, and can write an object file that some linker understands. >Thanks for your time. I hope I'm not wrong about the point size stuff. Your welcome, I think you are wrong about the point stuff though. --Chuck McManis uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
jdow@gryphon.CTS.COM (Joanne Dow) (09/15/87)
In article <852@cadnetix.UUCP> childs@cadnetix.UUCP (David Childs) writes: > >On an unrelated topic. Bryce Nesbitt writes "...either the Commodore-Amiga/ >Metacomco assembler or the new Metacomco Macro Assembler is a prerequisite >for any Amiga assembly work." (Amiga World - Sept/Oct 1987) Is this true? >Bryce? Do these assemblers come with something that the other assemblers >don't have? I need to know soon, so I can buy one right away if necessary. > Well, you might find the Wes Hawes (conman, AREXX) assembler. The latest version on bix is very nearly 100% compatible according to commentary there. (Charlie Heath now likes it.) Then if you manage to get BLINK you're also in for a treat. it is MUCH faster than ALINK. The current freeware version does not support overlays, though. The version that will be with Lattice C 4.0 will. -- <@_@> BIX:jdow INTERNET:jdow@gryphon.CTS.COM UUCP:{akgua, hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!jdow Remember - A bird in the hand often leaves a sticky deposit. Perhaps it was better you left it in the bush with the other one.
sword@vu-vlsi.UUCP (David Talmage) (09/15/87)
In <1106@vu-vlsi.UUCP>, I posted a query for a font editor and some PD
fonts. Several people were kind enough and interested enough to reply.
Here is the summary.
Andy Finkel ({ihnp4|seismo|allegra}!cbmvax!andy) wrote to tell me about the
font editor in the V1.2 Extras disk Tool directory. Silly me! That's the
first place I should have looked. ( red :-} <==> embarrassment)
John Olsen (u-jmolse@ug.utah.edu,
...!{seismo,ihnp4}!utah-cs!utah-ug!u-jmolse) also
reminded me of the font editor on the Extras disk and send me some "rumors"
about fonts on Fish Disks and a program that ports Mac fonts to the Amiga.
In <633@sugar.UUCP> Peter da Silva (...!seismo!soma!uhnix1!sugar!peter)
posted this paragraph on font interchange formats (FIF?):
>Fonts are usually handed around in arc files containing foo.font and a
>bunch of files with anmes like "8" and "12". You create the directory
>"fonts:foo", copy the numbered files into it, and copy the foo.font file
>into fonts:.
And started the whole ugly ;-) conversation about font sizes and such with
>PS: Peter the pedant strikes again: The Amiga "8 point" font is NOT an "8
>point" font. It's an "8 pixel" font. The point size is a measure of characters
>per inch and depends on such variables as the size of your monitor. On an
>Amiga monitor the "8 point" font is about 8 or 9 point, and the "9 point"
>font is about 6 to 7 point.
In <1448@gryphon.CTS.COM> Richard Sexton (richard@gryphon.CTS.COM,
{hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard) tell us:
He has some topaz fonts sans serifs that are, he says, more readable than
topaz avec serifs on a 200-line display.
He says that sometimes the Extras font editor forgets to save your changes.
He suggests I look into Calligrapher.
Richard points out some disadvantages to using numbers for file names when
it comes time to arc a fonts: directory. To wit:
>If you just go and arc a fonts: directory, you end up with a bunch
>of font headers, and a file called 12 :-). You have to change all the
>numbered files to names, like helvetica/24 to helvetica.24.
If you do the obvious workaround, he says, you'll probably want to write a
script to do all that tedious renaming. He suggests a change to the fonts
naming convention: in addition to fonts:face/size, recognize
fonts:face/face.size. That would take care of all the tedium of renaming.
He'd also like to see fonts: put in the font search path as a last resort.
In <3608@zen.berkeley.edu> Bryce Nesbitt (bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu) tells
us that Fish Disk #73 has a handwriting font. He also supplies the rumor
about ported Mac fonts and suggests Calligrapher as a better font editor
than the one on the Extras disk.
Bryce points us to some sources of fonts:
>AlohaFonts ;pictures, borders, special use fonts
>PO Box 2661
>Fair Oaks, Ca 95628-2661
>$19.95 + tax for Ca
>Zuma Fonts, Volumes 1,2,3 ;mostly big fonts for video titling.
>Brown-Wagh Publishing
>1-800-451-0900
> 408-395-3838
>$34.95 each. (Nice fonts. $34.95 per disk is kind of expensive.)
Last but not least, in <2381@xanth.UUCP> Kent Paul Dolan (kent@xanth.UUCP)
gives us a chuckle (well, gave *me* a chuckle anyway) by providing Peter
with his ascii unicycle.
My thanks to you all for your time and patience. I have found yet another
source of fonts. The _Hewlett-Packard LaserJet Printer Family Font
Catalog_ (Copyright 1986 by Hewlett-Packard Company) has pictures of a lot
of the fonts you can get for your LaserJet. I may get around to doing
these for the Amiga. Since they're owned by HP, if I get around to doing
some of them for the Amiga I will contact HP to see if 1) I can distribute
them in a not-for-profit manner and/or 2) if they would like to distribute
them.
The Zapf Humanist 601 looks nice, as do the Bauer Bodini Black, Broadway,
and Cooper Black from the Headline Typeface Collection 1. I admit to a
fondness for TmsRmn proportional on the "B" Cartridge.
See you in the funny papers!
David Talmage
______________________________________________________________________________
David W. Talmage Villanova University
UUCP: ...!vu-vlsi!excalibur!talmage or ...vu-vlsi!sword
Bitnet: talmage@{villvm | vuvaxcom}
Arpa: talmage%{villvm | vuvaxcom}.bitnet@eddie.mit.edusdl@linus.UUCP (Steven D. Litvintchouk) (09/15/87)
Posting-Front-End: GNU Emacs 18.47.1 of Sun Aug 2 1987 on linus (berkeley-unix) In article <3824@ecsvax.UUCP> ruslan@ecsvax.UUCP (Robin C. LaPasha) writes: > > I know of a nice set of fonts - not PD but they won't break the bank > either - they are former Mac PD fonts ported to the Amiga and sold > for ~$12/disk by some folks called EarthBound Software (Suite 237, > 1005 E. 60th St., Chicago IL 60637 (312)667-8048.) I tried (& failed) to get in touch with this company. The telephone number has apparently been disconnected. Directory Assistance for Chicago has no listing for an EarthBound Software. Have they moved out of Chicago, gone out of business, or what? Steven Litvintchouk MITRE Corporation Burlington Road Bedford, MA 01730 Fone: (617)271-7753 ARPA: sdl@mitre-bedford.arpa UUCP: ...{cbosgd,decvax,genrad,ll-xn,philabs,security,utzoo}!linus!sdl
childs@cadnetix.UUCP (David Childs) (09/16/87)
In article <3706@zen.berkeley.edu>, bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu (Bryce Nesbitt) writes: > Any assembler should be just fine. > The Commodore version of the Metacomco Assember is older than what > Metacomco sells now. I've heard good things about the new Metacomco. > (Though I still hate their DOS :-) > You can use the Assembler from the Aztec C disk stand alone... but > last time I looked into that it was painful and increased your file size > by $38? bytes. > Lattice now makes an Assembler. I know nothing about it. > There are some PD/Shareware assemblers. Depending on your situation, the > cost of free software may prove to be too high. I have the Lattice C with Assembler, and the manual says the assembler is good for rewriting cpu intensive code to improve speed, but isn't really for writing entire programs. What I really hate it that the omd (object module disassembler) doesn't produce code that can be re-assembled. I recently got a copy of DevPac Amiga, $99 I think, someone else bought it for me, and it doesn't seem too bad. It has it own editor, which doesn't work. The assembler is started from that. Major problem. It also comes with a debugger. This is helpful. If I didn't have to start up the editor to assemble, I would be happier, but what can I do? The debugger is nice, I shows current status of all registers, and the window is broken up into regions for looking at ram, register status, and a command execution area. Can anyone help me hook up a Televideo 1500 terminal to my serial port so I can use ROM Wack? Can I get a copy of Wack from anyone? What documents, or what information can I get to know what the diffence is between US Amigas, and other (European) Amigas? Thanks, David Childs Cadnetix Corp. (303) 444-8075 childs@cadnetix.UUCP seismo!hao!ico!cadnetix!childs
richard@gryphon.UUCP (09/16/87)
1) When you get a copy of Font-a-whatever, let us know if it scales
fonts and producess smooth curves, or if it just replicates pixels.
2) Sorry about mail not getting to me. A lot of people seem to have
that trouble. 'richard@gryphon.CTS.COM' is a registered address
and has been for over a year. Check your tables (or have sys_admin
check your tables)
3) NOW, for the meat of the issue: the Mac --> Amiga font convertor.
The program was written by a friend of mine, who got it to 'wiggle'
and produce fonts, and they work in Dpaint and Notepad, but they
fail in other programs, ie, the space character doesnt seem to exist.
It is being looked into.
Now, assuming this program was to have this glitch fixed, I dont know
whats going to happen to it. Its not my program.
As soon as we have something to give away or sell, you'll be the first
to know.
And you have my word on it. -- Joe Isuzu.
--
Richard J. Sexton
INTERNET: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard
"It's too dark to put the keys in my ignition..."richard@gryphon.UUCP (09/17/87)
.
(Thanks to David T. for his font summary)
A couple of things to add:
It would seems that font *designs* cannot be copyrighted in the US under
current laws. It seems America has be ripping off the European font
designers for the past n years, and making a good buck at it.
You can trademark a name, like "Helvetica" (tm), and you can
copyright the actual binary that is the font image.
But thats it.
What this means is you can take a laserwriter, print each character
full page size, digitize them (change the name) and *poof* you are in
the font buisness. You can sell them as your own. Pretty scarey huh ?
This info was gleaned from an article on font copyrights written
by Chuck Bigelow, and posted about a year ago. It was posted again
recently, and will appear in the next PostScript Language Journel.
Mail me (go ahead, just try!) and I'll mail you a copy.
In spite of all this, I would doubt that you could convert LaserJet
fonts to Amiga format and distribute them by any means.
On the other hand, HP would have to prove you did'nt just
copy the design, but, rather, converted their binaries. Sticky wicket.
Rather amusing situation, as HP will send you disks and disks of fonts
if you call Boise and ask to be put on the developers list.
--
Richard J. Sexton
INTERNET: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard
"It's too dark to put the keys in my ignition..."peter@sugar.UUCP (Peter da Silva) (09/20/87)
A while ago I said I had a program on the PC that would arc a directory try by recursively arcing subdirectories, and that I'd port it if anyone was interested. Unfortunately, HAD is the operative word. If I ever find it or redo it I'll post it, but in the meantime the idea is out in the open for anyone to run with. It occurs to me that it's not even an efficient way of doing things. Better would be to ARC a "Directory" file and then store all the files with random unique names. Maybe that's what I'll do next time. -- -- Peter da Silva `-_-' ...!hoptoad!academ!uhnix1!sugar!peter -- 'U` Have you hugged your wolf today?
jabber@pnet02.CTS.COM (Richard Lowy) (09/21/87)
I did some fiddling with FED (the font editor) on the 1.2 extras disk. I
think the problem is not that it sometimes forgets to save your fonts, its
just that refuses to replace an already existing file. I doesn't actually
TELL you its not saving- it goes through the motions, it just doesn't save.
I've never had a problem getting it to save a font given that the font/name
doesn't actually exist.
Rich
UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd!crash, seismo!scgvaxd!cadovax}!gryphon!pnet02!jabber
INET: jabber@pnet02.CTS.COMprm@usl.UUCP (09/24/87)
In article <2339@cbmvax.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP writes: > Most of >the Amiga font-point names are concerned with the height of the font, which is >really strange, since back when publishing meant hand-setting type, the width >of the characters was the main thing to be concerned about. > I agree totally, but it seems that almost all of the typesetting languages I've seen for any machine (e.g. troff) use the height of the font as the point-size, instead of the width. Probably because you don't have to worry about vertical proportional spacing :-) Along the same lines, is anyone aware of a public-domain troff (or troff-style) typesetter or print formatter for the Amiga? It doesn't need to be a complete implementation, just something to handle the basic troff-ish commands. Source code would be appreciated. Even nroff would be helpful; I could re-route it to PRT:. Barring this, is anyone else interested in a troff-like typesetter for the Amiga? If there are other people who would be interested, I'd probably finally get the motivation to write one. Granted, it's not a full fledged word-processor, but if you're in a position like me (i.e. having to use a variety of UN*X boxes and troff is what's usually available), it'd be nice to be able to port documents from UN*X to the Amiga and back. Also, considering Amiga's graphics capabilities, a good troff-previewer wouldn't be out of the question, either! Well, time to get back to writing that laser-printer driver for my Amy... (sigh) Anyone have any luck writing printer drivers from Manx 3.4a? Send mail, check, money-order, or hard-drives. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick R. Michaud ut-sally!usl!prm USL NASA Project Leader -or- #include <std.disclaimer> prm%usl.csnet@csnet-relay
lbrown@apctrc.UUCP (Lawrence H. Brown) (09/26/87)
In article <3706@zen.berkeley.edu> bryce@hoser.berkeley.edu.UUCP (Bryce Nesbitt) writes:
:You can use the Assembler from the Aztec C disk stand alone... but
:last time I looked into that it was painful and increased your file size
:by $38? bytes.
Could someone please post a how do to this? This is a new idea I hadn't thought
of...thanks to all and see yah at the Oasis again sometime....
Lawrence Brown
--
USENET: ...!uunet!apctrc!cdf!zlhb0a or zlhb0a@cdf.apctrc.uucp (?)
Phone: (918-660-4389) 24 hrs, voice. USmail: 7325 E. 50th, Tulsa, OK 74145
Disclaimer: I paid 25 cents to see the light. Call it cheap entertainment.richard@gryphon.CTS.COM (Richard Sexton) (09/29/87)
In article <176@usl> prm@usl.usl.edu.UUCP (Patrick Royce Michaud) writes: >In article <2339@cbmvax.UUCP> daveh@cbmvax.UUCP writes: >> Most of >>the Amiga font-point names are concerned with the height of the font, which is >>really strange, since back when publishing meant hand-setting type, the width >>of the characters was the main thing to be concerned about. >> > >I agree totally, but it seems that almost all of the typesetting languages >I've seen for any machine (e.g. troff) use the height of the font as the >point-size, instead of the width. Probably because you don't have to worry >about vertical proportional spacing :-) Correct. > >Along the same lines, is anyone aware of a public-domain troff >(or troff-style) typesetter or print formatter for the Amiga? >It doesn't need to be a complete implementation, just something >to handle the basic troff-ish commands. Source code would be appreciated. >Even nroff would be helpful; I could re-route it to PRT:. > >Barring this, is anyone else interested in a troff-like typesetter >for the Amiga? If there are other people who would be interested, I'd >probably finally get the motivation to write one. Granted, it's not a >full fledged word-processor, but if you're in a position like me >(i.e. having to use a variety of UN*X boxes and troff is what's >usually available), it'd be nice to be able to port documents from UN*X >to the Amiga and back. Also, considering Amiga's graphics capabilities, >a good troff-previewer wouldn't be out of the question, either! Ok, time to let a cat out of the bag. Yes I do have an NROFF(*) for the amiga. Right now. Yes, I even have one that speaks Postscript. Right now. With a catch. It only knows about the monospaced courier font at this point in time. I'll be doing the other fonts this week, assuming this cold I have doesnt kill me. I'll post it to .binaries if there is intrest. * Its actually PROFF... >Send mail, check, money-order, or hard-drives. Me too. >Patrick R. Michaud ut-sally!usl!prm -- Richard J. Sexton INTERNET: richard@gryphon.CTS.COM UUCP: {hplabs!hp-sdd, sdcsvax, ihnp4, nosc}!crash!gryphon!richard "It's too dark to put the keys in my ignition..."