sean@ukma.uky.csnet (Sean Casey) (11/25/86)
I really don't like the default font when the Amiga is booted up. I think it's a bit too big. What I'd like to do is change it to something that is about the size of the med res fonts on the Atari ST. Can this be done? Sean -- =========================================================================== Sean Casey UUCP: cbosgd!ukma!sean CSNET: sean@ms.uky.csnet ARPA: ukma!sean@anl-mcs.arpa BITNET: sean@UKMA.BITNET
daveh@cbmvax.cbm.UUCP (Dave Haynie) (12/01/86)
> Summary: Cleverly disguised request for info. > > I really don't like the default font when the Amiga is booted up. I think > it's a bit too big. What I'd like to do is change it to something that is > about the size of the med res fonts on the Atari ST. Can this be done? > > Sean The default fonts (either 80 column, for monitor work, or 60 column, for RF connection to TV sets) are based in ROM, and you have to get one of these on power-up. Fortunately, there are several things you can do about this. There are several fonts in you FONTS: directory, though most of these fonts are proportionally spaced fonts, which don't work too well in a CLI (basically, they don't work well when printed 1 by 1). You can design you own 8x8 or similar fonts using some kind of font editor. I've found a Public Domain font editor on Compuserve's AmigaForum, and I imagine the same program is available elsewhere. A better Font Editor is available on the Extras disk you get with the 1.2 Amiga system. Both of these will allow you to build your own font. Of course, once you have the font you like, you'll want to use it somewhere. You can't select any font in Preferences; it'll only accept one of the two ROM based fonts. The best way right now to select your favorite font is with a SetFont utility program. There was one posted here awhile back that allows you to change the font of your CLI, screen, or titles. I wrote a very similar program which hasn't been posted here, but is available on Compuserve and several private BBSs. Both of these are called SetFont; mine identifys itself as SetFont 2.0, and accepts command line parameters to set you choice of fonts in the various font locations that are available in the common Amiga structures. These still don't completely replace the default font. Any new Window opened on the WorkBench Screen will inherit its font from the WorkBench Screen's default font descriptor, which you set with my program via: SetFont fontname pointsize SCREEN However, any new Screen opened will instead use the font given by the Preferences structure, which means a ROM font. Unfortunately, the Amiga Preferences stuff, even in 1.2, won't let you set an arbitrary disk font as the full default. There is, however, one thing you CAN do that hooks your font of choice into the system even better than either of the SetFont programs (well, SetFont 2.0 definately, and the last release I've seen of the other one). I'm currently looking into adding this to MY SetFont, so it may not work completely, but I'll describe the idea here. I'm trying to find the actual, physical link of the "topaz.8" or "topaz.9" font in the normal Amiga setup, and physically replace this font with one of mine. Thus, whenever anyone asks for the Preferences defined font, they get mine. This hasn't been tested yet, but I think some version of this will wind up in the next version of my SetFont program (which I'll upload here, if there's enough call for it). -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave Haynie {caip,ihnp4,allegra,seismo}!cbmvax!daveh "Laws to supress tend to strengthen what they would prohibit. This is the fine point on which all the legal professions of history have based their job security." -Bene Gesserit Coda These opinions are my own, though for a small fee they may be yours too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~