pa1132@sdcc15.ucsd.edu (pa1132) (02/18/89)
I just get a file from comp.sources.atari.st archive at ssyx.ucsc.edu called "vdit". This is a file containing a PD interface to the "undocumented" VDI load_font functions (not the regular vst_load_font function which requires GDOS to work). The sources in vdit mention that the interface will load fonts in .FED format. Back in 1986 I got a PD font editor called GEMFED which can edit .FED fonts. The documents for this editor states that GEMFED is used for editing "GEM fonts". However, this version of GEMFED is unable to load the regular GDOS fonts (with .FNT suffix) which come with easy-draw. Attempting to rename some .FED fonts created with GEMFED to .FNT suffix and putting their new names in assign.sys files to force Easy-Draw to load them as GDOS fonts cause Easy-Draw to bomb. Clearly the FED fonts and the regular GDOS .FNT fonts are not compitable. My questions are: 1. What really are "GEM fonts"? .FED or .Fnt fonts? What is the difference between these two? 2. The vdit file does not mention if the undocumented load_font function requires GDOS or not. I assume not. Thus, can it only load .FED fonts? Can it be modified to load the regular GDOS fonts thus that a program can use this interface to load/use GDOS fonts without the presence of the GDOS and the assign.sys trouble? Any info is appreciated.
egisin@mks.UUCP (Eric Gisin) (02/19/89)
In article <1130@sdcc15.ucsd.edu>, pa1132@sdcc15.ucsd.edu (pa1132) writes: > 1. What really are "GEM fonts"? .FED or .Fnt fonts? What is the > difference between these two? I don't know. > 2. The vdit file does not mention if the undocumented load_font > function requires GDOS or not. I assume not. Thus, can it only > load .FED fonts? Can it be modified to load the regular GDOS fonts > thus that a program can use this interface to load/use GDOS fonts without > the presence of the GDOS and the assign.sys trouble? No, the undocumented load_font function does not require GDOS (it may not even work if you have GDOS). It actually doesn't load fonts at all, it just registers with the VDI a list of fonts that your application has loaded. You can then use the regular VDI functions to select these fonts. I supplied a routine to load .FED-format fonts, but that could be rewritten to load other font formats.