RWS@ZERMATT.LCS.MIT.EDU (Robert Scheifler) (10/19/87)
From: unido!pcsbst!tom@uunet.UU.NET
Date: Wed Oct 14 14:15 MET 1987
1) It seems that the XK_LATIN1 keysyms codings (see include/keysymdef.h)
follow the ISO 8859-1 8-bit character coding scheme. If this is true
will there be in the future X11 bdf fonts which embody these codings?
Only if someone produces such fonts and is willing to give them to us in
such a way that they are freely redistributable (e.g., public domain, or
copyrighted but with unlimited redistribution).
2) Is the current X internal font format going to be the standard for X,
or will this change? (I realize that I can write my own font compiler
and rewrite those parts of dix that deal with the font format -- this
is not the answer to my question.)
The word "standard" is dangerous. Since the protocol is explicitly
designed to hide representation issues, the internal font format is far
from "standard" in that sense. The sample server does not represent a
"standard". However, it is unlikely that a new font format for the
sample server will be developed in the near future (except perhaps as
relates to extensions, such as for scalable fonts).
3) Is the character spacing in the X font format identical to that of
the Adobe fonts? Is this sufficient information for writing, say,
a PostScript previewer?
I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "character spacing". Whether the
information is sufficient for PostScript previewing depends on what your
demands are, and how you go about implementing it (like how to handle
scaling and rotation). I believe the metric information is consistent
with PostScript (we don't use bdf for nothing).
4) Will there be more X bdf fonts in the next distribution? Where are
the helv and timrom families, or have we lost something?
See response to (1).