echrzanowski@watmath.waterloo.edu (Edward Chrzanowski) (12/19/89)
My original posting was: I am looking for either bitmaps or outlines for Hiragana and Katakana fonts. I would prefer having a postscript font but Adobe says they only sell to OEM printer manufacturers and only to Japan. Has anyone in Japan designed their own outlines or bitmaps? If anyone has any idea, name or product of a group or company that have these fonts I would like to hear from them. Edward Charzanowski echrzanowski@watmath.waterloo.edu (US Internet,including CSNET) Finally I got all the responses together and found time to put out a comprehensive list. First the replies I received and a few comments. -From horne-scott@YALE.ARPA Wed Sep 27 14:52:05 1989 -Subject: Re: Japanese hiragana and katakana fonts - -Edward, - -With the advent of the academic term, I haven't been able to do anything with -those fonts for some time. Nothing visible exists yet, only stroke definitions. -But I'll post an announcement when I have anything mentionable. - -PostScript fonts exist in Japan, but I don't know how to get them here. -Sorry. --Scott I have checked with Adobe concerning postscript and Japanese fonts. They do not market any such product in North America. There is, however, a Japanese laser writer available in Japan with the appropriate fonts. The output from this printer (I received 2 responses) was mixed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -From tmb@ai.mit.edu Thu Sep 28 14:38:34 1989 -Subject: Japanese Hiragana and Katakana fonts - -I believe kana fonts are included in the X11 distribution (bitmaps only). -From oj@apollo.com Thu Sep 28 14:51:26 1989 -Subject: Re: Japanese Hiragana and Katakana fonts - -In article <29526@watmath.waterloo.edu> you write: -I am looking for either bitmaps or outlines for Hiragana and Katakana fonts. -The XV11R3 X Window System distribution had a font called "k14" on it -in bdf format. This was a Kanji font; it contained Katakana and Hiragana rows. -/oj I did check up on this and sure enough there is such a beast. I am presently fooling around with it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -From rob@nrc.com Thu Sep 28 14:42:50 1989 -Subject: Japanese Hiragana and Katakana fonts - -Linguist's Software -925 Hindley Lane -Edmonds WA 98020 -(206) 775-1130 - - -Rob Pawsner Publications Manager, Network Research Corporation -rob@nrc.com (805) 485-2700 2380 North Rose Avenue, Oxnard CA 93030 This is a nice company. I will give a run down on their products. Although their products are geared to the micro computer world I am planning on obtaining their product to run on a couple of macs here. MacKANJI (v6.0) $99.95US This 4 disk set contains KanjiTalk 6.0.2.1, 52 page English & Japanese Manual, JIS code list and MacKana and Basic Japanese Kanji font for use in English systems. This product is for any Macintosh Plus, SE, SE/30, II, IIcx with a hard disk. They also have a MacChinese that they sell for the same price. They also have laserARABIC and FARSI, LaserTech (for technical, engineering, scientific and athematical equations), LaserGREEK, MacGREEK, Hebrew and Phonetics (they also have numerous other Greek and Hebrew fonts). Now for something completely different they have Coptic Devanagari (ever tried reading very old Russian scripts -I have), MacHieroglyphics, MacAkkadian, MacHindi Sandscript, Laser Tibetan, MacTHAI and MacCyrillic, and LaserIPA. In a nutshell - a very impressive list of fonts. Now if only I can get them to put out fonts for troff. I have their literature. If anyone is interested I could send a copy. I should put the little trade mark symbol on all the names mention above but didn't so consider it there. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -From @rutgers,@cse.ogc.edu,@sequent:perry@ccssrv Fri Sep 29 11:18:14 1989 -Subject: Re: Japanese Hiragana and Katakana fonts - -In article <29526@watmath.waterloo.edu> you write: - -Check with: - - Bitstream Inc. - Athenaeum House - 215 First St - Cambridge, MA 02142 - (617) 497-6222 - Bitstream did not have any Hiragana or Katakana fonts and at present they are not considering producing any. - The Alphabet Lab - 800 Riverside Dr #6H - New York, NY 10032 - (212) 928-3616 - [this address & phone # is about 3 years old] - The telephone number was incorrect. It was (212) 567-7427. This company did not have any H. or K. font. - The Company - 400 World Trade Blvd - Boston, MA 02210 - (617) 439-5348 - They gave me a contact for the Font COmpany. It is The Font Company Dan Barthel, President 12629 North Tatum Boulevard, Suite 210 Phoenix, Arizona, 85032 Phone (602) 996-6606 Fax (602) 996-2510 This company is a suplier of the URW font library. They also sent me information on AsiaGraphics Technology Ltd. Asian typefaces. These typefaces are initially produced in downloadable PostScript format but may be comverted to other formats if required. They have a Korean and Chinese set also. Their prices (in my opion) are a bit steap for use here (100 copies for $45,000.00US - based on a 2 year volume commitment). But their output is the creme de la creme. At any point size their output is excellent. They can be reached at AsiaGraphics Technology Limited 9A GreatMany Centre 109 Queens Road East, Wanchai Hong Kong Tel. (852)- 5 - 8655225 Fax. (852)- 5 - 8655250 - -One or more of them may have something. - ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -From gnu@toad.com Sun Oct 1 05:24:46 1989 -Subject: Re: Japanese Hiragana and Katakana fonts - -I have PD bitmap kanji fonts in two sizes. Will these help? -They are both large, as you might expect (400K in 16pt and 850K in 24pt) -and as I recall they don't compress very well either. - -What format would you like them in? Easiest would be NeWS format, -since I already have both in that format. The "dumpfont" utility -will convert them to various forms, here's its "usage" message: - -Usage: dumpfont -abcdnstv files - -a Write readable text version of file (Adobe ASCII) - -b Write a CScript format file (the default) - -c STR Set the comment associated with the font. - -d STR Set the output destination directory to STR. - -f N Set the maximum length of the output filename to N characters - (default == 8) - -n STR Set the name of the font. - -s STR Set the size of the font. - -S Set the size of the font by magic. - -t Tell briefly what is in the font. - -tv Tell in detail what is in the font. - -ta Tell in gory detail what is in the font - -v Write a vfont file - -vf Write a vfont file, forcing fixed widths - -Let me know what you want. Here is the "dumpfont -t" output for them: - -Kanji16.fb: Font Kanji(16,0,0,16) variable pitch, narrow, JISC6226 encoding, - LRbitmap format, 8100 glyphs - Public Domain Kanji fonts from JIS -Kanji24.fb: Font Kanji(24,0,0,24) variable pitch, narrow, JISC6226 encoding, - LRbitmap format, 8100 glyphs - Public Domain Kanji fonts from JIS - -It would be easiest to Telebit them to uunet's ~uucp/tmp directory where -you could pick them up, or perhaps to put them on a SPARCstation floppy -(PC/AT compatible 3.5'' 720K or 1.4MB) in tar format and postal-mail it to -you. - - John Gilmore - gnu@toad.com -From gnu@toad.com Wed Oct 4 03:34:12 1989 -Subject: Re: kanji fonts - -I can upload the two files to cca.ucsf.edu's ~ftp/download directory -where you should be able to get them via anonymous ftp from the Internet. -However I will be gone for a week and won't have time to upload them -(via uucp) in the meantime. That OK with you? - - John Gilmore - I did download these files and tried them out. Accidently the file was overwritten and I was unable to get another copy. If John is out there listening can you put the 2 files on cca.ucsf.edu so that I can obtain them again. Many thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -From rose@cs.wisc.edu Sun Oct 1 22:44:00 1989 -Subject: Re: Japanese Hiragana and Katakana fonts - -My company sells a bitmapped Katakana. Sorry, I don't know the details -and can't recall the 800 number either. Our name is SoftCraft, Inc., and -the toll number is (608) 257-3300. Or, call 800 information, if that -is available in Canada. When I contacted this company they were very helpful. They do have a Japanese Kana font that when you type in the Romanji you get the Hiragana font. The character set is very good. They can be reached at Softcraft Inc. 16 N. Carroll Str., Suite 500 Madison, Wi. 53703 Tel. (608) 257-3300 Fax. (608) 257-6733 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -From ken@cs.rochester.edu Thu Oct 12 14:08:19 1989 -Subject: Re: Hiragana and Katakana fonts - -Hi Ed, - -Probably you already know, but Nelson Beebe put some JIS fonts up -for ftp on science.utah.edu. I think they are low res dot matrix -fonts though. I did check these out and yes they are a low res version but still legible. The last time I looked they were not there. Can Nelson Beebe (or other such person)put them somewhere where they can be ftp'd. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -From W55052@JPNKUDPC.BITNET Mon Oct 23 09:51:11 1989 -Subject: Printing in Japanese - -Dear Edward, - -This is not good news. -In order to output in Japanese, -The following software and printer are necessary. -NIHONGO MS-DOS (MS-DOS Japanese version) -Software for word processing (ex. ICHITAROU) -and related laser beam printer (ex. CANON laser beam printer) ->Word processor, which is similar to an electronic typewriter, is -popular in Japan. It is less than 1,000 US dollar. -The quality of printing is not so good because of thermal or dot -printing method. - The above note was from my friend in Japan. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -From datran2!bob@uunet.UU.NET Mon Nov 13 16:11:03 1989 -Subject: Japanese Hiragana and Katakana fonts - -Edward, - -*** THIS IS A COMMERCIAL RESPONSE TO YOUR SEPT. 28 NET POSTING FOR HIRAGANA *** - ^^^^^^^^^^ - *** AND KATAKANA FONTS *** - - My company, Data Transforms, has a bit-mapped font library of over 200 - fonts including decorative alphanumerics, engineering and logic symbols, - musical notation, etc... and foreign languages, including HIRAGANA and - KATAKANA ^^^^^^^^ - ^^^^^^^^ - Our font library is currently compatible with: - - tm -ESSENTIAL GRAPHICS PACKAGE ----------------- from South Mountain Software - - tm -GRASP (3.0 or later) ------------------------ from Paul Mace Software - - tm -PC PAINT PLUS (2.0 or later) --------------- from Mouse Systems Corp. - - tm tm tm -VIDEO CHARLIE , VCG2 , and TEXT-DROID --- from Progressive Image Tech. - - tm -DASHBOARD (2.0 or later) ------------------- from Bridgeway Publishing - - tm -SAM IV ------------------------------------ from Learncom, a Division of - Sandy Corporation - tm tm -FONTRIX and PRINTRIX ------------------- from Data Transforms - - -- Our PRINTRIX package typesets ASCII or supported word processor files in - any of our symbol sets. You can mix up to nine different fonts/symbol - sets on the same page. Printrix supports MICROSOFT WORD, WORDSTAR, - WORDSTAR 2000, and WORDPERFECT (4.0, 4.1, 4.2, 5.0) textfiles. - - -- Our FONTRIX package is our WYSIWYG graphics and typesetting package. - Fontrix allows you to mix any number of fonts on a single page. You can - draw or paint wherever you type for fully integrated text and graphics. - Fontrix includes a full set of drawing and painting tools for graphics - creation. - - -- Our FONTRIX package contains our bit-map font editor that was used to - create our entire font library. Fontrix can create fonts ranging from a - single pixel to a maximum of 96 x 96 pixels in size. - - If you are interested, call me at (303)-832-1501 or E-Mail. Please include - an address to AIRMAIL you info -- we have NO FAX machine... I do not use the above so I did not contact this company. If anyone would like to please do. I now have a collection of names addresses etc of companies dealing with Japanese fonts. What I am lacking is opinons on the products. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- -From rcleon@urc.tue.nl Mon Nov 20 16:52:17 1989 -Organization: Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands -Subject: Katakana/Hiragana fonts - -Hello, - -And if someone else did not already tell you, there is a 24x24 -JIS bitmap font on sumex-aim.stanford.edu stored there as FONT24.DAT. This font is still there (I have not looked at it yet though). Well that is about it. I have not received any more responses. If anyone know of any more information concerning Katakana or Hiragan fonts please let me know and I will keep this information up to date. Edward Chrzanowski echrzanowski@watmath.waterloo.edu