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From: [email protected] (Norman Walsh)
Newsgroups: comp.fonts,comp.answers,news.answers
Subject: comp.fonts FAQ: MS-DOS Info
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Date: 14 Aug 1996 10:34:49 -0400
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Summary: This posting answers frequently asked questions about fonts.
It addresses both general font questions and questions that
are specific to a particular platform.
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Archive-name: fonts-faq/part8
Version: 2.1.5

Subject: 3. MS-DOS Information

The easiest way to get outline fonts under MS-DOS is with Microsoft
Windows 3.x or OS/2 2.x.

Microsoft Windows 3.0 with Adobe Type Manager (ATM) and OS/2 2.0
support PostScript Type1 fonts.

Microsoft Windows 3.1 supports TrueType fonts natively.

Bitmap fonts are available in a variety of formats: most formats are
designed with the printer in mind and not the display since (prior to
graphical environments like Windows, GEM, and OS/2) the majority of
work under MS-DOS was done with a character-based interface.

Subject: 3.1. Frequently Requested MS-DOS fonts

Many fonts are available at various archives. The biggest font archive
for MS-DOS format fonts is ftp.cica.indiana.edu. Note: you can use any
Mac format Type1 font on your PC by converting it to PC format with the
free/shareware as described below.

The following fonts are in Type 1 format for MS-DOS. Some are also
available in TrueType format.

* Hebrew

ShalomScript, ShalomOldStyle, ShalomStick

* Japanese

Shorai

* Star Trek

Crillee, TNG monitors

* IBM OEM Line Drawing Characters

Try Adobe PrestigeElite or Adobe LetterGothic. They have all the
characters you want, but the `line draw' characters are unencoded
-- you will need tools to reencode the outline font itself and
make a new PFM metric files.

Or try IBMExtended from Impramatur Systems in Cambridge, Mass. It
already is encoded using IBM OEM encoding (some DOS code page).

The IBM version of Courier distributed freely under the X11
Consortium also contains the appropriate characters. Again, the
font will have to be reencoded for Windows. Appropriate AFM files
for this font can be obtained from:
http://www.ora.com/homepages/comp.fonts/FAQ-tools.html.

Lee Cambell suggests the following alternative:

Line Drawing characters are also available on ftp sites as
gc0651.exe which is a self-expanding archive. It is on cica (and
mirrors thereof). From the text file that comes with it, it looked
like it was distributed by Microsoft. I printed some text in the
normal A-z range and it looked identical to the truetype Courier
font distributed with Windows. Perhaps it is an upgrade to that
font. I didn't try the linedraw glyphs, so I can't say how they
look.

Subject: 3.2. MS-DOS Font Installation

If you have any information that you feel belongs in this section, it
would be greatly appreciated.

* Windows

* Pat Farrell contributes the following description of font
installation under Windows.

Installing Fonts into Windows:

This only covers Windows 3.1 with ATM. Font is a four-letter
word in Windows versions prior to 3.1 due to the distinctions
between screen fonts and printer fonts. The upgrade price of
Windows 3.1 is justified by the integration of TrueType into
the package and the inclusion of useful fonts for all
printers.

Commercial fonts usually have installation instructions with
their manuals. The approach may differ from the method used
for PD and shareware fonts.

To install PD and shareware fonts in Windows 3.1:

1. Copy the fonts onto a suitable scratch area (i.e. a
floppy, or any temporary area of your hard disk.

2. Execute "Control Panel" by double-clicking on the icon
in the Windows Program Manager's "main" group.

3. Double-click on the Fonts icon.

4. Double-click on the "Add" button.

5. Select the scratch directory holding the new fonts.

6. A list of the fonts will be displayed. You can manually
select the fonts you like, or you can use the
"Select All" button.

7. Make sure the "Copy Fonts to Windows Directory"
check-box is checked. This will copy the fonts
from the scratch area to your Windows directory.

8. Click on the "Ok" button.

* Special notes for Windows applications:

Word for Windows (W4W) stores font/printer information in its
own initialization files. After you add new fonts, you have
to tell W4W that the printer can use the new fonts. Do this
by selecting "Printer Setup" from the W4W main "File" menu
item, click on the "Setup" button, and then click on two "Ok"
buttons to back out of the setup mode.

* Note concerning Windows 3.1 upgrade:

There are two upgrade packages available from Microsoft for
Win3.1. There is the standard version which contains
TrueType support, and about six font families (Times New
Roman, Arial, Courier, Symbols, Wingdings, etc.). It costs
something like $50 (US). The second version contains a number
of TrueType fonts that includes equivalents for the 35
standard Postscript fonts. This adds an additional $50, which
is a pretty good value. However, if you plan on buying
Microsoft's PowerPoint, it includes the same additional
fonts/typefaces. So you can save money by not buying the
fonts twice.

* More about Windows

* [Q:] Why are don't the TrueType fonts that come with
Microsoft products (Word-for-Windows, PowerPoint,
Windows 3.1 TrueType Font Pack, etc.) display and
print properly on my system?

* [A:] The font matching algorithm in Win3.1 is fairly
simplistic. If you install lots of TrueType fonts,
the algorithm can get confused. In this case, "lots"
is more than 50 or so.

* According to Luann Vodder who supports Microsoft Word on
CompuServ:

"There is a procedure which Windows must go through when an
application requests a font. Each font contains a list of
attributes such as Family, FaceName, Height, Width,
Orientation, Weight, Pitch, etc. When an application
requests a font, it fills out a logical font for Windows
containing the necessary attributes, then starts going
through a font mapping algorithm to determine which of the
installed fonts most closely matches the requested (logical)
font. Penalties are applied against fonts whose attributes
do not match the logical font, until the fonts with the
fewest penalties are determined. If there is a "tie",
Windows may need to rely on the order of the fonts in the
WIN.INI file to determine the "winner".

If the fonts you want are in your WIN.INI file, and show up in
Windows' Control Panel, then try moving them higher in your
WIN.INI file with a file edittor such as SYSEDIT."

* Kesh Govinder suggested the following warning:

CAUTION: While many Windows 3.1 users would like to have many
TrueType fonts at their disposal (and they are many available
in the PD) a word of caution. A large number (>50) TT fonts
will slow down your windows startup time. This occurs as
every installed font is listed in the win.ini file, and
Windows has to go through the entire file before starting up.
While this may not affect most users, it will especially
affect users of CorelDraw!, so be warned.

* Other Programs

It is an unfortunate fact that almost all MS-DOS programs do things
differently. Your best bet is to read the manual that comes with
the program you want to use.

Subject: 3.3. What exactly are the encodings of the DOS code pages?

DOS uses `code pages' for `IBM OEM' encoding of fonts. There are six
code pages supplied with DOS 5.0:

437 (English)
850 (Multilingual - Latin I)
852 (Slavic - Latin II)
860 (Portugal)
863 (Canadian French)
865 (Nordic)

(The character code range 0 - 127 is the same in all code pages).

The problem is that MS idea of how to define what a code page is, is to
show a low resolution print out of the glyphs! Which is fine for the
letters of the alphabet, numerals and the obvious punctuation marks,
but worthless for accents (is it `cedilla' or `ogonek'? is it `caron'
or `breve'?) and many other characters. For example, 249 is a small
dot, while 250 is a slightly larger dot. Is one of these supposed to
be `bullet' (which already occurs at 7)? Or is one of them maybe
supposed to be `middot' or `dotcentered'? Is 228 supposed to be
`Sigma' or `summation'. Is 225 supposed to be `beta' or `germandbls'?
Etc etc

And what is the character that looks like `Pt' in code position 158?

Anyway, surely there is a table somewhere that defines precisely what
these encodings are supposed to be. That is, a table that gives for
each code number the name and/or a description of the character.

Subject: 3.4. MS-DOS Font Utilities

* PS2PK

PS2PK allows you to convert PostScript Type1 fonts into bitmap
fonts. The bitmap files produced are in TeX PK format.

* PKtoSFP

PKtoSFP allows you to convert TeX PK fonts into HP LaserJet
softfonts.

* PFBDir/PFBInfo

PFBDir and PFBInfo format and display the "headers" in a binary
Type1 font.

Subject: 3.5. Converting fonts under MS-DOS

Subject: 3.5.1. Converting Mac Type 1 fonts to MS-DOS format

Converting Macintosh Type1 fonts into PC Type1 fonts can be done using
purely free/shareware tools. I've outlined the procedure below. Make
sure you read the "readme" files that accompany many fonts. Some font
authors specifically deny permission to do cross-platform conversions.

The tools you need
==================

XBIN
xbin23.zip in /pub/msdos/mac on oak.oakland.edu (or other
mirrors)

UNSIT
unsit30.zip in /pub/msdos/mac on oak.oakland.edu

UNSITI
unsiti.exe in /pub/onset/util on ftp.std.com

Peter Gentry indicates that this program can extract SIT
archives that use the newer compression techniques that unsit
doesn't recognize.

UNCPT
ext-pc.zip in /pub/pc/win3/util on ftp.cica.indiana.edu

REFONT
refont14.zip from
http://www.ora.com/homepages/comp.fonts/FAQ-tools.html

BMAP2AFM
bm2af02.zip from
http://www.ora.com/homepages/comp.fonts/FAQ-tools.html

XBIN converts Mac "BinHex"ed files back into binary format. BinHex is
the Mac equivalent of UUencoding, it translates files into ascii
characters so that mailers can send them around without difficulty. It
also aids in cross platform copying too, I'm sure. BinHexed files
generally have filenames of the form "xxx.yyy.HQX".

UNSIT explodes "Stuffit" archives. Stuffit archives generally have
filenames of the form "xxx.SIT". UNSIT will ask if you want to
seperate resource and data forks. Yes, you do. There has been some
confusion about whether or not you want headers. I'm inclined to
conclude that it can be made to work either way. Personally, I say no.

UNCPT explodes "Compactor" archives. The ext-pc implementation is
called "extract" and does not require windows (even thought it's in the
windows section on cica). Compactor archives generally have filenames
of the form "xxx.CPT".

REFONT converts Mac type1 fonts into PC type1 fonts. It also converts
Mac TrueType fonts to PC TrueType format. And vice-versa.

BMAP2AFM constructs AFM files from the metric information contained in
Mac screen fonts (.bmap files). The screen font files do not have any
standard name (although they frequently have the extension .bmap). The
screen fonts have file type "FFIL" which, in combination with some
common sense, is usually sufficient to identify them.

I've listed the tools that I've used and the sites that are reasonable
for me to retrieve them from. It's probably a good idea to check with
archie for closer sites if you're not in North America. These tools
run under MS-DOS. XBIN and UNSIT can also be run under Unix.

How to do it?
=============

Collect the Mac fonts from the archive or BBS of your choice. Most of
these files will be in BinHexed format. As a running example, I'm
going to use the imaginary font "Plugh.cpt.hqx". When I download this
font to my PC, I would use the name "PLUGH.CPX". The actual name you
use is immaterial.

Run XBIN on PLUGH.CPX. This will produce PLUGH.DAT, PLUGH.INF, and
PLUGH.RSR. The data fork of the Mac file (the .DAT file) is the only
one of interest to us, you can delete the others.

If the original file had been "Plugh.sit.hqx", we would be using the
UNSIT program. Since I chose a .cpt file for this example, I'm going
to run UNCPT.

Run UNCPT on PLUGH.DAT. You want to extract the AFM file (if present),
the documentation or readme file (if present), and the Type1 outline
file. The AFM and README files will be in the data fork of the archive
file. The Type1 outline will be in the resource fork. The AFM and
README files have Mac "TEXT" type. The Type1 outline file has "LWFN"
type. I'm not trying to describe this part in a step-by-step fashion.
Use the docs for UNCPT and UNSIT as a guide. If you got this far you
probably won't have much difficulty. If you do, drop me a line and
I'll try to help.

If the font does not contain an AFM file, extract the screen font.
Screen fonts frequently have the extension .bmap and are "FFIL" type
files. Use Bmap2AFM to construct an AFM from the screen font. If the
archive _does_ contain an AFM file, it's safe to bet that the author's
AFM will be better than the one created by Bmap2AFM.

Finally, run REFONT on the Type1 outline that you extracted above. The
result should be an appropriate PC type1 outline. REFONT will create a
PFM file for you from the AFM file, if you desire.

Remember to register your shareware...

Other comments
==============

[email protected] makes the following observations:

* UNCPT is easier to use than UNSIT

* UNCPT has to be run twice. I usually do it like this

extract *.cpt -f

extract *.cpt -f -r

* When using "unsit30" you probably want the outline file with the
MacHeader and the others without it. I think that REFONT
requires it but I am not sure.

* REFONT works usually ok. You want a PFA (ASCII) file which is
directly usable on NeXT (you may need to convert carriage-returns
to newlines but I am not sure if it is necessary).

The biggest problem is with the .afm files that are completely
missing or generated by the tools that don't do their job
properly.

* BMAP2AFM requires some extra files (ie. other than bmap2afm.exe) to
work properly.

Subject: 3.5.2. Converting PC Type 1 and TrueType fonts to Mac format

Refont
======

Refont (version 1.4) can convert (in both directions) between PC and Mac
formats of Type1 and TrueType fonts. Note: it _cannot_ convert
_between_ formats, only architectures. The procedure described above
outlines how to convert a Mac archive into PC format so that you can
get at the data. Presumably, the process can be reversed so that you
can get at the data on the Mac side as well. Unfortunately, I don't
have a Mac so I can't describe the process in detail.

Font Manipulation Package
=========================

The Y\&Y Font Manipulation package can convert PFA/B files into Mac
format and AFM files into Mac screen fonts.

Subject: 3.5.3. Converting PC Type 1 fonts into TeX PK bitmap fonts

The release of PS2PK by Piet Tutelaers is a godsend to those of us
without PostScript printers. PS2PK converts PC/Unix format Type 1 fonts
into TeX PK files. Used in conjunction with the AFM2TFM utility for
creating TeX metric files, this allows almost anyone to use Type 1
PostScript fonts. PS2PK is distributed under the GNU License and has
been made to run under MS-DOS with DJGPP's free GNU C compiler. The PC
version requires a 386 or more powerful processor. Check with Archie
for a source near you.

Note: if TeX PK files are not directly usable for you, there seems to
be a fair possibility that LaserJet softfonts would be useful. If so,
check below for instructions on converting TeX PK files to LaserJet
softfonts.

Subject: 3.5.4. Converting TeX PK bitmaps into HP LaserJet softfonts (and vice-versa)

There is some possibility that someone will yell 'conflict of interest'
here, but I don't think so. I wrote the following utilities:

PKtoSFP: convert TeX PK files to LaserJet (bitmapped) softfonts

SFPtoPK: convert LaserJet (bitmapped) softfonts to TeX PK files

But they are completely free, so I don't gain anything by "advertising"
them here. These are MS-DOS platform solutions only. If you know of
other solutions, I would be happy to list them.

This is Info file compfont.info, produced by Makeinfo-1.55 from the
input file FAQ.texinfo.

Subject: 3.5.5. TrueType to HP LaserJet bitmap softfonts (HACK!)

If you have the tools, the following suggestion does work, but it isn't
easy and it hasn't been automated. To be honest, I haven't really
tested it.

If you are using Windows 3.1, get a LaserJet printer driver (you don't
need the printer, just the driver). Using the LaserJet driver, direct
output to a file and print a simple file containing all the letters you
want in the softfont in the font that you are converting. When the
print job has completed, the output file will contain, among other
things, a LaserJet softfont of the TrueType font you selected. If you
know the LaserJet format, you can grab it out of there.

I didn't say it was easy ;-)

This method will not work with ATM [ed: as of 7/92] because ATM does
not construct a softfont; it downloads the whole page as graphics.

Here is an overview of the LaserJet bitmap softfont format. It should
help you get started. If you have any questions, ask norm. If anyone
wants to write better instructions... ;-)

Many details are omitted from this description. They are thoroughly
discussed in the HP Technical Reference for each model of laser printer.
I recommend purchasing the Tech Ref. If you have additional questions
and do not plan to purchase the Tech Ref (or do not wish to wait for its
arrival), you can ask norm.

An HP LaserJet softfont can occur almost anywhere in the output stream
destined for the printer. In particular, it does _not_ have to be
wholly contiguous within the output file. In fact, fonts can be
"intermixed" at will. The following "pieces" make up a font:

A begin font descriptor command (followed by the descriptor) and a
series of begin character descriptor commands (followed by their
associated data). When a new character descriptor is encountered, it
is added to the current font (which may change between descriptors).

In the discussion that follows, the following notational conventions
are followed:

Key elements are surrounded by quotation marks. The quotation marks
are not part of the element. Spaces within the element are for clarity
only, they are not part of the element. All characters (except ESC and
#, described below, are literal and must be entered in the precise case
shown).

ESC means the escape character, ASCII character number 27 decimal.

# means any decimal number. The meaning of the number is described in
the commentary for that element.

* What is a font descriptor?

A font descriptor begins with a font descriptor command and is
followed immediately by the data for the descriptor. Font
descriptors define data global to the font. In general, more
recent printers are less strict about these parameters than older
printers.

* What is the font descriptor command?

"ESC ) s # W"

In this command, # is the number of bytes in the descriptor. The
first element of the descriptor indicates how many of these bytes
should be interpreted as the font descriptor (the remaining bytes
are commentary only-to the printer, at least). This area is
frequently used for copyright information, for example, although
some systems insert kerning data into this area.

* What is the font descriptor data?

The data is:

UI Font descriptor size
UB Descriptor format
UB Font type
UI Reserved (should be 0)
UI Baseline distance
UI Cell width
UI Cell height
UB Orientation
B Spacing
UI Symbol set
UI Pitch
UI Height
UI xHeight
SB Width Type
UB Style
SB Stroke Weight
UB Typeface LSB
UB Typeface MSB
UB Serif Style
SB Underline distance
UB Underline height
UI Text Height
UI Text Width
UB Pitch Extended
UB Height Extended
UI Cap Height
UI Reserved (0)
UI Reserved (0)
A16 Font name
?? Copyright, or any other information

UI = unsigned integer, SI = signed integer, UB = unsigned byte, SB
= signed byte, B = boolean, and A16 =sixteen bytes of ASCII.

After the font name, ?? bytes of extra data may be inserted. These
bytes pad the descriptor out to the length specified in the begin
font descriptor command.

Note: integers are always in big-endian order (MSB first).

* What is a character descriptor?

A character descriptor describes the character specific info and
the layout of the bitmap. Newer printers can accept compressed
character bitmaps.

* What is a character descriptor command?

"ESC * c # E"

The # is the length of the descriptor, in bytes.

* What is the character descriptor data?

UB Format
B Continuation
UB Descriptor size
UB Class
UB Orientation
SI Left offset
SI Top offset
UI Character width
UI Character height
SI Delta X
?? Character (bitmap) data.

Although older printers cannot accept characters that include
continuations, newer printers can. If the "continuation" field is
1, the character bitmap data begins immediately after that byte and
the remaining fields _are not_ present.

* Ok, now I understand the data, what do I look for in the output
stream?

ESC * c # D
defines the font number (remember the number).

ESC ) s # W
defines the font descriptor (as described above).

ESC * c # E
specifies the character code (the #, in this case).
The next character descriptor maps to this position in
the font. Characters do not have to appear in
any particular order.

ESC ( s # W
defines the character descriptor (as described above).

Remember, these can occur in any order. Experimentation with the
particular driver you are using may help you restrict the number of
different cases that you have to be prepared for.

Please report your experiences using this method to norm (both to
satisfy his own curiosity and to help improve the FAQ).

Subject: 3.6. MS-DOS Screen Fonts (EGA/VGA text-mode fonts)

Editors note: the following description was mercilessly stolen from
comp.archives on 02SEP92. It was originally Yossi Gil's
posting.

FNTCOL14.ZIP contains more than 200 text mode fonts for EGA/VGA
displays. It includes fonts in different sizes for Hebrew, Greek,
Cyrillic, math symbols and various type styles including smallcaps and
script.

It is available at borg.poly.edu:/pub/reader/dos/fntcol14.zip