From: rot@multisys.com (Republic of Taiwan)
Newsgroups: fj.mail-lists.x-window
Subject: Re: Making big fonts, how to start?
Date: 6 Sep 92 09:21:48 GMT
Distribution: fj
Organization: Multimedia Information Systems Corporation, San Jose, CA                        TEL: (408) 437-3031            E-mail: info@multisys.com

Date: 3 Sep 92 03:51:14 GMT
Message-Id: <BtzHDF.4FH@multisys.com>
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x

In article <123@trident.datasys.swri.edu> noren@trident.datasys.swri.edu (Greg Noren) writes:
=OK.  I've scanned the FAQ and acquired many of the listed tools.  I want to
=make a few "large" fonts - something on the order of 128 pixels tall by 64
=pixels wide at 100 dpi, or even 64 tall by 32 wide at 200 dpi.
=
=The questions are:
=
=     o  Do I create a BDF file from scratch using bitmap(1) to make all
=        of the glyphs (the _hard way_ listed in the FAQ)?
=
=     o  Do I start with an existing BDF file and doctor it up with new
=        bitmaps?
=
=     o  Does somebody have a utility not listed in the FAQ to make this
=        process easier?
=
=There's nothing magical about the contents of the font; I just need the
="isprint()" characters.  We're using R4 on Silicon Graphics Personal Iris
=4D/35s and Indigos (System V with some BSD capabilities) as well as Sun
=SPARC 2s.  I've got access to R5, but my project team wants to stay with
=R4 for now as that's what our customer is running.  So, no R5 servers.
=
=I'd like to minimize the effort and time required to create these fonts.
=Being the novice that I am, I'm unsure of the route to take.  Any advice
=in this matter would be greatly appreciated.  E-mail or post is cool.
=
=--
=I disclaim:  The words above are mine... My company speaketh their own.
=
=Gregory Noren                             (512)522-5531 (a human)
=Southwest Research Institute              (512)522-5499 (just the FAX)
=Internet:  noren@trident.datasys.swri.edu (129.162.50.211)


Try bintobdf. below is the bintobdf readme file.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 1990 Mark Leisher.

Author: Mark Leisher (mleisher@nmsu.edu)

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 1, or (at your option)
any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

A copy of the GNU General Public License can be obtained from this
program's author (send electronic mail to mleisher@nmsu.edu) or from
the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA
02139, USA.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

This program converts raw bitmap fonts into BDF format fonts.  It
allows for things like skipping headers on the input font and doing
bit and byte adjustments dependent on architecture.

I wrote bintobdf because I was tired of hacking out a new utility
every time I wanted to convert a raw bitmap font into a BDF font.

Bintobdf is designed primarily for fiddling with fonts that have a
large number of characters (i.e. some of the Oriental fonts), but it
can easily be used for just about any size raw bitmap font.  The only
real "gotcha" in the program is the assumption that the font's
characters are square.  This is hardcoded, so it would have to be
changed for other types of fonts.

Please send bug reports, enhancements, etc. to:
Internet: mleisher@nmsu.edu
Bitnet  : mleisher@nmsu.bitnet