home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Crawly Crypt Collection 2
/
crawlyvol2.bin
/
program
/
books
/
joy_gdos
/
joy_gdos.txt
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-10-20
|
82KB
|
2,142 lines
More Joy of GDOS*
Version 2.2
Gerd Castan **
October, 2nd. 1994
________________________________
* English version posted in comp.sys.atari.st -
German Version posted in de.comp.sys.st and maus.gui.gem
** English translation by Stefan Damerau (cookie@cookie.syd.de)
Contents
1 Technical info
2 Introduction
3 Motivation
4 Changes
5 VDI drivers
* 5.1 Ink printers
5.2 9pin drivers
* 5.3 24pin drivers
5.4 Laser drivers
5.5 Atari laser drivers
5.6 Screen drivers
5.6.1 LineA
5.6.2 Setscreen & Getscreen
5.6.3 NVDI and WARP 9
5.7 Other drivers
5.7.1 Memory drivers
5.7.2 Plotter drivers
* 5.8 What's missing
6 Errors
+ 7 Fonts
7.1 Bitmap fonts
7.2 Vector fonts
7.2.1 FSMGDOS fonts
7.2.2 Bitstream Speedo fonts
7.2.3 Type 1 fonts
7.2.4 TrueType fonts
7.3 Comparison of vector formats
7.3.1 Curves
7.3.2 Hints
7.3.3 Internal resolution
* 7.3.4 Linear and optical scaling
* 8 Printer
8.1 Marked overview
* 9 Programs
10 Utilities
10.1 fontfix
10.2 Outline Fonts
10.3 Printer Driver
10.4 ASSIGN
10.5 FONTCHK
10.6 FONTCNV
10.7 GEMFont
10.8 FontMonger
10.9 Font ID
10.10 X4U
+ 11 Font selectors
+ 11.1 UFSL
+ 11.2 XUFSL
+ 11.3 Magic from Peter Hellinger
+ 11.4 FontSel
+ 11.5 Minimum requirements
+ 11.6 Desirable properties
12 Distribution
12.1 Atari
12.2 BELA
12.3 Language
12.4 Internet
12.5 Working Title
12.6 XWindows
12.7 COMPO
12.8 IMG-0300
12.9 Others
12.10 FTP
12.11 SciLab
+ 12.12 Star Division
13 GDOS Versions
13.1 The ones from the bones
13.1.1 Atari-GDOS and AMCGDOS
13.1.2 ABCGDOS
13.1.3 G+Plus
13.2 One step forward
13.2.1 FontGDOS 2.0
13.2.2 FSMGDOS 3.0
13.3 Actual developments
13.3.1 SpeedoGDOS 4.0 and 4.1
13.3.2 Speedo 4.2
13.3.3 Speedo 5.0
13.3.4 NVDI up to V2.51
13.3.5 NVDI 3.0
13.4 Comments
14 Source
15 Tips'n Tricks for users
15.1 Pixeltrash at printing
15.2 NEC P6+
15.3 Overwritten Speedo faces
16 Tips'n Tricks for coders
16.1 Font size and pixel size
16.2 Selecting drivers
* 17 Addresses
18 Miscellaneous
18.1 Critics
18.1.1 Critics to the author
18.1.2 Critics to the translator
18.2 Praise
18.3 For my support
18.4 Trademarks
18.5 Guarantee
19 Appendix
19.1 Literature
1 Technical info
My email address will change more than once nexttime. Due to this reason I
have an alias, pointing to my actual location - and if it's in the
MAUS net: G.Castan@physik.uni-stuttgart.de
For easy location of this document at servers and mailboxes, I ask for
using the following name(s) and saving the ascii AND TeX versions:
FILENAME=
gdosi22e
gdosinf22e (when using UNIX) CR+LF should be used when saving at
UNIX-Fileservers too, not just LF
2 Introduction
Actually I'm writing a program, that makes his print-out via GDOS. Looking
for printer drivers I faced the problem, that many times no documentation is
included to the drivers.
Otherwise it may happen that there are different drivers with the same name.
Here I have briefly collected my experiences with printer drivers.
This collection doesn't generally want to describe coders how to use
printer drivers (except to problems not mentioned in literature). And you
wont find information about the concept or how to install printer drivers.
To get this refer to the list at the end of this FAQ.
What I want to exclaim here is more information about the several drivers:
o Where are the drivers available?
o How to distinguish them?
o What are the problem with them?
o Which drivers can be used for certain printers?
If anybody has more experience or questions, please write me. I will face
the work to update this FAQ.
Credits:
Kay Prisille (MIGRAPH-products, Calligrapher lite)
Julian Reschke (IMG-0???)
Volker Ritzhaupt
Juergen Voorgang (Working Title - products)
Herwig Schelauske (Installation of GDOS, name-conventions)
Normen Kowalewski (Font-GDOS)
Erik Dick (SpeedoGDOS)
Patrick Dubbrow
Ulrich Rossgoderer (WYSIWYG)
Stefan Hintz (CHARLY IMAGE)
Ulli 'Huhu' Ramps (Speedo 4.2)
Laurenz Pruessner (SLM_HS)
Marcel Boom (1st Postcard!)
Joerg Tochtenhagen (Misc)
Ralf Heckmann (Spellchecker 8-)
Gerd Castan.
3 Motivation
With GDOS it took me ~2 hours of coding, to get the screen output to the
printer in maximum quality. And (almost) with no extra work I get output to
printers I even don't know.
Whoever wants to write a program with printing options should better take
care of the main job of the programm.
Nobody wants to pay for printer drivers if there's another program that
didn't take the coder extra work with such stuff making this program less
expensive (and surely better).
The user has - besides the lower price - another advantage. If he uses
several programs he needs place for the driver and the fonts only one time
on the HD.
SpeedoGDOS is available from Atari shops (Atari Competence Center in
Germany) now.
The (qualified) feedback to my FAQ has - compared to autumn '92 - raised
remarkable. Due to Speedo the coder's interest in GDOS seems to be bigger.
4 Changes
Beginning with release 2.0 I mark the changes in the contents list above.
'+' means a new chapter/info and a
'*' stands for changed chapters
This chapter will only be used if I have to mention something about the
changes S. Damerau of course. Blame me, not Gerd ;-)
Gerd has one note about the changes: He hopes to have included all changes
noted, but isn't sure because he got a
big list of spelling errors in German
2.1 and tried to include the changes
there.
5 VDI drivers
In this table I have listed distributor, errors and useable fonts.
5.1 Ink printers
__________________________________________________________________________
| Name |Date |Length |Distributor |Errors | Others | Fonts |
|___________|_________|_______|____________|_1_|_2_|________|____________|
| BJ10E |20.11.90 | 45917 | WT | | | |NC |
| BJ10 |20.11.85 | 45919 | CL | | | |NC |
| BJ10 |28.08.91 | 45660 | BELA | | | |NC |
| BJ10 |27.01.92 | 59715 | FontGDOS,I | | n | |NC, OTL |
| BJ10 |28.01.93 | 61428 | Speedo | | n | |NC, SPD |
| BJ10 |02.07.93 | 63496 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |NC, SPD |
| STYLUS |25.04.94 | 60848 | Speedo 5.0 | | n | |NC,SPD,TT,T1|
| HP_LJET |22.02.89 | 45512 | BELA | | | p.g. | LS |
| HP_LASER |25.09.89 | 36928 | Atari,I | | | |LS |
| LASERJET |06.03.91 | 54517 | Atari | | | |LS |
| LASERJET |27.01.92 | 60194 | FontGDOS,I | | n | |LS, OTL |
| LASERJET |28.01.93 | 61907 | Speedo | | n | |LS, SPD |
| LASERJET |02.07.93 | 64408 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |LS, SPD |
| HPL150 |12.04.86 | 51541 | wt | | |150dpi | LL |
| HPL300 |24.04.86 | 51541 | CL,wt | | | |LS |
| DESKJET |13.05.92 | 45637 | BELA | | | p. |LS? |
| DESKJET |14.05.91 | 46040 | CL,WT | | | p. |300x600 |
| DESKJET |06.03.91 | 54285 | Atari,I | | | |LS? |
| DESKJET5 |14.05.91 | 46040 | CL,WT | | | delta |LS |
| DJ5 |27.01.92 | 60600 | FontGDOS,I | | n | |OTL |
| DJ5 |28.01.93 | 62251 | Speedo | | n | |SPD |
| DJ5 |02.07.93 | 64319 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |SPD |
| DJ550C |11.10.93 | 68870 | Speedo 5.0 | | n | |LS,SPD,TT,T1|
| DJ550C2 |14.04.94 | 68746 | Speedo 5.0 | | n | |LS,SPD,TT,T1|
| DJ500C |14.04.94 | 68761 | Speedo 5.0 | | n | |LS,SPD,TT,T1|
| DJ510 |17.05.94 | 61921 | Speedo 5.0 | | n | |LS,SPD,TT,T1|
| DJ510T |17.05.94 | 61925 | Speedo 5.0 | | n | |LS,SPD,TT,T1|
| MT90 |21.12.90 | 44881 | BELA | | |180dpi | SP |
| PAINTJET |27.01.92 | 60005 | FontGDOS | | n | |SP, OTL |
| PAINTJET |28.01.93 | 61648 | Speedo | | n | |SP, SPD |
| PAINTJET |02.07.93 | 63642 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |SP, SPD |
| PAINTJET |14.08.92 | 60173 | I | | | |SP, OTL |
|_PAINTJET__|13.10.91_|_45934_|_WT_________|___|___|________|SP__________|
Note: The drivers named HP_LJET and DESKJET can be used for (HP compatible)
ink and laser printers. The difference is in the transfer to the printer:
Packed (p.) or not packed (n.p.). 'Delta' means that the data is delta
packed.
PAINTJET:
180X180: 2-8 colo(u)rs
90x90: 16 colo(u)rs
MT90 is made by Patrick Dubbrow.
Ink drivers produce a problem with bitmap fonts. Using 300dpi everything is
ok. But 360dpi fonts are optimised for best efforts with pin printers with
thick pins. Together with ink printers the fonts look much too thin.
Solution: either use 300 [ 600, 1200 :-) ] or exclusively use vector fonts
5.2 9pin drivers
________________________________________________________________________
| Name |Date |Lenght |Distributor |Errors | Others | Fonts |
|___________|_________|_______|____________|_1_|_2_|________|__________|
| FX240DPI |22.12.89 | 45396 | BELA | y | | |SR |
| FX80 |22.12.89 | 45396 | BELA,wt | n | | |EP |
| FX80_2 |12.06.91 | 45396 | I | | | |EP |
| FX80 |24.09.91 | 45525 | CL | | | |EP |
| FX80 |16.12.87 | 45396 | Atari | n | | |EP |
| FX80 |27.01.92 | 59236 | FontGDOS,I | n | n | |EP, OTL |
| FX80 |28.01.93 | 61111 | Speedo | | n | |EP, SPD |
| FX80 |02.07.93 | 63177 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |EP, SPD |
| FX80HIGH |22.01.89 | 44730 | Atari,I | n | | |SR |
| FX80_QD |24.09.91 | 45525 | WT | | | |EP |
| NX1000 |27.01.92 | 58719 | FontGDOS | n | n | |EP, OTL |
| NX1000 |28.01.93 | 60723 | Speedo | | n | |EP, SPD |
| NX1000 |02.07.93 | 62717 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |EP, SPD |
| NX1000 |14.08.92 | 58887 | I | | | |EP, OTL |
| OKI20 |27.01.92 | 58491 | FontGDOS | n | n | |EP, OTL |
| OKI20 |28.01.93 | 60495 | Speedo | | n | |EP, SPD |
| OKI20 |17.03.93 | 60511 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |EP, SPD |
| OKI20 |14.08.92 | 58659 | I | | | |EP, OTL |
| SMM804 |16.12.87 | 44801 | Atari | | | |LB |
| SMM804_2 |16.06.91 | 44801 | I | | | |LB |
| SMM804 |27.01.92 | 59201 | FontGDOS,I | | n | |LB, OTL |
| SMM804 |28.01.93 | 61076 | Speedo | | n | |LB, SPD |
|_SMM804____|02.07.93_|_63142_|_Speedo_4.2_|___|_n_|________|LB,_SPD___|
Note: FX80HIGH prints normal text twice, FX240DPI once, FX80_QD printer in
quad density.
NX1000 and OKI20 are color drivers with 8 colors
5.3 24pin drivers
__________________________________________________________________________
| Name |Date |Lenght |Distributor |Errors | Others | Fonts |
|___________|_________|_______|____________|_1_|_2_|________|____________|
| EPSON360 |04.04.90 | 45619 | BELA | y | | |NC |
| EPSON360 |16.09.92 | 45547 | WT | | |180x360 | |
| EPSLQPAR |14.02.91 | 44939 | I | | | | |
| LQ570 |28.01.93 | 62051 | Speedo | | n | |SPD |
| LQ570 |02.07.93 | 64228 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |SPD |
| LQ850 |15.11.93 | 68068 | Speedo 5.0 | | n | |SP,SPD,TT,T1|
| NB15 |22.12.89 | 44881 | BELA,wt | n | | |SP |
| NB15 |16.12.87 | 44881 | Atari,CL | n | | |SP |
| NB15_2 |12.06.91 | 44881 | I | | | |SP |
| NB15 |27.01.92 | 59121 | FontGDOS,I | n | n | |SP, OTL |
| NB15 |28.01.93 | 60989 | Speedo | n | n | |SP, SPD |
| NB15 |02.07.93 | 63055 | Speedo 4.2 | n | n | |SP, SPD |
| NECP6 |12.04.80 | 45199 | wt | | | |NC |
| NECP6 |10.04.91 | 45619 | BELA | y | | |NC |
| NECP6 |06.02.86 | 44906 | Atari,I | y | | |NC |
| NECP6_2 |28.06.91 | 46557 | I | | | |NC |
| NECP |27.01.92 | 59516 | FontGDOS | y | n | |NC, OTL |
| NECP |28.01.93 | 61229 | Speedo | | n | |NC, SPD |
| NECP |02.07.93 | 63297 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |NC, SPD |
| NEC_P |14.08.92 | 59516 | I | | | |NC, OTL |
| P24M |08.04.89 | 47104 | I | | | | |
| P24ML |08.04.89 | 47104 | I | | | | |
| P24MWID |08.04.89 | 47104 | I | | | | |
|_P24MWIDL__|08.04.89_|_47104_|_I__________|___|___|________|____________|
5.4 Laser drivers
___________________________________________________________________________
| Name |Date |Lenght |Distributor |Errors | Others | Fonts |
|___________|_________|_______|_____________|_1_|_2_|________|____________|
| RICOH12 |23.06.92 | 45438 | WT | | |400dpi | |
| HP_LJET |22.02.89 | 45512 | BELA | | | n.p. |LS |
| HP_LASER |25.09.89 | 36928 | Atari,I | | | |LS |
| LASERJET |06.03.91 | 54517 | Atari | | | |LS |
| LASERJET |27.01.92 | 60194 | FontGDOS,I | | n | |LS, OTL |
| LASERJET |28.01.93 | 61907 | Speedo | | n | |LS, SPD |
| LASERJET |02.07.93 | 64408 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |LS, SPD |
| HPL150 |12.04.86 | 51541 | wt | | |150dpi |LL |
| HPL300 |24.04.86 | 51541 | CL,wt | | | |LS |
| LJ4_300 |12.01.91 | 61910 | Speedo 5.0 | | n | |LS,SPD,TT,T1|
| LJ4_600 |12.01.94 | 61910 | Speedo 5.0 | | n | |SPD,TT,T1 |
| DESKJET |13.05.92 | 45637 | BELA | | | p. |LS |
| DESKJET |14.05.91 | 46040 | CL | | | |LS |
| DESKJET |06.03.91 | 54285 | Atari,I | | | |LS |
| CANONLBP |26.09.89 | 36980 | Atari,I | | | |LS |
|_LBP_______|13.01.92_|_45453_|_WT__________|___|___|________|LS__________|
5.5 ATARI laser drivers
___________________________________________________________________________
| Name |Date |Lenght |Distributor |Errors | Others | Fonts |
|___________|_________|_______|_____________|_1_|_2_|________|____________|
| SLM804 |12.04.91 | 47496 | BELA | | n | |LS |
| SLM804 |16.12.87 | 45788 |Atari,I,CL,wt| | y | |LS |
| SLM |12.12.90 | 48399 | Language | | | |LS |
| SLM |27.01.92 | 60036 | FontGDOS,I | | n | |LS, OTL |
| SLM |28.01.93 | 61911 | Speedo | | n | |LS, SPD |
| SLM |02.07.93 | 63987 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |LS, SPD |
|_SLM_HS____|17.01.94_|_63663_|_ROM_________|___|_n_|________|LS,_SPD_____|
SLM_HS is a SLM driver for the Falcon (when using the Heatseeker interface)
5.6 Screen drivers
The screen is (if VDI functions are used) seen as an output device just
like printer, plotter etc. That's why fonts for the screen can be installed
in ASSIGN.SYS just like for printers.
Usually this isn't noticed because the drivers are in ROM. But they can be
replaced like printer drivers.
Note: For system fonts only (like the original ones) non proportional fonts
with a 8*8 or 8*16 matrix can be used. That's limited by the AES not VDI.
With newer AES (from 4.0?) it's no problem to use fonts of free choice
(Variable AE_FONTID and AE_FONTSIZE in GEM.CNF, see [15]). Coders should
make sure their programs can take that. (even like scrollbars of free width)
Bitmap fonts not assigned for screen driver 1 are not available for other
screen drivers.
5.6.1 LineA
The so-called LineA routines are subprograms of the screen drivers of the
ST series. Take them as undocumented. This is the hardware depending part of
these drivers.
The attentive readers discovers it: Exchanging the drivers removes the
LinaA routines too. This happened with the TT for example.
So never use them!
/Reading/ acces can be taken to the LinaA variables. But I can see no reason
for it.?
5.6.2 Setscreen & Getscreen
These XBIOS-Functions (mostly Setscreen) should'nt be used.
But what am I talking. For those useing them or those being tortured
because someone did it:
The video hardware of 1040STE and Mega STE has a hardware bug. When defining
a new physbase with Setscreen (and if it's the same that is returned by
Getscreen), it may happen that the screen is 'folded'. This happens if
a register is set at an arbitrary moment. But this is only allowed only at
special phases of the screen output.
What has to be done?
Users: The programs NVDI and FALT_OFF stop this error. Or give this FAQ to
coder.
Coders: Either even don't use Setscreen.
If you use it though: If physbase isn't changed, the value returned
by Getscreen may not be used. Use the
value -1 as physbase instead!
5.6.3 NVDI and WARP 9
There are two frequent replacements of the ROM drivers: NVDI and WARP
9 (earlier QuickST). TurboST was distributed by BELA but isn't updated any
more.
Once you use them, you will never want to miss them: the Desktop seems
to be terribly slow. I never want to work without NVDI on my Atari.
Others say the same about WARP 9.
NVDI uses strongly optimised drivers for the ST and TT resolutions.
Infortunately I don't know which drivers are replaced by WARP 9.
NVDI is available from Behne & Behne and contains not only the drivers but a
GDOS and a manual describing exactly all VDI calls.
WARP 9 is available from CodeHead.
Due to this NVDI is spread in Germany and WARP 9 in the US
Different to NVDI WARP 9 only speeds up the text output. Grafics stay slow
as before. AND the newest version doesn't work with MultiTOS. It Works on
the Falcon too, but I don't know if it supports *all* resolutions there
(Like with Screenblaster, BlowUp030 or others)
5.7 Other drivers
_________________________________________________________________________
| Name |Date |Length | Distributor|Errors | Others | Fonts |
|___________|_________|_______|____________|_1_|_2_|_________|__________|
| META |11.04.89 | 5644 | I | | | |MF |
| META |08.10.88 | 9325 | BELA | | | |MF |
| META |16.12.87 | 9325 | Atari | | | |MF |
| META_2 |14.06.91 | 9325 | I | | | |MF |
| META |27.01.92 | 9718 | FontGDOS | | n | |MF, OTL |
| META |28.01.93 | 9733 | Speedo | | n | |MF, SPD |
| META |02.07.93 | 11174 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |MF, SPD |
| MEMORY |27.01.92 | 58397 | FontGDOS | | n | |LS, OTL |
| MEMORY |28.01.93 | 60265 | Speedo | | n | |LS, SPD |
| MEMORY |02.07.93 | 62331 | Speedo 4.2 | | n | |LS, SPD |
| PSCRIPT |14.10.92 | 33016 | WT | | | | |
| HPGL |08.07.91 | 48885 | ST458 | | | | |
| ZEBRA |07.12.91 | 45746 | WT | | | | |
| T_OFFICE | | | wt | | |98/196dpi| |
| T_OFFICE | | | wt | | |98/196dpi| SPD |
|_IMG-0300__|_________|_______|_Reschke,wt_|_n_|___|_________|LS________|
IMG-0300 can be copied (non commercial). The other IMG-0??? drivers are by
SciLab. ZEBRA is for the Zebra Labelprinter.
5.7.1 Memory drivers
A memory driver doesn't do anything else than a screen driver (see [15] and
[13]). But the output isn't written to the screen memory, but to another
memory.
The usual v_openwk binding doesn't have all necessary parameters to open
this driver. If not included to the language this binding must be written by
yourself. A listing is found at [15].
The memory driver listed above is only capable of b/w output only and has
a logical resolution of 300dpi. The (matrix) drivers tested by me have no
problems with fonts installed that are for other other drivers. The memory
driver should take screen fonts although it has a logical resolution of 300
dpi.
The aspect ratio (relation of pixel width to height) which usually is not
equal to the screen resolution can cause the problem that circles are
displayed as ellipses.
With NVDI V2.5 or higher the GDOS output can be made to offscreen bitmaps
and copied in the screen windows.
5.7.2 Plotter drivers
A HPGL driver seems to be distributed with the program DATA. On PD disk ST
458 (German PD series) is one too. If I get more about it I'll include this
info here.
5.8 What's missing
I don't know drivers using the abilities of the following printers:
o Canon BJC 600 - A colour printer with 4 heads (CMYK) 64 nozzles each.
In the colour mode it's compatible to:
- Canon BJC 800
- Epson LQ 2550/2500
Its resolution is 360x360. I dont's know any GDOS driver
supporting the BJC's capabilities directly (or via
compatibility mode) when using colours.
6 Errors
Errors in the printers drivers - that I know - are the following:
1 These drivers display fonts with the attribute 'light'
2 Doesn't work on TT
3 The EXTENDED ENQUIRE FUNCTION (VDI 102, vq_extnd) doesn't give back the
parameters as listed in the German 'Profibuch' (Jankowski, Rabich,
Reschke - Sybex)
4 Using the attributes 'italic' and 'outlined' the letters of bitmap fonts
are cut off on the right side. This error appears independent from other
attributes being used.
This error was in the Libraries of the driver sources from Atari and
seems to be included in all drivers except to NVDI and SpeedoGDOS.
If theres nothing written about an error I don't know if this error appears
or not.
It's no accident, that Xact only uses the attributes 'fat', 'italic'
and 'underlined'. (See [4])
Another reason against using 'outlined' is the following:
If you make a driver calculate an outlined font from a normal one it gets
'wider' by two pixels. Due to the reason that a pixel has a width depen-
ding to the resolution (other than a fitted font) a text gets different
widthes in each resolution. But who wants to have different textformat on
different printers? The only way to stop this is letterspacing -
typographic 'bullshit'.
7 Fonts
First: What's the difference between a font and a face (German: Schnitt)?
When calling a font selector there may be Swiss 721, Swiss 721 italic,
Swiss 721 Bold and Swiss 721 Bold Italic. These are 4 faces, alltogether
form a font.
This separation isn't that simple at bitmap fonts, due to all attributes are
created from only one file (this can be made with vector fonts too, but it's
quite nonsens In my opinion). That's why I first didn't note that this
attribute creation is buggy in some versions of SpeedoGDOS (see 13.3.3).
I don't always distinguish between font and face in this FAQ.
Especially in the chapter about font formats.
7.1 Bitmap fonts
The fonts used are bitmap fonts in the DR standard format. They have to be
saved in Intel format. Motorola format isn't supported by any GDOS.
(See [1] and appendix)
GDOS bitmap fonts have their width information defined in both, screen font
and printer fonts. Unfortunately the designers were a bit too zealous and
fitted the width of the sreen fonts to make them look very beautiful.
They've done a good job, but they're not similar to the printer fonts and
don't allow WYSIWYG.
There are many fonts on the Internet only for the screen and maybe useable
for one printer. Everybody using these fonts should know that he can't print
documents in an acceptable quality via GDOS.
But in the Atari and former BELA package there are containedthe fonts for
all printer drivers in this package (the 360*360dpi fonts are missing in the
Atari package). If you have a useable program you can print every document
with every driver.
7.2 Vectorfonts
Vector fonts don't use pixels, they are created with algorithms - supported
by shapes and hints. These algorithms (see METAFONT for a good example) make
the fonts copyrighted like usual programs. (See [21] for this)
7.2.1 FSM-GDOS Fonts
The vector fonts with the old FSM-GDOS format are named with OTL.
These fonts and drivers shouldn't be used any more and are listed to only for
completion of this FAQ.
7.2.2 Bitstream Speedo fonts
The vector fonts in speedo format are named with SPD.
They are supported by all SpeedoGDOS releases and by NVDI 3.0 or higher.
7.2.3 Type 1 fonts
Type 1 fonts are available for MacIntosh abd MS-DOS/Windows. They only have
differences in the internal representation, not in the information.
At least one of these formats is supported by SpeedoGDOS from V5.0a. But I
already found some that SpeedoGDOS 5.0a can't display.
7.2.4 TrueType fonts
This format is available for MacIntosh and MS-DOS/Windows too. The MS-DOS
format is a superset of the MacIntosh format.
SpeedoGDOS from V5.0a can handle both, no matter if it's for MacIntosh or
MS-DOS/Windows.
NVDI from V3.0 will be able to handle it too.
7.3 Comparison of vector formats
(This chapter is to be completed yet)
There's no noncommercial program on any platform that can convert one format
into the other. A lot of fonts are only available in one format.
But what makes a conversion so difficult? To ask different: Which infor-
mations are stored in which way?
7.3.1 Curves
First the shape of the chars should be saved. But that for many ways are
used:
Type 1: Uses cubic Bezier curves
TrueType: Uses square B-splines
Speedo: Uses Bezier curves
(Does anyone know, which order is used by Speedo? Does Speedo 5.0 use
several orders? How has v_bez_qual to be set to make an output with
v_getoutline and v_bez_fill have the same result as the font engine?)
Square B-splines are much faster than cubic Bezier curves but you need
about 4 times as much points.
7.3.2 Hints
The next problem is the display on media with low resolution. For a neutral
observer Speedo fonts always look quite good on the screen (well, some fonts
are ugly by nature).
But I've found TrueType fonts that look as ugly as nothing else on the
screen. For example the two vertical lines of an 'n' are not the same, one
is 1 pixel and the other is 2 pixels thick.
The way to prevent those errors are hints. This method is used by Speedo,
Type 1 and TrueType (but not by Type 3 and CFN). But the possibility to
store hints in a format doesn't mean that they're used!
So, finally: All these three font types can look very good on the screen,
Type 3 and CFN can't [ever tried to print CFNs on a printer with less than
360x360dpi?]
7.3.3 Internal resolution
After the problem with low resolution now there's the problem with the high
resolution. Even if you think there shouldn't be any; there are!
To display a vector font first an internal system of coordinates has to be
selected. CFN has one from 0 to 16000, Type 1 (which was created when
there were no high-res printers) one from 0 to 1000. Due to this there
are 'corners' visible at large letters or high resolutions (in the
professional league). CFN can make the big deal here.
(Which internal resolutions do Speedo, TrueType and OTL have?)
7.3.4 Linear and optical scaling
Do we now have - with the description of the shape, a high internal
resolution and the hints - a scalable font? Sure not!
A font that is designed for 16pt has a totally different shape as a doubled
8pt fonts (see Knuth: The METAFONT book; Kopka: LaTeX etc.). A well designed
font isn't scalable.
In large fonts vertical lines are much thicker than the empty space between
them. But this information for optical scaling can be saved in a font too.
So a font, being 20 pixels high on the screen (this is usually a large font)
should look different to one being 20 pixels high on a laser printer (this
is a small font that should have small vertical lines).
(Which formats do save these informations?
to COMPO and 2B:
If it's saved in Speedo, Type 1 or TrueType: How can I tell SpeedoGDOS or
NVDI that a printout has to be downsized in a photomechanical way and has
to be scaled different to a font that don't have to be changed?
Does this make it useful for programs setting the font size in pixels and
points too? If this is the case: which has to to set first?)
There are rumours about Type1 fonts supporting optical scaling automaitcally.
But I think this should be supported by the font engine because there may be
one window with a title and one with an enlarged document. Here scaling has
to be made different - with same size in pixels. The font and the font
engine CAN'T know this.
8 Printer
_______________________________________________________________________
|_Producer____________Printer___________________|Drivers Fitting______|
| NEC |P6+,P7+, |NECP... |
|___________________|P60,P70____________________|NB15_(FX:_:,:NX1000)_|
|_HP________________|LaserJet_II________________|HP_LJET______________|
|_HP________________|DeskJet,_LaserJet_III,IV___|DESKJET_(HP_LJET)____|
|_CANON_____________|BJ10E______________________|BJ10_________________|
|_CANON_____________|LBP_4/8____________________|CANONLBP,_LBP________|
|_Mannesmann-Tally__|MT_90______________________|MT90_________________|
Drivers in brackets work but don't use the ability of the printer totally.
This means - for 24pin printers - that these are used in 9pin mode. At
HP compatible laser and ink printers this means that the data isn't packed
although this is supported by the printers.
Some deskjet drivers are told to make problems. In this case try the laser-
jet driver. The printing takes longer then (due to more data) but the
problems should be solved then.
The BJ10 drivers use the Proprinter emulation. Don't use the BJ10 in the
epson mode!
The Stylus shouldn't be used with 24needle drivers. The needles overlap
(the ink dots of the stylus don't) and so the drivers just don't print some
dots.
The meaning of compatible usually is defined by the producers of the
compatible printers.
Notes:
o If you don't find your printer in the list and you know a fitting
driver, please write me a note.
o Try other drivers even if you have found one fitting to your printer.
o Of course the FontGDOS drivers have a lot of problems with the memory.
But the speed of'em is faster than the other (Speedo not considered).
8.1 Market overview
In the German TOS-Magazin July '92 page 24 contains a list.
If You know about lists available europe-/worldwide inform me.
9 Programs
Nowadays it's obvious (but not usual) to use GDOS in every program.
The following list is limited to those using GDOS to print too.
_____________________________________________________________________________
Kind of Program______|Program______________|Distributor___________________|Sp|
Chart/Measureanalysis|Xact |SciLab |y |
|MM-Graph |Overscan | |
|Off-Axis |ByTech |y |
|DATA_Professional 4 |Ralf Wirtz | |
|DPE |MAXON (Special disc) | |
|GRAPH |Hans-C Ostendorf (Shareware) |y |
|MessPlot (Shareware) |Michael Siek (Shareware ) |y*|
_____________________|rho-Analyse__________|rhotron_GmbH__________________|y_|
Graphics |Xact Draw |SciLab |y |
|Kandinsky |U. Rossgoderer (Shareware) |y |
|TRIPLE_D |U. Rossgoderer (Postcardware) |y*|
|Chagall |Trade-iT |y*|
|Easydraw |MIGRAPH | |
|TouchUp |MIGRAPH | |
|GEM-View |D. Fiebelkorn (Shareware |y*|
_____________________|CHARLY_IMAGE_________|Wilhelm_Mikroel.______________|y*|
Spreadsheet |LDW Power Calc 2 |MSPI | |
|K_Spread_4 |Omikron | |
|Graal Calc 3 |Editions Profil | |
|Atari Works |Atari Corp. |y |
|OPUS |Doug Harrison (PD) |n |
_____________________|BASiChart____________|Dr.__Ackermann________________|y_|
Text/DTP |Calligrapher |Working Title | |
|Wordflair II |H3 | |
|Timeworks Publisher |GST/H3 | |
|G&D Text II |Hard & Soft | |
|Cypress |Sascha Luedemann | |
|Papyrus (Gold) S |R.O.M. |y |
|Infinity |ByTech GbR | |
|7Up |Michael Thaenitz (Shareware) |y |
|Atari Works |Atari Corp. |y |
|Tempus Word | |y |
_____________________|1st_Word_Plus_4.1____|GST/ICP/COMPO_________________|y_|
Fax |Junior Office |TKR |y |
|Tele Office |TKR |y |
_____________________|CoMa_________________|SoftBaer Gbr__________________|y_|
Sim._of_dyn._Syst.___|Dynasys______________|Digital_Systems_&_Consulting__|__|
Text/List printing |IdeaList |Chr. Bartholme (Shareware) |y |
_____________________|ProList______________|Richstein_&_Dick______________|y_|
Chem. Displaying |Monoklin |MAXON (Special disc) | |
_____________________|Chemograph Plus______|DigiLab_______________________|__|
Circuitlayout |Route iT! & Circu iT!|Think! | |
_____________________|Platon_______________|VHS___________________________|y*|
Vektoriser___________|Convector_II_________|ZYN/TEAM-Computer_____________|__|
Hardcopy_____________|rhocopy______________|rhotron_______________________|__|
Disk-List-printers___|TreeView_2.4_________|Stephan_Gerle_________________|__|
Fraktals_____________|Fractals_IV__________|Harald+Martin_Hansen__________|__|
PS-Interpreter_______|Postman______________|SILICON_Technology_&_Promotion|__|
Concordance__________|Concordance__________|SPIRIT_WARE___________________|__|
Packershell_f.__MTOS_|MARC_4.0_____________|Think!________________________|y_|
Logikanalyser________|CLA_v2r1_____________|C._Graham_(Shareware)_________|y_|
Adress base__________|Pegasus______________|Pergamon Software_____________|y_|
Symbolic mathematics |Solutions |Elan Software | |
_____________________|Riemann II___________|Richter Distributor___________|__|
Database_____________|Atari Works__________|Atari Corp.___________________|y_|
Notators_____________|MIDI File Printer____|ST PD-Disc 677 (Public Domain)|__|
CASE_Nassi Schneider.|UpToCase_____________|Michael_Nolte_________________|y_|
Invoicing____________|Kundendirektor_+_____|Michael_Kammerlander__________|y_|
This list is no commercial. I'll include every program I get to know.
(Comment by the Translator: Sorry for mentioning Atari Works three times,
but I wanted to keep the 'Text/DTP' and 'Spreadsheet' Chapters')
Notes:
o Programs listed in the Speedo column with 'y*' support Speedo but don't
output text.
o 7up only uses non proportional fonts (e.g. Monospace 821 from Speedo)
o Xact can print Speedo fonts without SpeedoGDOS too.
o FSM-GDOS is included in the Wordflair II package.
o Platon only outputs metafiles via GDOS.
o I didn't make it to print via GDOS in OPUS.
(I've been told, OPUS doesn't chose the fonts it can handle with,
and doesn't print if even one of these fonts is installed. See 7.1 too)
o Programs only printing via device 21 (like OPUS and CLA are out! (see
16.2 too)
Kandinsky Version 1.73
ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de pub/atari/Graphic/kand173
10 Utiliies
10.1 fontfix
Problem: The font height is wrong in some fonts. fontfix discovers this
error and corrects it.
On the Internet fontfix can be found here:
ftp.uni-muenster.de /pub/atari/Applications/Dtp/Fonts/Gdos
ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de /pub/atari/utils
10.2 Outline Fonts
Outline Fonts Accessory by CJG
This utility edits the EXTEND.SYS for SpeedoGDOS. This file
contains a description of the size of the Speedo caches, the
fonts and the font sizes. The caches can be saved to disc and loaded
again from there too.
A good done program except to the preset cache sizes fitted to
FSM-GDOS not Speedo.
Filename: OUTLINE.PRG alias OUTLINE.ACC, 67644 Bytes (49254 Bytes Speedo 5)
Spread with SpeedoGDOS.
(Why doesn't Atari make it to make programs including a display of the
version?)
10.3 Printer driver
GDOS Devices Accessory by CJG
Edits the ASSIGN.SYS
Filename: DRIVERS.PRG alias DRIVERS.ACC, 64878 Bytes (41592Bytes with
Speedo 5)
Before starting this program it's better to create a backup of the
ASSIGN.SYS!
The (at least) two reasons are the following:
1. The informations about the bitmap fonts are removed without comment.
2. ASSIGN.SYS is replaced by a new one if 'Benutzereigen'-'Hinzufuegen' (in
the German release) is selected wihtout any chance to get it back.
(The English Version should have a Dialog like 'Own drivers' 'Add' or
similar). To all coders: Don't copy that style!
If this utility should display no drivers sometimes simply start ASSIGN.PRG
(see next subsection)
DRIVERS.PRG/ACC only displays the Speedo drivers of my collection. It
doesn't display the Filename, it displays a name included as string in
the driver. Does anybody know how it gets this information?
10.4 ASSIGN
ASSIGN 1.0a is by Dirk Sabiwalsky (PD).
It tests three things:
o Are there several fonts using the same ID and have different Names
(Typefaces)?
o Are there several fonts using the same ID and the same Pixelheight?
o Are there several fonts with the same name (Typeface) and different
IDs?
10.5 FONTCHK
FONTCHK tests GDOS fonts if they have possible errors.
It's spread with ProList for example.
10.6 FONTCNV
Converts GDOS fonts from Motorola to Intel format.
Comes with ProList too.
10.7 GEMFont
Fonteditor has the capability to read Signum- and PK (TeX)- Fonts too.
Internet: ftp.tu-clausthal.de:pub/atari/systools/gdos/gemfo120.lzh
Use the chance to get a new unlzh or lhxarc.
10.8 FontMonger
Converter and editor for different vector formats including Speedo. Only
works on IBMs or MAC though.
10.9 Font-ID
Font-ID is a little freeware tool made by Frank Schneider. In a window it
displays the fonts (in different sizes) installed with GDOS or SpeedoGDOS
including the Font-ID. So you can get an overview when you don't have a
program with font selector/ID display function at the moment.
10.10 X4U
Speedo fonts have much more glyphs than the ones mapped in the ASCII
charset. With this program by Peter Hellinger you can setup, which char is
to be used at which ASCII code. It's distributed by R.O.M.
11 Font selectors
We all know this useful thing about file selectors:
The Operating system doesn't only offer a file selector, it's got an
interface to use one file selector in every application.
A standard interface for FONT selectors doesn't exist, usually they're
offering their jobs by cookies. The work to make a program support font
selectors via cookies is much smaller than writing one for yourself.
If there wouldn't ... but let's take a look at the candidates first.
11.1 UFSL
UFSL from Michael Thaenitz is freeware and may distributed with any
application. The last version is 0.97 from April 30th 1994.
Fonts (faces) and size can be selected comfartable. But after typing
a free size I didn't get a face displayed at this size.
Attributs are missing and the dialoge is only modal.
UFSL unfortunately isn't in development any more.
11.2 XUFSL
I only know two things about this selector: It's existing and told to be ugly.
11.3 Magic from Peter Hellinger
This selector is part of Magic 4.00 from Peter Hellinger and not available
separately. Magic itself - NOT MagiC! the multitasking OS - can be copied
freely. But the information how to use it must be paid.
It's nice that this selector can be a non modal window dialog, FlyDial or
normal dialog. Scrolling through the list is fast, too.
But the long loading time (proportional or non proportional faces can be
shown and each face has to be checked about this. An application
can't switch off this checking) isn't that nice. One more bad thing is the
jump to the beginning of the list after alternating non/proportional faces.
Attributes aren't selectable and the size selection in the edit line isn't
acceptable the way it's done.
The selector only can be used when the event handling is completely done by
Magic, what makes the coder use a fixed code structure (working parts must be
rewritten, other things don't work anymore) and produces new errors.
The actual release only shows Speedo faces, not Type1 or TrueType.
I'm desperately waiting for an update ...
11.4 FontSel
FontSel Version 1.00 from May, 11th 1994 from Holger Weets is totally
cmpatible to UFSL for the programs. Its small size and the selecteable
attributes are a very nice feature.
Together with Speedo 5.0a it only shows the System Font.
11.5 Minimum requirements
A font selector should work with all OS-releases (TOS, MiNT, MultiTOS,
MagiC!, Geneva), with every video hardware supported by the VDI and
should show each font available from every GDOS version. (Pixel fonts,
Speedo fonts, Type1 and TrueType).
11.6 Desirable properties
Its quite complicated to make the user set further characteristics of fonts
in an extra dialog. So, at least the standard attributes (bold,
outlined, ...) should be directly made available. If a program doesn't
support them they should be made non selectable/invisible.
The same holds for the skew angle.
Not every program can handle all fonts. According to this every program
must be able to set, which faces have to be invisible or disabled.
An example:
Some programs (like 7up) only use non proportional fonts.
A further feature (but not exlusively, due to BASIC) it should be possible
to pass a procedure variable to the selector setting the kind of displaying
for each face.
It would be nice if the program could set the selector in a window or normal
dialog too. It can be done much easier and more flexible than in Magic.
The font selector opens a window in the calling program's name and gives back
the window handle to it. The application further handles the events and if one
is for the font selector's window it is passed to it via a procedure call. This
simple mechanism enables the use of multiple (system wide) selectors, colour
pickers (and more) distributed by different producers in windows at the same
time.
Once more:
This parallel work only is possible when every selector doesn't use it's own
evnt_multi loop.
Finally an application should be able to set if it doesn't matter if a font is
proportional or not (the user can have displayed it if he really wants to).
When this information isn't used the call of a selector can happen much faster!
My favourite selector actually is the one of papyrus, but it only works in
papyrus (yet?) [ Stefan says: It's my favourite too ;-) ]
12 Distribution
12.1 Atari
The drivers named with Atari are availabel from Atari. Send three disks,
Money for shipping and a kind letter to them and you'll get them with printer
drivers and fonts.
This Package is available at Atari shops too.
No docs but for this price ...
(That's the way in Germany - other countrys may differ!)
12.2 BELA
The fonts named BELA were available from BELA
There were two disks with packed printer drivers and fonts for them.
The fonts DO have the same IDs like the ones from Atari, but the internal
font NAME is different. Due to this these fonts are correctly not accepted
by some programs if used with Atari fonts.
There's almost no documentation. Not even a hint about the one owning the
copyright for the drivers or about the author(s)
One last thing about BELA: R.I.P. ;-)
12.3 Language
The driver named Language is spread on the language disc of the MegSTE
12.4 Internet
The drivers signed with 'I' are to be found on the Internet.
For example: ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de
12.5 Working Title
The WT drivers are spread with Calligrapher. They are (c)Working Title, the
wt driver are licensed by Working Title.
No drivers are on the Calligrapher DEMO disc. The drivers coming with
Calligrapher lite (15DM) are signed with CL in the tables.
Screen fonts are on both discs.
12.6 XWindow System
There are PD Speedo fonts from Bitstream. These can be used with Speedo 4.2.
I (Gerd) have no problem using them (even the umlauts are correct)
To find them let Archie (see 11.12 FTP) search as follows:
set search sub
prog speedo-
The fonts:
font0648.spd -bitstream-charter-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
font0649.spd -bitstream-charter-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
font0709.spd -bitstream-charter-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
font0710.spd -bitstream-charter-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-p-0-iso8859-1
font0419.spd -bitstream-courier-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
font0582.spd -bitstream-courier-medium-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
font0583.spd -bitstream-courier-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
font0611.spd -bitstream-courier-bold-i-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
12.7 COMPO
COMPO offers two Bitstream Speedo packets with 100 fonts each. One costs
DM99.-
(At your own risk)
Since some time COMPO also offers a CD-ROM with TrueType and Type1 fonts/faces.
These seem to be the same ones as on the StarType CD, but TrueType and Type1
on a single CD-ROM.
The price is DM99.-
12.8 IMG-0300
On the Internet:
ftp.uni-muenster.de /pub/atari/Gdos
12.9 Others
I don't make a choice of drivers. The limit is all of them. The authors (and
users) of the programs are asked now to write me, which GDOS drivers come
with the programs (With information of: lenght, date and known bugs).
11.10 FTP
Many students can get software worldwide via ftp. Prices for steady
connections are constant, but connections between America and Europe
have to be paid depending to the volume of data transferred.
Please try not to ftp across the big blue and use short ways.
Use transferring times not in the working hours at the server!
('9 to 5')
Files with known names can be found by Archie.
In Germany:
telnet archie.th-darmstadt.de
login: archie
help
In the US e.g.:
archie.ans.net
Archie will automatically display other archies. use the one that's closest
to you.
The Archie databases ask about once each month one ftp server after the
other for freely available files
One more small hint: atari.archive.umich.edu ist always totally busy. Not
even mirroring to other servers helps.
Better connect to
- amiga.archive.umich.edu
- msdos.archive.umich.edu
and type cd atari from there.
This computers have the same HD mounted. BUT: First search your own vicinity!
12.11 SciLab
SciLab's GDOS drivers are not mentioned in the driver's tables though they
are very favourite - specially the colour drivers.
These drivers no langer can be ordered without a program. This is due to the
programs that lots of programs have when using the colour drivers. SciLab
would be blamed then.
You only can get these drivers by ordering a program from SciLab or making
the distributor (of the software you use) licensing those drivers. SciLab
always has 'an open ear' for that. Those are especially the Speedo capable
drivers for HP 600dpi and HP 500C/550C. Actually these are distributed with
Speedo 5 too.
12.12 Star Division
Star Division sells two CD-ROMs (StarType) with 500 TrueType/Type1 faces.
These are mostly complete typeface families.
One example:
Zapf Humanist 601 is available as:
o roman
o italic
o bold
o bold italic
o demi
o demi italic
o ultra
o ultra italic
A lot of Bitstream fonts are included. (e.g. Zapf Humanist 601 as noted above)
There are two ITC faces too. In Germany these two CDs are (at least)
available for DM69.- from Vobis. A booklet with a short overview is available
there too.
13 GDOS versions
13.1 The ones from the bones
Atari-GDOS, AMCGDOS, ABCGDOS, NVDI and possibly G+Plus use the same drivers.
13.1.1 Atari-GDOS and AMCGDOS
The Atari-GDOS is the ancestor of each GDOS. Its most remarkable properties
are lots of bugs and it's horrible slow speed. But that's history.
AMCGDOS is faster and has less bugs. But it almost has the same capabilities
and was distributed together with Atari-GDOS.
13.1.2 ABCGDOS
Comes from The Netherlands (I think so) and is almost totally unknown. I
only mentioned it because it's a GDOS.
13.1.3 G+Plus
Does anyone know anything about it?
13.2 One step forward
Even though there was a very good GDOS in NVDI, Atari had an open ear to the
request of users and coders and tried to raise the capabilities of GDOS.
13.2.1 FontGDOS 2.0
This is a GDOS still using bitmap fonts. It uses own drivers.
The drivers from this package are really much faster than the former ones.
(Only bitmap fonts and graphics are comparable of course)
I didn't have any problem using these with other GDOS versions but you must
limit to the old fonts.
FontGDOS is the successor of the Atari GDOS. Mainly it differs with the
Bezier function and faster (and color-able) drivers. It's got nothing to do
with FSM-GDOS or SpeedoGDOS.
FontGDOS is availabel from several firms which use it for their programs.
13.2.2 FSMGDOS 3.0
During the development of FontGDOS, Atari created a GDOS that can handle
vector fonts (named OTL in this FAQ). So FSMGDOS isn't a successor of FontGDOS.
It was developed the same time. FSMGOS practically was ready to be released
but due to massive protest by the developers it was cancelled in the last
moment. Except to bundles it never has been distributed officially.
13.3 Actual developments
13.3.1 SpeedoGDOS 4.0 and 4.1
Contents:
o Installation program
o Speedo font engine
o 2 Programs to edit ASSIGN.SYS and EXTEND.SYS
o 14 fonts in Speedo-format by Bitstream
The Falcon Speedo (in Germany) comes with 18 fonts now
o 14 Printer drivers
o An installation manual [Stef: hmmm, manual? Gerd: _installation_ manual!]
Outrageous features are:
o Speed
o Not the whole Font-file has to be read (memory saving)
o 16bit fonts (no 256 character limit)
See [4]
The information if it's a Speedo or bitmap font can be found in byte 33 of
the Fontname (vqt_name, INQUIRE FACE NAME AND INDEX, VDI 130). Zero means
bitmap font and one means FSM- or Speedo font.
Some Problems are inportant to be mentioned:
A coder can't find out if a driver can handle Speedo fonts (see last
question in 10.3)
Some font IDs are used by bitmap AND Speedo fonts, though different fonts
with similar IDs may never be installed the same time.
If you don't take care of this you'll get bombs.
It depends to the user to install the right drivers and fonts. The coder
can't help here to stop errors.
The best way is only to install bitmap fonts with the right drivers or to
use a Speedo only system.
The monospace font coming with SpeedoGDOS 4.0 has no umlauts (ae, oe, ue ...)
For installation and coding I recommend to read [5-7].
Remember starting NVDI before SpeedoGDOS in the AUTO folder!
The ones that bought Speedo in the early days got 4.0, the Falcon buyers
got 4.1.
13.3.2 Speedo 4.2
Let's see what Ulli Ramps has to say:
Huhu! [TM]
The following is a list of changes made to SpeedoGDOS.
1) Line-A - Due to many requests from developers, SpeedoGDOS is now no
longer Line-A dependent. All output is done through VDI calls. This
was done to make Speedo compatible with various graphics cards, and to
make it more multi-tasking-friendly. In addition, users should be
able to use various VDI replacements with GDOS.
Another benefit from removing the Line-A dependency is that we no lon-
ger have to worry about the scratch buffer used for algorithmic spe-
cial effects. We have implemented the special effects inside of Spee-
doGDOS and the drivers, so that the user/program does not have to wor-
ry about the memory needed to accomodate arbitrary sized characters.
Unfortunately, this means that old drivers need to be relinked with
the new independent library (found in the new driver kit).
There are plusses and minuses of the new implementation of special
effects. In many cases, the special effects will be slower. With
all previous incarnations of GDOS, you could not use 'bolding' or
'skewing' at non-90 degree rotations; now both of these work at all
rotations. On the other hand, 'lightening' used to work at all angles
and combinations of effects; now 'bold' mixed with 'lighten' only work
at 90 degree rotation angles.
Miscellaneous Note - When using special effects, many applications
have a hard time placing the cursor. In both the v_gtext() call and
the v_ftext() call, the only cursor compensation to be made is for
bolding. Bolding adds the thicken value to the number of pixels of
each character. For rotated characters, note that the extra pixels
can be considered a vector along the positive x-axis which is rotated
at the same angle as the text and added to the advance vector; there-
fore, the length of the text string should remain the same at any ang-
le. This is true even when SpeedoGDOS generates characters on a scan-
line basis (when the character does not fit in the character cache),
although it does not implement the special effects. Also, applica-
tions should watch for the case when they keep track of the cursor
position with vqt_advance() or vqt_width(), instead of vqt_extent() or
vqt_f_extent(). In versions prior to 4.2, the application could accu-
rately place the cursor by adding two pixels for every outline charac-
ter and by adding left and right skew offsets for a skewed string.
Now these effects are generated by the outline font engine, so the
application must either rely on the extent calls or it must inquire
for the advance vectors for characters that are skewed and/or outlined
separately. For compatibility purposes, it is recommended that the
version number of SpeedoGDOS is checked so that programs can handle
both old and new characteristics.
2) Font ID's - Speedo font id's have been promoted to a higher range
of ID numbers. This was introduced to avoid conflicts with bitmap
fonts and more importantly, with the system font (which conflicted
with a variation of Swiss 721). For those applications which use the
usual interface with Speedo (i.e. use vqt_name() to find out what the
font ID's are), there should be no problem, except if documents have
font ID's embedded into formatting information. Of course, all the
user has to do is substitute the font. If the application actually
goes into the font file header to read the ID, note that we are adding
5000(decimal) to all Speedo font ID's.
3) Printer Driver Incompatibilities - Speedo will now check the prin-
ter driver it is trying to load for the '_FSM_HDR' cookie embedded in
the driver header information. If GDOS does not find the cookie, it
will not allow the loading of any fonts; therefore, you can still use
your driver for non-text applications. For future reference, please
be sure that the driver header begins on a word boundary for all dri-
vers to be used with this version and any future versions of GDOS.
4) Vst_load_fonts() - We have made two optimizations to the loading of
fonts. The first is when a load_font call is made, GDOS checks the
date of the extend.sys file to see if it was modified since the last
load. A reload used to be mandatory because a bigger scratch buffer
might have been required. Since we no longer need a scratch buffer,
GDOS only checks to see if a change has been made to the list.
The second change is that GDOS no longer deallocates the global list
of fonts if there are no more workstations using GDOS fonts. There-
fore, application launches will be faster. On the other hand, the
miscellaneous cache never gets cleared of font header information,
unless a reboot happens.
5) Memory.sys - The memory driver used to mistakenly open a printer
handle.
6) vst_height() - Vst_height used to have a bug in which a maximum
point size is reached and then the size begins to shrink. This is
fixed.
7) Postscript table - The Postscript table has been fixed (i.e. the
indexes were off by 32 for certain Postscript files).
8) Fixed vrt_copyfm() in the drivers.
9) When in 'bicsmode', character 0 was not passed through to the font
engine.
10) Negative point and set sizes - The handling of negative point and
set sizes has been made consistent with the original handling in
FSMGDOS.
11) The handling of fractional setsizes was incorrect in the drivers,
and is now fixed.
12) V_ftext() in the drivers can now handle the offsets passed into
the ptsin array.
13) Screen drivers can now safely load as device 10.
14) The memory driver can be loaded residently.
15) vqt_devinfo() - Vqt_devinfo() now returns information, whether or
not the device has been opened. Furthermore, the device drivers name,
found in the driver header, is copied into the ptsout array; the name
is 26 bytes long. Note: if the driver is not SpeedoGDOS-compatible, a
null string is returned, and if there is an error, a -1 is returned in
ptsout[1].
16) vst_width() - A new call has been added to Speedo. The call is
similar to vst_height() except that it sets the width. The bindings
are identical except that the opcode is 231. Note: As with
vst_arbpt() and vst_setsize(), you must call the general call (i.e.
vst_arbpt() or vst_height()) before using the width calls (i.e.
vst_setsize() and vst_width()). In addition, the general calls always
reset the widths.
Miscellaneous Note: Although these have been published before, many
requests have come in for the SpeedoGDOS error codes. Here they are:
Code 1 Out of memory
2 File open
3 File read
4 File write
5 Speedo engine error
6 Character too large (not used, defaults to line output)
7 No room for scratch buffer
8 Character cache error
255 Miscellaneous
These errors are placed in the error code address that applications
should provide. Note that if you have MultiTOS installed, GDOS will
report the error to Salert, the system alert box. A revision of the
error handling is overdue, since some of the errors are no longer re-
levant (e.g. code 6), and error code 5 is returned for the lack of
availability for pair and track kerning (in addition to the serious
errors).
Well, again a big thank you to Ulli!
Now it's me again:
The Installation program for Speedo 4.2 had a small bug yet. If a NEC P
printer is selected, NEC_P.SYS ist written into ASSIGN.SYS. But the
distributed driver hat NECP.SYS as filename. R.O.M. fixed that.
13.3.3 Speedo 5.0
SpeedoGDOS 5.0 was developed by COMPO/no!software using the sources of Atari.
Unlike Speedo 4.x it can scale TrueType and Type 1 (see 7.2). Price:
DM129.-
(at your own risc)
Now 9 printer drivers are included - the additional ones. Speedo 5.0 is an
upgrade, so you have the old drivers. But: Which are the old divers? The
ones before Speedo 4.1 don't work (and only falcon users have 4.1; the ones
who bought Speedo from COMPO in the beginning only got 4.0)
So I at once printed a text using Speedo 5.0, NECP.SYS (Speedo 4.2) and
ProList. And? Surprise! It works. That's really astounding because ProList
and my own program (see 2) had problems with this driver and Speedo 4.2.
Using the drivers of Speedo 4.0 at least shouldn't work due to the changed
jobs of Speedo 4.2 and the drivers.
(Could anyone test Speedo 4.1 drivers with Speedo 5.0? I don't quite believe
that this works)
Here's how I think an upgrade works (be careful satire)
===================
User: Dear Mr. Compo [...] but my Speedo 4.0 drivers don't work any more.
COMPO: ... best wishes to your decision ... BUT: Speedo 4.2 isn't an
official release. It's especially made for papyrus and not useful
for other programs. On the other hand...though...seen from a
different point...maybe...possibly...Finally you need the drivers
from Speedo 4.2. But we don't distribute them. Ask R.O.M. about
it ...
[later]
USER: Dear Mr. R.O.M., ...I'd like to get a downgrade, free of course.
R.O.M.: ...don't work...our own costs...bla...etc...better wait for NVDI
3.0, we certainly can put you on the list.
User: "º$&"º$/(!º&!^#
====================
Well, *I'm* full of anticipation how users that only had Speedo 4.0 will be
able to make printouts.
Versions of Speedo 5.0 until now:
5.0a (Aug. 3rd 1994)
First release
5.0b (Aug. 8th 1994)
From now T1 & TT font loading works faster.
Known Bug: After calling vqt_headerinfo() the files arent' closed again.
If a Program makes this call with all fonts it can run out of filehandles
(the amount of them differs from one TOS release to another).
Since Speedo 4.2 the 'outlined' attribute only works in special conditions.
It depends on the font used, the SpeedoGDOS version, the point size ... and
which Mantra's are mumbled at full moon.
5.0c (Aug. ? 1994)
Now LOWMEM=0 works as stated in the manual.
13.3.4 NVDI up to V2.51
These releases consist of very fast screen drivers and a very fast GDOS.
Compared to Atari-GDOS, NVDI had almost no bugs. Nevertheless the functions
were allmost the same.
13.3.5 NVDI 3.0
This will be able to scale Speedo and TrueType fonts and will contain
printer drivers.
13.4 Comments
Users and coders should be happy with the speed of development. Even the
numbers of font formats included simultaneous doesn't have anything
comparable on any other platform.
The time between the releases of SpeedoGDOS 5.0a to 5.0c - obviously without
extended betatesting - doesn't satisfy a lot but, on the other
hand it's nice to see that the competition by NVDI 3.0 makes the developers
hurry.
SpeedoGDOS 5.0 creates problems in some applications that worked perfectly
with Speedo 4.x. This may be due to the negative handles that 5.0 uses for
the new formats. That's not a bug, because one shouldn't calculate with
handles. But some apps do it though.
Will SpeedoGDOS 5.0 or NVDI 3.0 be supported by the programs first? With
NVDI yet a good coding manual was distributed and I think V3.0 will continue
this tradition. COMPO and Atari - on the other hand - make a big secret of
how to use their GDOS - when you're not an registered developer (paying a
lot of money). Me, as a normal consumer, I have SpeedoGDOS for more than
3 weeks (while I write this), registered developers don't have it yet ...
I will support the GDOS at first for which I have a documentation first.
Other coders will make it this way, too - without being malicious. And the
users will buy that GDOS that's supported by their programs [right said
Stefan]. For me it's great to see, that competition revives the marked and
I am full of anticipation to see, which documentation comes first.
14 Source
For officia developers it's possible to get an almost complete printer driver
in object code. This has to be adapted to the special printer.
This package is available for GDOS and SpeedoGDOS.
15 Tips'n tricks for users
15.1 Pixel trash at printing
Printing graphics on a NEC P6+ (maybe other printers too) including a lot of
black in a line I often had the problem that one line was left out (Speedo-
drivers NB15, NECP) or two lines were printed displaced in one line (Speedo-
drivers FX80, NX1000).
This happens when printing directly and via CENSPEED. When VARSPOOL is used
this effect vanishes.
VARSPOOL can be found on the driver disk of the NEC-printers.
15.2 NEC P6+
Once in a while a NEC P6+ will get noisy (rrrrrrrrrrraattatatattaa).
If you open the front you'll see a round bar (about 1cm thick).
Put two drops of sewing machine oil on it each year (you'll get it from
Mom)
15.3 Overwritten Speedo faces
Sometimes SpeedoGDOS writes in face files. This produces interesting effects.
To fix this I have a second order besides GEMSYS filled with the Speedo faces
on my harddisk. If I get strange effects again I copy these files to the
GEMSYS folder. The fixes it in most cases.
16 Tips'n tricks for coders
16.1 Font size and pixel size
Here are my experiences with GDOS and WYSIWYG. Credits to Ulrich Rossgoderer
for confirming these.
It's about the output of vector graphics and text on screen and printer.
The size of text is defined in point and is always the same - independent
of the resolution of the output device.
Different are vector graphics: they have to be recalculated in pixels before
the output. This should be no problem. If you are opening a virtual/physical
workstation you get the pixel size in micrometers in devParm[3] and
devParm[4].
Let's assume the vector graphic is saved internally in micrometers, then the
definition points at the output simply have to be divided by devParm[3] or
devParm[4] to get the position in pixels. When doing the output in windows
an offset has to be added. but thats not relevant here.
This is the theory which is quite simple so far (see [3]).
Let's start with the practice.
As described above we output a text and a border which is saved internally as
vector graphics. It doesn't matter here if the text is a Speedo or bitmap font.
To have a better chance to compare the border exactly surrounds the text.
I got the following experiences: When the text exactly is filling the
border on the screen (ST-high) it is - when printed - much too small compared
to the border.
An error in the recalculation of the pixelsize can't be the problem, because
I made the printing with the drivers NB15, NECP, FX80, NX1000 and the results
are the same.
I have only one explanation for this: The screen driver supposes a different
resolution for the pixel size than for the font size.
Two solutions I can offer:
First you can use another pixel size on the screen than the one given from
the operating system. After opening the virtual workstation (and ONLY
this one!) I calculated
devParm[3] := 282
devParm[4] := 282
and with this parameter I made the recalculation from micrometers in pixels.
Now the relation from graphic to text on screen and print-out is exactly
the same. But now a DIN A4 page doesn't fit on the screen in it's width.
The numbers are found by me the experimental way and possibly can be
optimised
Another solution may be this: Use a smaller font size for the screen (and
ONLY there!) by multiplicating the size with about 72/96. This is simple with
Speedo fonts because the size in points can be defined with a very high
accuracy. With bitmap fonts this won't work because a screen font in the
72/96 fold size for every printer font doesn't.
This method surely is to be midified for ST-Mid and other resolutions.
From Wilfried Behne (Half NVDI ...): SpeedoGDOS ignores the devParm[3]
and [4] - values of the screen drivers. The values of physical workstations
ARE taken.
16.2 Selecting drivers
During th test of several GDOS programs I found out, that some coders have
the following problems:
Users can freely assign drivers in the ASSIGN.SYS.
There may be a setup like
23 FX80.SYS
27 NECP.SYS
28 NB15.SYS
31 META.SYS
61 MEMORY.SYS
How may a coder find out which drivers are installed (and ready)? Even
though there's no Printer 21?
Quite easy: When the program supports printers ALL drivers from 21 to 30 have
to be opened and closed again at once. An installed driver gives back a
devicehandle >0 when it is opened. vf_devinfo only gives back correct values
when a driver is open.
Do the same thing with drivers 61 to 70 when MEMORY drivers are supported.
The ASSIGN.SYS as printed above is very useful. That's because the NEC P
printers support all these drivers and print in different resolutions.
17 Addresses
( Lot's of stuff is available from the friendly Atari dealer 'around the
corner ;-/ )
(Note: All addresses are German ones - except when marked!)
Application Systems Heidelberg (ASH)
Postfach 102646 * 69016 Heidelberg
Tel.: +49 6221 300002
ATARI Computer GmbH
Am Kronberger Hang 2 * 65824 Schwalbach /Ts.
Tel.: +49 6196 801-0; Fax.: +49 6196 801 180
Entwicklersupport-Mailbox: +49 6196 81041
Behne & Behne Systemsoftware GbR
Lindenkamp 2 * 31515 Wunstorf
Tel./Fax.: +49 5031 8629
BELA Computer GmbH: R.I.P.
ByTech GbR
Detlef Kuhl, Frank Hieronymi
Bismarckstrasse 88 * 10627 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 3134258
COMPO Software GmbH
Ritzstrasse 13 * Postfach 1051 * 54591 Pruem
Tel.: +49 6551 6067
DigiLab GmbH
Posener Str. 18 * 24161 Daenischhagen
DigitalDesktop (DDT) Is a dealers community
Addresses are to be found in Atari-magazines
Digital Systems & Consulting
Soester Str. 306 * 59071 Hamm
Tel.: +49 2381 889413; Fax.: +49 2381 889812
Elan Software
550 Charest Est
P.O.Box 30232
Quebec, G1K 8Y2
Canada
Voice: (418) 692-0565; Fax: (418) 683-9189 CANADA!!!
Dieter Fiebelkorn
Gruener Weg 29a * 4370 Marl-Brassert
Stephan Gerle
Ruthstrasse 8 * 44149 Dortmund
H3 Systems
Haeusserstrasse 44 * 69115 Heidelberg
Tel.: +49 6221 164031; Fax.: +49 6221 184541
Harald und Martin Hansen
Weserstrasse 82 * 12059 Berlin
Hard & Soft
Obere Muensterstr. 33-35 * 44575 Castrop-Rauxel
Tel.: +49 2305 18014; Fax.: +49 2305 32463
ICP GmbH & Co.KG
Leserservice TOS * Innere-Cramer-Klett-Strasse 6 * 90403 Nuernberg 1
Konfect Corp. Vertriebsbuero A-D-CH
Postfach 1113 * D-63797 Kleinostheim
Tel. +49 6027 99941; Fax +49 6027 99942
MAXON Computer GmbH
Schwalbacher Strae 52 * 65734 Eschborn
Tel.: +49 6196 481811
Migraph Inc.
32700 Pacific Highway S.
Suite 12, Federal Way
WA 98003, USA USA!!!
Tel.: 0012068384677
Michael Nolte Computersysteme
Vasters Str. 10, 50825 Koeln
Tel.: +49 221 558269, Fax: +49 221 5504629
OMIKRON Soft+Hardware GmbH
Sponheimerstr. 12a * 75117 Pforzheim
Tel.: +49 7231 356033
Pergamon Software * Lehmann & Herzog
Wegscheidestr. 29 * 60435 Frankfurt/Main
Tel.: +49 69 5488279
rhotron GmbH
Entenmuehlstrasse 57 * 66424 Homburg/Saar
Tel.: +49 6841 64067; Fax.: +49 6841 2467
Richstein & Dick GbR (Kaktus)
Konrad-Adenauer Strasse 19 * 67663 Kaiserslautern
Tel.: +49 631 22253
Richter Distributor
Hagener Str. 65 * 58285 Gevelsberg
Te.: +49 2332 2706
R.O.M. Software (New Address!)
Christian Nieber & Ullrich Ramps
Raschdorffstr. 99 * 13409 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 4924127
SciLab GmbH
Isestrasse 57 * 20149 Hamburg
Tel.: +49 40 4603702
SHIFT Computer + Werbung GmbH (quit!!)
Michael Siek
Bohlweg 6a * 38678 Clausthal-Zellerfeld
Tel.: +49 5323 4413
SILICON Technology & Promotion
Wilhelmshoeher Allee 124 * 34119 Kassel
Tel.: +49 561 711924
Softbaer GbR
Richardstr. 60 * 12055 Berlin
Tel.: +49 30 6226884
SPIRIT WARE
Bible Church 15211
15th Avenue NE Seattle, WA 98155 (USA) USA!!!
TKR
Stadtparkweg 2 * 24106 Kiel
Tel.: +49 431 337881; Fax.: +49 431 35984
Trade-iT doesn't exists any more (since April 1994)
Holger Weets
Tangastr. 45 * 26121 Oldenburg
E-Mail: Holger_Weets@OL.maus.de (Not above 45kB!)
Dipl.-Phys.-Ing. Ralf Wirtz
Kasterstr. 30 * 52428 Juelich
Tel.: +49 2461 1255
Wilhelm Mikroelektronik
Luenen
Working Title GbR
Lilienweg 12 * 53123 Bonn
Tel.: +49 228 647020
3K Computerbild
Wevelinghoven 26 * 41334 Nettetal
Tel.: +49 2153 91860
18 Miscellaneous
18.1 Critics
18.1.1 Critics to the author
Critics is welcome. To get more info, send email to:
G.Castan@physik.uni-stuttgart.de
If you are writing me you have ossibly already tested two or three drivers.
Please write me if the errors listed above occured or not.
Anybody who knows different driver support addresses, please drop me an
email.
18.1.2 Critics to the translator
Hi, this is Stefan writing :-)
The reason why I wrote this translation I can't find in my head ...
Guess it's because Atarians should work together and support each other!
Well, if you wonder about some errors of spelling or syntax remind this:
I learnt English at school for 4 years an after that I kept my knowledge
actual by playing some text adventures and now by reading cs.atari.st and
cs.st.tech and some of the ANet groups
If you find some errors in this translation, please don't send them to Gerd
but
to me:
cookie@cookie.syd.de
Referring to the feedback on this translation there seems to be ANY error in
it.
I didn't get too much email now - and no postcard, so I'll set my address
here too: Stefan Damerau
Bergholm 31
D-24857 Fahrdorf
It would be interesting to me, WHO is happy with this FAQ, so send me
postcards,
discs, books, whatever you want - no mail bombs please ;-)))
Thank You and have fun and lot's of experience with this FAQ.
Bye
Stefan
18.2 Praise
If this FAQ helped you out of a problem, please write me a postcard in your
next holidays.
Postcards I received yet: 1
18.3 For my support
Due to actual experiences I ask the distributors to switch on verify when
copying update disks.
I only know two distributors not making any problem with this.
Does one of the readers want to code a Speedo font editor? We (Gerd &
Stefan) offer our time to beta test it ;-)
18.4 Trademarks
This document is full of trademarks that mustn't be used freely.
18.5 Guarantee
I'll offer no guarantee.
19 Appendix
19.1 Literature
[1] Douglas N. Wheeler, EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO
KNOW ABOUT GDOS (AND MORE), (Internet, Filename:
GDOS.ARC oder GDOS.TXT)
Here's written all what's important to know about GDOS drivers.
(AND MORE)
[2] Jankowski, Rabich, Reschke, Atari Profibuch, 10.
Auflage, SYBEX, Duesseldorf (1992)
The Standard. For Coders: In the VDI part you'll find how to use
screen and printer drivers correctly.
[3] Marc Rene Gardeya, VDI fuer jedermann [VDI for everyone],
ST-Computer 10/93
Introduction in correct programming of screen and printer outputs.
[4] Julian Reschke, Herbstgedanken, ST-Magazin 11/92
Autumn thoughts about SpeedoGDOS and FontGDOS.
[5] Erik Dick, Schoen und schnell? [Pretty and Fast?] , ST-Computer 7/93
Common info about GDOS and installation of Speedo. Almost the same
as in the installation manual, but more information about special
problems
[6] Erik Dick, SPEEDO-Gonzales, ST-Computer 8/93
Important stuff about programming Speedo. Description of the new
bindings and tips for coders for standard situations.
[7] Erik Dick, SPEEDO-Gonzales, ST-Computer 9/93
Meaning of the Speedo error messages and bindings of the Bezier and
cache routines
[8] Erik Dick, Mit Speedo in die zukunft?, ST-Computer 6/94
What's new with Speedo 4.2? New bindings are described too.
[9] Raymond Schroeder, Atari-Hotline, ST-Magazin 7/92
Whats GDOS for? Which programs support it? How can I install it?
[10] Sven Behne, Wilfried Behne, NVDI-Dokumentation, BELA
VDI-description. But no description of the differences between screen
and printer drivers.
[11] Wilfried Behne, Andreas Kromke, Traps in the Atari ST's VDI
and how to get around them, c't 1991, Nr. 3
Much about errors in the screen drivers.
[12] Laurenz Pruessner, : es ist alles so schoen Bunt hier
[Oh, take a look at these colors], ST-Magazines 5/92, 7/92, 9/92
How to handle more than 256 colors with device depending formats
[13] Laurenz Pruessner, Sekt oder Selters [Champaign or mineral water],
ST-Magazin 4/93
MEMORY.SYS: Binding, handling of color resolutions, font output
with and without SpeedoGDOS.
[14] Laurenz Pruessner. Auf ein Neues!, ST-Magazin 1/93
OFF TOPIC Everyone using FlyDials or similar Libraries should read this.
Problem: New AES's releases use (formerly free accessible )
ob_state bits that are used by the libraries, too.
This only is important for AES 3.31 (TOS 4.01) and is fixed
now.
[15] Laurenz Pruessner, Summertime Blues, ST-Magazin 6/93
Listing to open the MEMORY driver.
[16] Laurenz Pruessner, Mehr Schub!, ST-Computer 2/94
Printing with GDOS - espacially it's about printing of bitmap raster
- color, too.
[17] Oliver Scheel, Erste Hilfe fuer [1st aid for] MultiTOS, ST-Magazin 6/93
Common information to install MultiTOS.
[18] Guenter Born, Referenzhandbuch Dateiformate [Reference Dataformats],
2. Edition, Addison-Wesley, Bonn (1992)
With the appropriate drivers it's quite simple to make output in
.IMG and in .GEM format. In this book is a description how to read these
formats again (and more).
[19] Guenter Born, Dateiformate [Data formats] Programmierhandbuch [Coders
manual], Addison-Wesley, Bonn (1993)
Sources (TurboC, TurboPascal) for loading and saving the formats.
To use the datas [16] is recommended.
[20] Tim Oren, Professional GEM, (Internet, Filename: PROGEM)
Tim Oren almost only describes the programming of the AES but without
him this list would not be complete.
[21] Norman Walsh et al, comp.fonts FAQ
TeX DVI, PostScript, and info versions of this FAQ are available from
ftp.shsu.edu in archive/help/comp-fonts-FAQ. A Gopher is also
maintained at shsu.edu which can provide interactive access to the FAQ.
Finally, an online, hypertext version of the FAQ ist maintained
(experimentally) on jasper.ora.com where an HTP server runs. For
example, point XMosaic (or a similar WWW browser)
to http://jasper.ora.com/.
[22] Philip Glass, Koyaanisqatsi, Island Records (1983)
It's astoundishing that so many documental films use this music without
any note ...
CASTAN@cip.physik.uni-stuttgart.de; alias: G.Castan@physik.uni-stuttgart.de
Gerd Castan * Hoehbergstr. 16 * D-70327 Stuttgart
cookie@cookie.syd.de (MausNet: Stefan Damerau @ SL)
Stefan Damerau * Bergholm 31 * D-24857 Fahrdorf)