Amiga Collections: Scope/Scope Disk #215 (199x)(Scope PD)(US)[WB].zip/Scope Disk #215 (199x)(Scope PD)(US)[WB].adf/MI-M2I!/MI-M2I.doc

Text File | 1992-02-09 | 6KB | 138 lines

MI-M2I 1.1 Instructions     October 24/91
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*See the bottom of this file for changes since MI-M2I 1.0*

The program MI-M2I was created in response to an outcry
from PageStream users. Essentially, the program converts
Macintosh format Type 1 fonts into IBM format Type 1
fonts. There are quite a few public domain programs which
claim to do this (SoftLogik has their own) but none of
them are without their problems. Most of these programs
can be found on the Mac and IBM. They tend to actually
mess with the font's data, rearranging and renaming the
characters to be more consistant with IBM applications.
This, of course, is of no use to Amiga users and only
tends to add confusion to an already confused system. And
SoftLogik's Mac to IBM converter has many mysterious
problems (not least of which is it's rather unreliable
interface).
Having already written code to read Mac and IBM Type 1
fonts for my commercial program "MIoutline" (see included
ReadMe file), I decided to bang together what you now have
in front of you.
MI-M2I will convert ANY Macintosh Type 1 PostScript screen
font into an IBM format Type 1 font. This is essential for
PageStream users as that program only supports IBM Type
1's. It will also convert (rename, really) Mac AFM files
and has provisions for naming the resulting fonts
differently, depending on what you eventually want to use
the fonts for.. It can do these conversions on a single
file or on a whole directory.

WHAT DO I DO?

First, start the program by double clicking on the icon.
Next, using the file selector (it acts as a normal file
selector, except that you have to double click on a
directory to enter it. As well, click and hold on the path
name and use the keyboard to try out some of it's more
obscure operations...). The program converts along
"source" and "destination" paths. You must set these paths
before you do anything. To set the source path (that is,
where your Mac Type 1's are), go to the directory in
question with the file selector and then click on the
bottom marked "Source" near the bottom of the screen. The
current selector path is then copied into the bar beside
the "Source" button. Do the same for the destination path
with the selector and the "Dest" button.
The bars besides these buttons not only display the source
and destination paths but are also buttons themselves. You
can move the selector to either of these paths by clicking
on the bars.
To convert a single Mac Type 1, you simply find it in the
selector, highlight it and click the "Run" button (or,
alternatively, double click on the file's name in the
selector). To do a gang conversion, make sure nothing is
highlighted in the selector and just hit the "Run" button.
The entire directory will be scanned for Mac Type 1's and
AFMs and those found will be converted (if they don't
already exist in the destination path).

WHERE DO THEY GO AND WHAT ARE THEY CALLED?

MI-M2I attempts to use the font's full PostScript name
when naming the resulting font. To use the fonts in
PageStream, they must have a ".PFB" extension. As many
PostScript names can be 30 characters long and that is the
limit any filename may have on the Amiga, MI-M2I will
shorten the PostScript name if it has to, using Mirror
Image Production's standard font "naming alogrithm" (the
same algorithm which is found in our commercial font
conversion software). It will then add a ".PFB"
exxtension. All this takes place when you're in "Use MI
Naming Conventions" mode. If you click on the button which
contains that phrase, it will change to say "Force POST
Naming Conventions". The public domain PostScript
interpreter POST requires that fonts be named by their
full PostScript name ONLY. This excludes the use of ".PFB"
extentions. In this mode, the file will be simple named
using the full PostScript name. As well, POST will look
for fonts in one of three places: "PSFonts:", "CGFonts/PS"
or "PSfonts/OtherFonts". If the dest path is NOT set to
one of these, then MI-M2I will create a subdirectory in
your destination path called "PS" and place the resulting
fonts in there. Otherwise it will dump them straight into
the destination path.
The reason for this mess of different subdirectories is
that MI-M2I will also create AFM's and, in "Force POST
Naming Conventions" mode, the files for the AFMs and Type
1's would end up with the same name! (remember, no
extentions!) MI-M2I will create a subdirectory in your
destination path called "AFM" and place all AFMs in it,
regarless of what your destination path is set to.
Hopefully, this arrangement will prove to be most
flexible.

All paths are saved to a configuration file in your s:
directory called "MI-M2I.Config". If this file is not
found at start up, it is created automatically when you
quit the program. All paths default to "RAM:" when you
first use the program.

That's about it.

If you have any questions on MI-M2I, or any of our other
commercial software, please direct them to Gary
Brusanowski on CompuServe [70304,2516] or call
Mirror Image Productions at [phone] during regular
business hours.

Changes since 1.0
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The only significant changes made to MI-M2I for the
release of 1.1 are:

- path integrity is checked thoroughly now. Before, when a
path saved in the config file no longer existed, the
program tended to crash. This no longer happens. Now all
missing path conflicts are resolved by changing the paths
to "RAM:" automatically.
- a catch for the 3 different paths supported by POST is
now implemented. Before, MI-M2I would always create a
sub-directory called "PS" in the destination path, which
could be a real pain for someone trying to dump them into
their "PSFONTS:" directory!


Gary Brusanowski
Software Design & Development

Mirror Image Productions
30 Aurora Court, Suite 1209
Scarborough, Ontario, Canada  M1W 2M3
Voice - [phone]
Fax   - [phone]