Below follows the full report on Polish Fonts: font vendors, the Polish OS 
interface Polmac, discussions on various aspects of Polish fonts, how to obtain 
public domain fonts. And lots more !

Please archive as /report/polish-fonts.txt

Loki Jorgenson <loki@Physics.McGill.CA>
Pieter Stouten <stouten@embl-heidelberg.de>

----------------------------------- cut here -----------------------------------

P O L I S H   F O N T S
=======================

Polish Fonts::  Company product descriptions; PolMac, a Polish Mac OS; user
	comments and descriptions; Public Domain fonts

Sections:
	1) Company Font Product Descriptions
	2) PolMac, A Polish MAC OS Interface
	3) Conversations with Pieter; User's Postings on Polish Fonts

**************************************************************************
	Company Font Product Descriptions:
**************************************************************************

The following company carries a whole line of Polish Fonts, all in 
Postscript Type 1, including 12-point and 10-point bitmapped screen 
fonts:

Allotype Typographics, 
1600 Packard Road Suite 5
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
(313) 663-1989

The person answering the phone will probably be Marc Cogan. Tell him 
Herb Kroemer from Santa Barbara sent you.

One of the fonts (Czasy-Roman; $85) Times-like, another (Szwajcarskie; 
$85) is Helvetica-like, a third (Czasy-Small-Caps; $40) has small caps 
to accompany Czasy-Roman.

====================================================

Ecological Linguistics Fonts 
Complex alphabets of Asia and Eastern Europe 
512KE or larger Macintosh.
 
To order, a user must return a license agreement and order form. These are 
contained in a catalog that has samples of typefaces and detailed
information 
about other services.
 
Services provided include: Alphabetical Sorting and Indexing, Automated 
Transliteration and Custom Modification of Applications for these purposes.

Bilingual Dictionary Databases are in development.
 
LaserFonts include: EuropeanTimes, VietnamTimes, MideastTimes, IndicTimes, 
GreekTimes (includes ancient and modern Greek and Balkan Roman alphabets), 
IPATimes, Cyrillic, Thai, Khmer, Arabic, Mideast Times, Cuneiform Times, 
Ugaritic Times, Amharic Times, Tamil Times, Malayalam times, Mongolian
Times and others. Also, for Chess, the Pillsbury LaserFont for mixing chess
diagrams, pla listings and multilingual text.
 
Bit-map fonts include: European, Right-to-Left Scripts, Vertically written 
alphabets, Tibetan, North India, South India, Southeast Asia, Syllabaries, 
Japanese and Chinese Characters, Mayan Hieroglyphs, Egyptian Hieroglyphs
and Sign Language Writing.
$35 to $50 direct; bit-map base systems
$45 direct; Apple Script-Manager systems for Arabic, Hebrew, Greek Turkish,

Japanese, Korean and Chinese
$45 to $80 direct; laser PostScript systems
For catalog, license agreement and order forms send long SASE (85 cents)
and $2 to:
Ecological Linguistics; PO Box 15156; Washington, DC  20003; 202-546-5862

====================================================
Foreign Fonts Edition
22 foreign fonts
Any Macintosh; ImageWriter.
 
Foreign Fonts Edition is a collection of 22 bit-map fonts. Most of the
fonts have functional single-stroke accenting keys for use with special
accents, 
diacriticals, aspiration signs and vowel symbols.
 
Fonts include: Tanis, Arpad, Persepolis, Mycenae, Sparta, Delphi, Tel Aviv,
Haifa, Riyadh, Yerevan, Vladivostok, Prague, Budapest, Dusseldorf,
Limerick, Trizekh, Lunaria, IPA, Seoul, Bangkok, Luang Phrabang and
Rivendell.
$69.50 retail
Devonian International Software Co.; PO Box 2351; Montclair, CA  91763;
714-621-0973

====================================================
FOREIGN FONTS EDITION
    
ISPN: 24987-285
    
VENDOR: DEVONIAN INT'L. SOFTWARE CO. (USA)
        P.O. BOX 2351
        MONTCLAIR, CA
        91763
        (714)621-0973
Limited Warranty (REPLACEMENT IF PROBLEMS) , Updates Available
( 5.00), Backups Available.
    
DESCRIPTION:
A collection of 22 fonts that include numerical systems and
alphabet of many foreign languages.
These fonts range from ancient to modern, From Western to
Eastern, and from national to International. The archaic
includes: Tanis-Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Arpad-ancient Aramaic, a
forerunner of modern Hebrew, Persepolis-old Persian cuneiform, and
Mycenae-Minoan Cretan Linear B syllabary, thought to be a
forerunner of early Greek writings. Two forms of Greek text fonts
are included, each with accents and aspirations: Sparta-a bold,
heavy faced Greek font, and Delphi-a lighter faced Greek font.
Also, two different versions of Hebrew fonts are included: Tel
Aviv-classic text font, and Haifa-modern cursive Hebrew font. An
Arabic font Riyadh is included complete with variant forms based
on letter position in a word. Yerevan font is designed to be a
useful Armenian text. Vladivostok font offers a very complete
version of the Cyrillic alphabet, including letters from obsolete
Russian, as well as Byelorussian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Bulgarian
and other related languages. Prague (with emphasis on East
European Slavic languages using a Latin alphabet: Polish, Czech,
Slovene, Slovak) and Budapest (with its coverage of Hungarian,
Turkish and Finnish) round out the Eastern European
languages. Dusseldorf (a font for German text), Limerick (a font
for Old Irish Gaelic) and Trizekh (for Esperanto and Devonian
writings) allow one to compose in these variant forms of the Latin
alphabet. Lunaria font was designed as a universal font to allow
almost all types of accents known in Latin-based alphabets. IPA is
based directly on the characters devised by the International
Phonetics Association. The Asian continent is represented as well
with fonts designed for several of these languages:
Seoul(Korean), Bangkok (Thai), and Luang Phrabang (Laotian). As an
added bonus, the disk contains Rivendell, a font for Tolkien
Tengwar and Angertha runes.

====================================================
Foreign-Language Fonts
ImageWriter and LaserWriter fonts for 150 languages
Any Macintosh; ImageWriter or LaserWriter.
 
Foreign-Language Fonts consist of: MacHebrew; MacGreek, Hebrew & Phonetics;

MacGreek; SuperFrench German Spanish; LaserCyrillic; LaserTransliterator; 
LaserFrench German Spanish; LaserHebrew; MacChinese (Mandarin or
Cantonese); LaserIPA Plus; MacThai; LaserThai; MacHindi Sanskrit;
MacAkkadian; 
MacHieroglyphics; MacSemitic Coptic Devanagari; MacKorean; MacKana & Basic 
Japanese Kanji; MacPhonetics; MacArabic & Farsi 2.0; MacKanji 2.0;
MacCyrillic;
LaserGreek; TLG>MacGreek Converter & Text Editor; MacGreek New Testament; 
MacGreek Old Testament; MacHebrew Scriptures; MacHebrew Scriptures
Converter; MacGeorgian; MacArmenian; MacPunjabi; MacTamil; MacCherokee;
LaserKorean; LaserTibetan; MacGujarati; MacGaelic; and Laser Vietnamese.
$49.95 to $149.95 retail
Linguist's Software; PO Box 580; Edmonds, WA  98020; 206-775-1130

====================================================
INTERNATIONAL FONTS
    
ISPN: 95403-300
    
VENDOR: PAUL RAPOPORT (CANADA)
        7 CRADOCK CT.
        ANCASTER, ONTARIO
        L9G  3Z5
        (416)648-2181
Limited Warranty (30 DAY REPLACEMENT OF DEFECTIVE DISK OR
SOFTWARE) , Updates Available ( 5.00).
    
DESCRIPTION:
Contains four ImageWriter I and II international fonts that include
Roman, Greek, Cyrillic and Phonetic in 12 and 24 point size.
International Roman handles the following languages, among
others: English, Dutch, Frisian, Afrikaans, German, Danish,
Norwegian(both Dano-Norwegian and New-Norwegian), Swedish,
Icelandic, Faroese, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Latin, Portuguese,
Spanish, Catalan, French, Italian, Romanian, Polish, Czech,
Slovak, Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Albanian,
Estonian, Finnish, Hungarian, Maltese, Turkish, Basque, and
Vietnamese. A partial list of languages which may be typed in
Roman transliterations from their non-Roman scripts includes
Greek, Russian, Serbo-Croatian, Ukrainian, Macedonian, Old Church
Slavonic, Sanskrit, Persian, Hebrew, Arabic, Japanese, Chinese,
Tamil, and Malayalam. International Greek handles ancient and
modern and Greek. Any combination of breathings and accents may be
placed anywhere, including above capitals. Makrons and the
short-vowel marker are also available. International Cyrillic
supports Russian (including pre-revolutionary), Byelorussian,
Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Kashmir,
Kirghiz, Mongolian, Kurdish, and several others.
International Phonetic, based on the International Phonetic
Alphabet, is self-explanatory for anyone involved in phonology.
There are many unusual characters and diacritical signs in this
font. The fonts are available in 12 and 24 point size for any
Macintosh with any word processor and the ImageWriter I or II.
Three of the fonts use proportional spacing and the Phonetic is
mono-spaced.

====================================================
LASER PERFECT PHONETIQUE (VER. 1.0)
    
ISPN: 56537-300
    
VENDOR: NEOSCRIBE INTERNATIONAL, INC. (USA)
        P.O. BOX 410
        CLINTON, NY
        13323
        (315)853-4427
Limited Warranty.
    
DESCRIPTION:
Provides a downloadable PostScript laser font, containing
International Phonetic Association (IPA) symbols.
    
====================================================
Lasergenix
LaserWriter fonts
512K or larger Macintosh; ImageWriter, LaserWriter or LaserWriter Plus.
 
Lasergenix: Fractional is a collection of fonts designed for use when
printing both types of fractions: horizontal (dash) and diagonal (slash).
Each font is sans serif and is matched (can be used in the same style
work). 
 
Lasergenix: Fontana is a sans serif boldface font designed for use in
graphics and headline purposes, such as advertising, display, titles and
other
functions. It may be downloaded via a special utility that is included.
 
Lasergenix: Riverside is a sans serif font available in three versions: 
standard, bold/extended and italic. This font has many uses for text
purposes  and may be downloaded via a special utility that is included.
 
Lasergenix: Sverdlovsk is a serif font and is an extended version of
Russian Cyrillic. Extended means the font includes letters that are used in
other Cyrillic alphabet languages, as well as the characters derived from
Cyrillic that were modified and used for languages in the Soviet Union.
With thisfont, user may write in Russian, Old Russian, Serbian, Ukranian,
Byelorussian, Macedonian and a number of Turkic and Asiastic languages
using a modified Cyrillic alphabet.
 
Lasergenix: IPA is a serif font designed to be blended with Times Roman and
use with the character and symbol set of the International Phonetics
Association.
 
Lasergenix: Newport News is a serif text font designed for text and
headlines with emphasis in advertising. It has superior numerals, common
fractions,boxes, bullets and borders.
$39.50 each retail; Lasergenix: Fractional, Fontana, Riverside, Sverdlovsk,
IPA or Newport News
Devonian International Software Co.; PO Box 2351; Montclair, CA  91763;
714-621-0973

====================================================
LASERGENIX-IPA (VER. 1.0)
    
ISPN: 24987-290
    
VENDOR: DEVONIAN INT'L. SOFTWARE CO. (USA)
        P.O. BOX 2351
        MONTCLAIR, CA
        91763
        (714)621-0973
Limited Warranty.
    
DESCRIPTION:
Provides a downloadable PostScript compatible IPA Serif font.
Contains the sixth in LASERgenix series of postscript fonts for
use in high quality printing. This font was designed for use with
International Phonetics Association (IPA) symbology, a downloading
utility and BitMap font are included.
    
====================================================
LASERIPA (VER. 2.3)
    
ISPN: 44825-055
    
VENDOR: LINGUIST'S SOFTWARE, INC. (USA)
        P.O. BOX 580
        EDMONDS, WA
        980200580
        (206)775-1130
Limited Warranty, Updates Available ( 10.00).
    
DESCRIPTION:
Contains IPATimes and LaserIPAplus, two International Phonetic
Alphabet PostScript fonts with corresponding bit map fonts.
Contains all of the International Phonetic Alphabet symbols and
all of the IPA diacritical marks with automatic, non-deleting
backspacing for overstriking any symbol and any combination of
overstrikes. Times is the a-z font, authorized by Adobe and
LaserIPAplus is a non-serifed Helvetica style font. Comes with
LaserWriter driver, LaserPrep software, user's manual and keyboard
layout charts. Prints all sizes from 4-point to 127-point. Not
copy protected.
    
====================================================
LaserPerfect Fonts
Downloadable PostScript fonts and custom typography
Any Macintosh; LaserWriter or other PostScript printer.
 
LaserPerfect Fonts are downloadable PostScript fonts that include foreign
fonts classic book typefaces and specialty character sets. Fonts include:
Ambo (Bembo), Athina, Benares, Garajon, Hebrew, MacSlab, Norfolk, OCR-A,
Phonetic, Digital, Antique, Neuland, Kangaroo, Tschichold, Fractions,
Athletic, Railway (Gill Sans), Cyrillic, Oldstyle, Macangelo, Barcode,
Beaton and Latvian.
 
LaserPerfect Fonts also includes LaserStatus desk accessory, a downloading 
utility for the LaserWriter. All fonts are downloadable to the hard disk on

Linotronic or Varityper typesetters.
$79 to $149 retail
NeoScribe International; PO Box 120478; East Haven, CT  06512; 203-467-9880

====================================================
MAC THE LINGUIST 2-PHONETIC FONTS FOR THE MAC
    
ISPN: 48961-100
    
VENDOR: MEGATHERIUM ENTERPRISES (USA)
        P.O. BOX 7000-417
        REDONDO BEACH, CA
        90277
        (213)545-5913
Limited Warranty, Updates Available ( 20.00), Backups Available.
    
DESCRIPTION:
Set of fonts designed for use by linguists and others who make
use of phonetic transcription systems.
The new fonts Linguist G and Linguist NY are modeled on the Geneva
and New York fonts and include 218 printing symbols (120 not found
in any standard Macintosh fonts) in 9, 10, 12, 18, 20 and 24
points sizes. The new symbols include the most frequently used
symbols from the I.P.A. and other transcription systems, along
with orthographic symbols not contained in the original fonts.
Fonts can be co-resident with Geneva and New York, so symbols from
standard and MAC THE LINGUIST fonts can be mixed in documents. MAC
THE LINGUIST can be used with MacWrite, MacPaint and other
Macintosh applications and supports Italic, Superscript and
other'style' enhancements. Documentation includes installation
instruction, Key Cap charts (showing all keyboard locations,
including 'dead key' symbols), Index (showing how to type each
symbol, typical articulatory description, example of use, and
ASCII code).Hints for learning and using fonts easily and
effectively and information for using with Laserfonts.

====================================================
MacPhonetics
Transliteration software, IPA, SIL and 80 languages
Any Macintosh.
 
MacPhonetics contains seven fonts in many sizes: the complete IPA in three 
styles (International Phonetic Alphabet, including all of its diacritical 
marks), SIL (Summer Institute of Linguistics symbol set), Semitica and
Roman with 80 languages in one font.
 
Overstrike keys with automatic non-deleting backspacing allow insertion of 
accents, umlauts and a wide variety of other diacritical marks. All of
these can be joined with any letter, lower or uppercase. A mini space bar
that advances the insertion point a single pixel facilitates fine tuning of
diacritical marks
 
The program provides high-quality printing of the transliteration symbols
of Hebrew, Arabic, Coptic, Greek (SBL system, etc.) and most other
languages, 
including the complete character sets of 80 other languages.
$79.95 retail
Linguist's Software; PO Box 580; Edmonds, WA  98020; 206-775-1130

====================================================
MACPHONETICS (VER. 2.7)
    
ISPN: 44825-515
    
VENDOR: LINGUIST'S SOFTWARE, INC. (USA)
        P.O. BOX 580
        EDMONDS, WA
        980200580
        (206)775-1130
Limited Warranty (DEFECTIVE DISKS REPLACED AT NO CHARGE) , Updates
Available ( 15.00), Backups Available ( 5.00), Part of an
Integrated Package: MACGREEK, HEBREW AND PHONETICS (VER. 6.1)
(44825-590).
    
DESCRIPTION:
International Phonetic Alphabet with diacritics, pronunciation
symbols, accent and stress signs, SIL and MacTransliterator.
Overstrike keys with automatic non-deleting backspacing allow fast
insertion of accents, umlauts, and a wide variety of other
diacritical marks such as 37 in IPA, 53 in SIL, 49 in Semitica and
50 in Roman-MacTransliterator. All of these can be joined with any
letter, lower or upper case. A mini space bar, which advances the
insertion point a single pixel, facilitates fine-tuning of
diacritical marks. Has a vertical bar for continuous vertical
columns, any number of lines in length. High quality printing. The
IPA font is selected directly from the font menu of MacWrite (ISPN
12784-530) or MicroSoft Word (ISPN 53150-731) for automatic
footnoting. Instantly transforms the keyboard to and from the
IPA, SIL and Roman. Style variations include bold, italic,
underline, outline, shadow, superscript and subscript. Provides
10, 12, 20, and 24 point font with high-quality printing of the
transliteration symbols of Hebrew, Arabic, Coptic, Greek (SBL
system), and most other languages. Includes the complete character
sets of 75 languages which include Albanian, Anglo-Saxon, Basque,
French, Catalonian, Croation, Czech (Bohemian), Danish,
Dutch, English, Esperanto, Esthonian, Finnish, German, Hawaiian,
Hungarian, Icelandic, Irish, Italian, Latin, Latvian, Lithuanian,
Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Rumanian, Samoan, Slovak,
Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Turkish, Welsh, and
Wendish. The American Indian languages include Chippewa (Ojibway
and Otchipwe), Choctaw, Cree, Dakota (Sioux), Eskimo, Hupa,
Iroquoian, Kalispel, Kwakiutl, Muskokee (Creek), Navaho, Osage,
Tsimshian, and Zuni. The African languages include Acholi,
Afrikaans, Bantu (Zulu and Xosa), Bobangi, Buluba-Lulua,
Chikaranga, Fulani-Adamawa, Ga, Kanuri, Kongo, Lu-Ganda, Masai,
Mashona (Chiswina), Mole, Namaquah-Hottentot, Nyika, Shuna,
Swahili, Tebele, Temne, Umbundu, Wolof, Yao, Yoruba, and
Zulu-Kafir. SIL stands for Summer Institute of Linguistics. Not
copy-protected.


-----------------------------------------------

   It looks like "LaserFrench German Spanish" available from Linguist's
   Software, PO Box 580, Edmunds, Washington 98020-0580 USA. Phone:
   206/775-1130 will give all Czech characters.  This font can also
   do 76 other European (from Albanian to Wendish) and American Indian
   languages (from Chippewa-Ojibway) to Zuni) and also African langages
   (from Acholi to Zulu-Kafir).
    
   I am not associated with Linguist's software, except as a satisfied
   customer.  Their fonts, by the way, are usually available at
   a discount from a mail-order house, like MacConnection or MacWarehouse.
   Louis Janus . Scandinavian Dept.  U of Minnesota . Minneapolis

-----------------------------------------------

From: <wck@ecersg.ncsu.edu> Waclaw C. Koscielniak

>   Here is some information about Polish fonts.
>1) You can get 3 bitmap fonts via anonymous ftp from ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
>(IP# 128.174.5.59). They are stored in the mac/MUG directory and the file
>is FontsLanguage2.sit.hqx (310k size). You need to use BinHex and StuffIt
>to get to the font files. These fonts are acceptable but not great.
>Since you are using Bitnet and need to access an Internet address, you
>may have some problems. If you need these fonts and can not get any other
>way, drop me a line and I will send you a floppy.
>2) There is a company in DC advertising PostScript fonts for all European
>countries. They probably have Polish fonts, but I am not sure. The address
>is (catalog $5):
>Ecological Linguistics
>Box 15156
>Washington, DC 20003
>They can also design custom fonts. This information comes from October issue
>of MacUser.
>3) Probably best solution is to buy Fontographer (Altsys, version 3.1 costs
>$248) and design your own typefaces. This way you can have quality PostScript
>fonts any way you like them.
>

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

**************************************************************************
		PolMac Description:
**************************************************************************

pazdziernik 1991           PolMac 2.2          (wersja dla systemu 7)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
(English section follows)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Z przyjemnoscia informuje, ze skonczylem nowa wersje polskich czcionek 
i skryptu dla komputera Macintosh. 

Nowa wersja - PolMac 2.2 - pracuje WYLACZNIE pod najnowszym systemem 
operacyjnym Mac-a, tkzw. System 7.

Wybor czcionek jest wiekszy niz poprzednio i zawiera teraz dziewiec 
czcionek dla drukarek klasy QuickDraw (cztery czcionki typu TrueType i 
piec czcionek PostScript typ 1 ktore beda wspolpracowaly z Adobe Type 
Manager) i dziewietnascie czcionek dla drukarek klasy PostScript 
(powyzsze dziewiec + 10 czcionek z poprzedniej wersji PolMac-a).

Wersja 2.2 ma rowniez jedna dodatkowa klawiature - Pol-France - dla 
tych co kupili swego Mac-a w zabojadni. Dodatkowe klawiatury dla innych 
wersji Macintosh-a na zadanie i za dodatkowa oplata.

Warunki licencyjne sa takie jak poprzednio, t.j. 3 tygodnie bezplatnego 
uzytkowania, poczym albo wymazujemy albo wysylamy $40 do autora. 

Calosc bedzie dostepna poprzez anonimowy ftp (128.200.29.9) lub wymiane 
ze znajomymi. Na zadanie wysle poczta po otrzymaniu (z gory) oplaty 
licencyjnej + $5 na pokrycie kosztu dyskietek, druku, przesylki 
i mojego czasu. (Tani jestem, no nie ?). Zarejestrowani uzytkownicy 
poprzedniej wersji moga otrzymac nowa wersje wysylajac czek na na pokrycie 
kosztow manipulacyjnych . (Tutaj klaniam sie pieknie tym kilku 
sprawiedliwym ktorzy docenili wysilek wlozony w opracowanie PolMac-a i 
wyslali czek za poprzednia wersje.)

Umieszczenie kopii PolMac-a na publicznie dostepnych komputerach 
(CompuServe, bulletin boards, ftp sites, etc) i jakakolwiek komercyjna 
dystrybucja wymaga odrebnej zgody autora - prosze pisac.

z pozdrowieniami

Jerzy Giergiel

poczta: c/o Physics, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92717
siec: ggiergiel@ucivmsa.bitnet lub ggiergiel@vmsa.oac.uci.edu
telefon: 714-856-5849 (praca), 714-642-2932 (dom)

---------------------------------------------------------------------
English - october 1991         PolMac 2.2         (system 7 dependent)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
The Polish language script and fonts package for Macintosh computers 
has been upgraded and is now fully compatible with System 7.0. 
The new package - PolMac 2.2 - has the same functionality as previous 
version, with some changes: all four bitmap fonts (_Chicago, 
_Geneva, _Monaco, _New York ) are now provided in TrueType format. 
There are also five new PostScript (type 1) fonts that are compatible 
with Adobe Type Manager. The other ten font families are still in the 
PostScript (derived) format. Overall, there are now 9 font families 
compatible with QuickDraw printers and 19 (above 9 + 10 extra) that are 
compatible with PostScript printers. The new package requires System 7; 
stick to the previous version of PolMac if you prefer to stay with 
6.0.x. One additional keyboard layout "Pol-France" intended for users
of frog eating Macintoshes is provided.

The PolMac package is NOT free. It's a shareware; meaning you can try 
it free for three weeks, after which you either remove all traces of it 
from your computers and any storage media or send $40.00 for a single 
user license fee. You can obtain this package through friends or (in 
the future) from a ftp site (128.200.29.9). If you prefer to obtain a 
copy directly from me send your shareware fee plus $5.00 shipping 
handling to the address listed below. Registered users of 2.1.ps need 
only to send $5.00 handling fee. No posting or commercial distribution 
is allowed without my written permission. Please write.

yours truly,

Jerzy Giergiel
mail: c/o Physics, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92717
net: ggiergiel@ucivmsa.bitnet or ggiergiel@vmsa.oac.uci.edu
phone: 714-856-5849 (work), 714-642-2932 (home)

-----------------------------------------------------------

**************************************************************************
	General information (Conversations with Pieter Stouten)
**************************************************************************

In Info-Mac Digest, Volume 8, Issue 151 of Thu, 6 Sep 1990, I asked:
 
+ Can anybody provide me with Polish fonts or direct me to somebody
+ who can ? Alternatively, would somebody be willing to change an
+ existing font (preferably Times or Helvetica), so that it can be
+ used to type Polish. 

I received lots of replies to this request. And learnt a lot about 
fonts, too.

Pieter

From: <ZBEN@UMD2.bitnet> Ben Cranston

>
>I just saw a presentation WED from Ecological Linguistics, PO Box 15156,
>Washington DC 20003 USA.  [get to USA 202 546 5862].
>
>They have Postscript Type-1 fonts for stuff as weird as Urdu and Pashto
>but it looks like one of these may do what you want:
>
>European Times
>Slavic Times
>Cyrillic Times
>
>Quote from European Times writeup:
>
>"We provide national standard keyboards for Polish, Czech, Slovak,
>Hungarian, Turkish, Croatian, etc".
>
>They also do custom keyboard handlers to make it easier to type in the
>particular foreign language and custom system resources to make strings
>sort in the correct way for the language.
>
>These guys really seem to know what they are talking about, how the
>various languages really work, and the best way to make it easy to type.
>I was impressed!

From: <ianf@random.se> Ian Feldman

>
>>   Can anybody provide me with Polish fonts or direct me to somebody who
>>   can ? Alternatively, would somebody be willing to change an existing
>>   font (preferably Times or Helvetica), so that it can be used to type
>>   Polish.  The Polish alphabet is almost a normal latin alphabet (not
>>   cyrillic or anything), but it has some diacritical marks which no other
>>   alphabet has.
>
>    Actually it isn't so simple -- the problem with diacritics won't be
>    really solved until Apple and other manufacturers fully migrate to
>    the 16-bit alphabet.  There is simply no space for all the extra-
>    accented Latin characters from all the languages in the 256-character
>    (table... the closest one comes to is 317 different characters of the
>    "teletex" alphabet [= the Super Telex, not the TeleText on TV], and
>    that one uses 16 bits...]
>
>>                                      Since Poland is rapidly becoming a
>>   Western country, Apple should consider producing a Polish system as
>>   well.  Until that happens, I would be very happy, if at least I could
>>   have a Polish font.  Thanks in advance.
>
>    Don't worry, Apple is well under way towards establishing itself in
>    Poland and there already is a locally-translated Polish System, complete
>    with Polish-language sorting, etc.  Still, it has yet to become an
>    Apple-sanctioned software, so until then...  Unfortunately I don't
>    think that running it would solve your problems...  you don't want to
>    use a Polonised system but merely write in Polish and for that there is
>    the Polmac INIT, written by Jerzy Giergiel of Irvine, California (and
>    available from him either by FTP [128.200.29.9] or via e-mail at either
>    of the two addresses:
>
>    internet: ggiergiel@vmsa.oac.uci.edu
>    bitnet:   ggiergiel@ucivmsa.bitnet
>
>    The INIT checks if any writing is done in any Polish font that it
>    recognises and then adds the necessary accents to letters -- thus it
>    functions with all Mac printers (QuickDraw AND PostScript, incl.  PS
>    typesetters) that are using Adobe's type I fonts, with ATM AND with
>    Microsoft products! In fact -- the only modification that you'd have to
>    make before running it on your non-Polish system would be to provide a
>    new keyboard-specific KCHR resource (done easily in ResEdit), to account
>    for your specific (German- or whatever) keyboard.
>
>    --------
>
From: <wck@ecersg.ncsu.edu> Waclaw C. Koscielniak

>   Here is some information about Polish fonts.
>1) You can get 3 bitmap fonts via anonymous ftp from ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
>(IP# 128.174.5.59). They are stored in the mac/MUG directory and the file
>is FontsLanguage2.sit.hqx (310k size). You need to use BinHex and StuffIt
>to get to the font files. These fonts are acceptable but not great.
>Since you are using Bitnet and need to access an Internet address, you
>may have some problems. If you need these fonts and can not get any other
>way, drop me a line and I will send you a floppy.
>2) There is a company in DC advertising PostScript fonts for all European
>countries. They probably have Polish fonts, but I am not sure. The address
>is (catalog $5):
>Ecological Linguistics
>Box 15156
>Washington, DC 20003
>They can also design custom fonts. This information comes from October issue
>of MacUser.
>3) Probably best solution is to buy Fontographer (Altsys, version 3.1 costs
>$248) and design your own typefaces. This way you can have quality PostScript
>fonts any way you like them.
>
From: <MAXG@SUVM.bitnet> Gerry Greenberg

>OK, Pieter...I'm going to include the two different fonts in another
>email message...please let me know if you get this AND the other email
>containing the fonts.  Let me know if you get this BUT not the other
>email...then I can send them as files (usually email works better).  In
>fact, I'm going to send each file as its own email message...so let me
>know what you get and what you don't.
>One thing to remember:  neither of these fonts is specifically designed
>to do JUST Polish, rather they are designed to accommodate Slavic
>languages that use the Latin alphabet.  One is called Latin East
>European, the other is called Nova Gorica.  I hope they'll do the trick
>for you...I use Nova Gorica quite a bit myself...it comes out nice on
>the laser printer, too.


From: <NBEHR@ECNCDC.bitnet> Eric

>
>Pieter,
>Just the other day I dug up my Polish font made up from New Century
>Schoolbook using someone's Fontographer. Its FOND ID is 234 - so
>if you'd like to use it, make sure you don't have any other 234 installed;
>if you do, I can generate a copy with different ID.
>It has the basic 18 characters (ogonek: a, e; acute: c, n, o, s, z; l-slash;
>z-dot, plus of course capitals), which you get by holding option together
>with the corresponding letters. The exception is z-acute, which is option-x
>(this is where Polish typewriters have it). This makes it easy to remember,
>but there is a problem with option-e and -n. As you know these are dead keys
>used by Apple to form diacritical marks, so you have to press opt-e *twice*
>(or opt-e and then a space) to get e-ogonek. Same with n-acute. I learned to
>do that quite easily, but others may be confused.
>I have bitmaps in sizes 10, 12, 14, 20, 24, and a postScript font which
>downloads itself automatically as long as its root directory is within the
>System folder (I keep it in a folder FONTs in the System folder). Works
>fine.
>If you want it, let me know (and also whether you have Stuffit to decode
>it, or should I use something else). Please make sure that it isn't used
>for any commercial purpose - as I said, I don't even own Fontographer, so
>I don't want Altsys to sue me  :)       Best - Eric


PS:
>I have obtained already quite some fonts, but want to have everything and
>then make a choice. Basically they come in two sorts: ones using the layout
>of a standard Polish keyboard, which is not very useful if you only
>occasionally type Polish and ones where you use the option key to create
>the Polish letters. The latter all use the same convention as you do, which
>is in my opinion a very convenient choice.
>Until now I did not get any laser fonts, which is somewhat unpleasant, but
>not dramatic.
>I would appreciate very much if you could send me your bitmap and PostScript
>fonts as a StuffIt'ed Binhex'ed file.
>The fonts will not be used for commercial purposes: my wife (who is Polish)
>will use them to type letters.

From: <Marian_Krzyzowski@um.cc.umich.edu> Marian Krzyzowski

>For over a year I have been using a Polish version of Times called Czasy
>and a Polish Helvetica called Szwajcarskie from Allotype Typographics,
>located at 1600 Packard, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, U.S.A. (telephone:
>313-663-1989).  These downloadable laser fonts are interchangeable with
>normal Times and Helvetica and their keyboard configuration is close to
>the Polish keyboard.  They're priced under $100 apiece.  Highly r
>ecommended and they're hometown grown!
>

PS:
Thanks for your mail of Tue, 11 Sep 90 16:09:42 EDT (Subject: Polish Fonts).
I found out that Polish fonts basically come in two sorts: ones using the 
layout of a standard Polish keyboard (like the two that you describe), and 
ones where you use the option key to create the Polish letters. The latter
option is the one that my wife prefers (she is Polish and occasionally has
to type in Polish).
Unfortunately, we did not find any really nice fonts, let alone laser fonts.
So, eventually we might consider purchasing the (type of) fonts you recommend,
but for the moment we try to find some nice "option-key" fonts.
Thanks again for your help.


From: <GA0095@SIUCVMB.bitnet>  Robert J. Brenstein

>
>There are a couple of places selling polish fonts, but nothing so simple as
>just having Times or Helvetica modified.  Coincidently, I am working on
>exactly this, but the fonts won't be available for a couple months yet.
>There is Polish INIT available from Jerzy Giergiel that allows you to
>type in Polish in most of standard fonts, but the installation requires
>using ResEdit (thus some technical understanding of inner-workings of Mac).
>Let me know if you need more info.
>  Robert

PS:
Thanks for your mail of 19 September 90, 14:32:44 CST (Subject:
polish fonts on Mac).

>There are a couple of places selling polish fonts, but nothing so simple as
>just having Times or Helvetica modified.  Coincidently, I am working on
>exactly this, but the fonts won't be available for a couple months yet.

I got lots of fonts now (like 500-600 kB) and many of them look very much
like standards fonts with some letters omitted, which are replaced by Polish
letters. They come in two sorts. In case of "option fonts" you use the option
key to create Polish letters, while "keyboard fonts" assume a Polish keyboard
layout and let you type the Polish letters without command keys.
The "option fonts" are favourite by far among all Polish people I know.
I hope a bit that you are creating "option fonts" and sincerely hope that you
will create laser fonts as well.
I can send you a disk full of Polskie Fonty if you give your physical mail
address. Alternatively, I can StuffIt and Binhex the lot and send or mail
it to you (whatever you prefer; mail is faster normally).

>There is Polish INIT available from Jerzy Giergiel that allows you to
>type in Polish in most of standard fonts, but the installation requires
>using ResEdit (thus some technical understanding of inner-workings of Mac).

I asked Jerzy Giergiel for his INIT quite some time ago, but did not get
any reply. If it is free or shareware, can you send it to me ? Hopefully
with a bit of documentation. I am not afraid of ResEdit, I already had the
pleasure of having damaged lots of files by using ResEdit.

From: <GA0095@SIUCVMB.bitnet>  Robert J. Brenstein

>I didn't realize that SO many people created their own fonts.  And yes, the
>fonts I work on are laser fonts.  I have been using an option-font and a two-
>stroke font (both are modified Geneva) for some time.  I have finally
>invested in software that allows me to create postscript fonts.  I am curious
>to see what option-characters are most popular among people since some of the
>most obvious choices create technical problems, like opt-e for e-ogonek.
>I would appreciate your sending me your collection.  My snail-mail address is
>    Robert Brenstein, P.O. Box 160, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, USA
>If it is easier for you, you can send them stuffed-binhexed over Bitnet. I'll
>send you the Polish INIT in return (with docs). The INIT is freeware.  Jerzy
>asked for not redistributing it, but I myself got it from a friend since he
>failed to send me a copy himself.  Personally, I don't use it now.  I know
>that Apple is working on Polish System Software, although they don't say that
>officially.  It will certainly be a more robust implementation than Jerzy did,
>not that he didn't do a good job.  Unfortunately, there is no say when that
>System Software will come out.  I'll let you know when my fonts are ready.

PS:
Thanks for your mail of 20 September 90, 09:57:08 CST.

>And yes, the
>fonts I work on are laser fonts.  I have been using an option-font and a two-
>stroke font (both are modified Geneva) for some time.  I have finally
>invested in software that allows me to create postscript fonts.

I am glad you make laser fonts. Can you also easily make laser fonts from
screen fonts ? Or is this a stupid question ? Is it easier to create laser
fonts if you have screen fonts in different sizes ? Sorry, I don't know the
slightest bit about fonts. I am asking, because you might turn the fonts that
I'll send to you into laser fonts if you like them.

>I am curious
>to see what option-characters are most popular among people since some of the
>most obvious choices create technical problems, like opt-e for e-ogonek.

Apart from Latin East European (which allows you to type all letters from
all languages in East Europe that have a Latin alphabet), they *ALL* use the
same system (and they are from diferent origins). There are only 3 
technical problems. z(') and z(.), e(') and n('). This is solved as follows:
z(') = option-z
z(.) = option-x
e(') = option-e followed by option-e
       option-e followed by space
n(') = option-n followed by space
       option-tilde (I think it is called tilde)
       option-n followed by option-n (I think, but am not sure about this one).

>I would appreciate your sending me your collection.  My snail-mail address is
>    Robert Brenstein, P.O. Box 160, Carbondale, Illinois 62901, USA
>If it is easier for you, you can send them stuffed-binhexed over Bitnet.

It does not matter to me, I guess I have to cut them in two or more pieces,
otherwise it might take ages before they reach you through e-mail.

>I'll
>send you the Polish INIT in return (with docs). The INIT is freeware.  Jerzy
>asked for not redistributing it, but I myself got it from a friend since he
>failed to send me a copy himself.  Personally, I don't use it now.  I know
>that Apple is working on Polish System Software, although they don't say that
>officially.  It will certainly be a more robust implementation than Jerzy did,
>not that he didn't do a good job.  Unfortunately, there is no say when that
>System Software will come out.

Yes, please send me Jerzy's INIT.
I know that they are even field-testing the Polish system software now, so it
should be any time now (that is: Apple's Any Time Now).

>I'll let you know when my fonts are ready.

Please do ! I would really like to have them.

Bye, Pieter.

From: <GA0095@SIUCVMB.bitnet>  Robert J. Brenstein

>
>Thanks for the detailed info, Pieter.
>Please, disregard the last note regarding fonts.
>I sent it by mistake before I finished editing my reply.
>
>>I am glad you make laser fonts. Can you also easily make laser fonts from
>>screen fonts ? Or is this a stupid question ? Is it easier to create laser
>>fonts if you have screen fonts in different sizes ? Sorry, I don't know the
>>slightest bit about fonts. I am asking, because you might turn the fonts that
>>I'll send to you into laser fonts if you like them.
>
>Making laser fonts is a tedious process.  Making them from screen fonts
>(bitmaps) is extremely tedious, even more if the font has not originated
>from another laser font and the font metrics file is not available.
>But it is possible and if I find any font that I really like I may do
>that (if I can find time, of course).  The larger is the largest size of
>the bitmap font, the easier it is to convert it into postscript. The
>process is tedious because the poscript characters must be rendered
>manully using the bitmap characters as a template only.  Taking the
>investment in software and time, I must distrubute them as shareware,
>though.  (If you volunteer for testing, you get it free.)
>
>>Apart from Latin East European (which allows you to type all letters from
>>all languages in East Europe that have a Latin alphabet), they *ALL* use the
>>same system (and they are from diferent origins). There are only 3
>>technical problems. z(') and z(.), e(') and n('). This is solved as follows:
>>z(') = option-z
>>z(.) = option-x
>>e(') = option-e followed by option-e
>>       option-e followed by space
>>n(') = option-n followed by space
>>       option-tilde (I think it is called tilde)
>>       option-n followed by option-n (I think, but am not sure about this one)
>.
>
>This is exactly how the font I used (it was generated by a friend) was
>defined.  I found that the above "problems" drove me nuts, so I created
>a two-stroke font.  Instead of pressing option-a to produce a-ogonek,
>you press a and then option-, (sort of like one writes it by hand).
>Option-, adds ogonek to any character, option-. adds kropke over z,
>option-' adds kreske over o, n, etc., option-/ changes l into l-bar.
>Once I got used to this scheme, I never went back to other font.
>Personally, I find this font easier to use, but my friend never did.
>Anyway, the reason I asked the question in the first place was that
>it pertains to the laser font implementation.  At present, I am  testing
>how different implementations work on the laser.
>I used to have (I may still do) a screen font that allowed one to type
>in a really large number of languages, just as the Latin East European
>that you mention (I never heard of it before).  I think it was called
>international.  It was not so simple to use, though.
>
>>It does not matter to me, I guess I have to cut them in two or more pieces,
>>otherwise it might take ages before they reach you through e-mail.
>
>Well, on the second thought, it may be simpler if you send them on a
>floppy.  It does not take so long from Germany.  If you decide to send
>them via Bitnet after all, you need to cut the file into pieces of
>1000 lines or less.  I observed this to be about the largest size that
>goes through Bitnet at a decent speed.
>
>>Yes, please send me Jerzy's INIT.
>
>The init is not very large, so I try to send it via Bitnet, if I manage
>to upload the file to mainframe (we have had problems with that lately).
>Otherwise, I will mail it through post.  I have your address from the
>Info-Mac posting.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Incidentally, there is a Polish Newsletter distributed from a Polish and
from an American node. It is called Donosy (Gossip). In order to subscribe
send an e-mail to przemek@ndcvx.cc.nd.edu (Przemek Klosowski, for America)
or to donosy@plearn.bitnet.

Loki Jorgenson <loki@Physics.McGill.CA>
Pieter Stouten <stouten@embl-heidelberg.de>