home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
Your Choice 1
/
your choice.zip
/
your choice
/
OS2
/
FONTFOLD
/
README
< prev
Wrap
Text File
|
1994-03-11
|
7KB
|
150 lines
README FILE FOR FontFolder V1.01A
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS:
Copy the FONTFOLDER.EXE and FONTFOLDER.HLP files to any directory.
FONTFOLDER.HLP can be kept either in the same directory as
FONTFOLDER.EXE or in any directory in the HELP path in config.sys.
The combination of the FontFolder program files and the data files it
creates should total less than 300KB.
After starting FontFolder for the first time, bring up the Help and
read the sections on FontFolder Overview, Installing FontFolder and
Using FontFolder for basic familiarization with the program. Help is
also available for all menu items; hit F1 when the menu item is
selected.
PROBLEMS ON FONTFOLDER STARTUP:
When you start FontFolder the first time you may find that it
complains about a number of fonts that you have already "installed" in
OS/2 through the OS/2 Font Pallete. This can be for a number of
reasons outlined below, all of which represent legitimate problems
that FontFolder is attempting to deal with. (Of course it may also be
true that FontFolder is incorrectly objecting to a legitimately
installed font. If that appears to be the case, please bring the
situation to my attention via one of the routes described at the end
of this ReadMe file.)
Situations where FontFolder will object to an already "installed"
font:
1. The OS/2 Font Pallete is unfortunately not too discriminating in
what it will "install" in OS/2. There are examples of font AFM files
that are totally unreadable because of garbage in the file. The Font
Pallete will "install" these files, although they are unusable and
show up in the Font Pallete list as blank lines. FontFolder will
reject a file if the OS/2 api that is used to query font information
can't at least return a name for the font (the blank line in the Font
Pallete occurs because no font name was returned for the file).
2. Users have been known to install a font in OS/2 and then later move
the OFM and PFB files for this font to a different directory or even
erase them, without first un-installing the font from OS/2. However,
OS/2 keeps a record in OS2.INI of where it thinks the files are for
installed fonts, and when it can't find them there on bootup, things
get quite confusing. The user finds that a previously installed font
"no longer works", but when they try to re-install it they find they
can't because OS/2 insists it is already installed. FontFolder checks
the listings in OS2.INI and verifies that both a PFB file and an OFM
file exist where OS2.INI claims they are located.
In both of the above cases, FontFolder a) does not show the font in
the installed fonts list, and b) puts up a message box alerting the
user to the problem and offering to remove the entry for this font
from OS2.INI. You should note what font files FontFolder can't find,
and then accept the offer to clean up OS2.INI. If the problem is
simply that the font files have been moved, you can then go and find
out where the font files are currently located (if they still exist)
and register the fonts with the Master Library from the correct
location.
KNOWN PROBLEMS/LIMITATIONS:
1. There are "bad fonts" out there. A "bad font" is defined here
as any font that either won't install in OS/2, or when installed won't
display or even worse sends the system in to some sort of never-never
land. My experience with the 400+ fonts I have is about 2% fall in to
this "bad font" category. Note that this does not necessarily mean
that something is wrong with the font, just that the font and OS/2 do
not get along. FontFolder screens out some but not all "bad fonts"
that the OS/2 Font Pallete lets pass.
While there are no guarantees, so far it appears that it is
possible to screen fonts using the Font Information previewer
available from the Master Library menu or the equivalent button in
the main window. The following rules apply:
a) If a font shows up blank in the Font Information sample window in
FontFolder, it will also not display when installed in OS/2, and may
do something worse. Remove it from the Master Library.
b) If a font causes a SYS 3175 error in PMATM.DLL when viewed with
the Font Information previewer, it will probably do even worse things
when installed in OS/2. You do not want to install this font in OS/2.
While the SYS 3175 will kill the current FontFolder session, you can
restart FontFolder without any apparent detrimental effects.
Obviously, this is a font that you want to remove from the Master
Library.
Given that FontFolder makes it easy for you to use large numbers of
fonts, it is recommended that you take the time to screen the fonts
you register with the Master Library using the above rules.
2. FontFolder doesn't do a very good job of removing a font from OS/2
memory. This is partly a basic OS/2 problem in that OS/2 doesn't
permit a font to be unloaded if it thinks some application is using
it, and OS/2 seems to get easily confused about this. It may also be
a FontFolder problem; I continue to look in to this. This is not a
problem if you don't change fonts frequently since any font removed by
FontFolder will be gone the next time you reboot. However, if you
work with large numbers of fonts during a single session, you may run
in to a bug in the GA version of OS/2 2.1 PMATM.DLL that causes a
crash when somewhere in excess of 200 fonts are currently loaded in
the system. If FontFolder can't remove a font from memory, the
cumulative total of all fonts used during the session could generate
this error situation. A workaround seems to be possible by starting
FontFolder at the beginning of a session (for example by including
FontFolder in your Startup Folder) and minimizing it rather than
closing it during the session. It appears that for most applications,
if you install a font with FontFolder and later remove it in the same
FontFolder session (i.e. without having closed and restarted
FontFolder in the interim), FontFolder can successfully remove the
font from memory.
*******************************
CHANGES FROM VERSION 1.01
Help now works from Load Installed Fonts dialog that says no font file found.
Changed behavior when registering fonts from a removable drive to deal with
font files that have their r-o bit set. After first asking the user if they
want to overwrite the file, set r-o bit off and copy over the file.
Corrected Register Fonts operation so mixed case and lower case font file names
are handled correctly.
Typos in Help corrected.
CHANGES FROM VERSION 1.0
Fixed bug that rejected OS2.INI fonts entries that began with a \
instead of a drive letter.
*******************************
FONTFOLDER SUPPORT:
Support for FontFolder is provided on Compuserve in OS2BVEN, Section 1
(GO OS2SHARE). Latest versions of FontFolder will also be posted to
the library there. Or send e-mail to to me at [75136,2414] on
Compuserve.
Cliff Cullum