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fntgds.txt
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1992-07-10
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At the end of May 1992 Atari released a new version of GDOS called
FONT GDOS. This program is not freely distributable, without
written permission from ATARI. This is due to some legal
constraints involving Digital Research, the original authors of
GEM.
If you are already using GDOS or G+PLUS from Codehead there seems
little reason to switch to FONT GDOS. There may be compatability
problems with some software (there may not be either but if your
software works why fight it). I have heard that some of the new
printer drivers are faster than older ones. In this case you may
want to install a printer driver from the new package. They should
work with older versions of GDOS while the reverse is not generally
the case.
Apparently FONT GDOS interacts poorly with WARP 9, the screen
accelerator, resulting in a slowup of screen activity as compared
to not running FONT GDOS. The screen is still much faster using
WARP 9 with FONT GDOS than using FONT GDOS alone.
Enclosed with the FONT GDOS package are the following programs:
FONTGDOS.PRG This is the actual GDOS program. It must be placed
in the AUTO folder on your boot drive. Do not do so until after
installing the ASSIGN.SYS and EXTEND.SYS files (done below).
FONTGDOS.ACC
FSM.ACC
FSMPRINT.ACC
These are also available in .CPX format for those with TOS 2.05 or
higher. These accessories are needed for configuring or changing a
configuration with FONT GDOS. As they take up 150K of valuable
memory space I recommend only installing them to set up the system.
To be loaded a .ACC file must be placed in the root directory of
your hard disk. To make sure that they do not load simply change
the name of each to be ???.AC rather than ???.ACC.
Under "DESK" on the desktop these accessories will be called
FSM FONT MANAGER
PRINTER SELECTOR and
PRINTER CONFIG
Before discussing how to use these to set up FONT GDOS we must have
a folder for fonts and drivers. ATARI has provided the following
drivers
META.SYS used for producing .GEM meta files
FX80.SYS used for 9 pin EPSON type printers, most printers can
use this driver. 120 by 144 DPI
NB15.SYS used for 24 pin EPSON type printers which can use 180DPI
graphics. The name comes from the STAR NB15 printer series.
NECP.SYS used for printers which are compatable with the NEC P
series of 24 pin printers. These can produce 360DPI graphics. Such
printers include the Panasonic 1123 1124 etc models as well as most
24 pin Epson models
LASERJET.SYS used for Hewlett Packard Laser Jet printers and
compatables. resolution 300 DPI
BJ10.SYS used for the Canon bubblejet series at 360 DPI resolution
DJ5.SYS used for the Hewlett Packard Desk Jet and compatables. 300
DPI
NX1000.SYS Used for color printers compatable with the STAR NX1000
RAINBOW. 120 by 144 DPI
OKI20.SYS used for the OKIMATE 20 printer. 120 by 144 DPI
PAINTJET.SYS used for the Hewlett packard PaintJet series of color
printers. 180 DPI
SLM.SYS used for the ATARI laser printer series. 300 DPI
MEMORY.SYS prints to memory. Doubtful that there is any use for
this at the end user level.
SCREEN.SYS It actually does not come with the package as it is
built into the ST. It is the screen driver.
Taken together these drivers total 722,000 bytes. The user
generally has to install META.SYS and 1 printer driver.
The drivers selected and the fonts to be used with them must be
placed in a folder. This folder may be on any drive and may have
any name. The traditional name is GEMSYS.
To set up FONT GDOS one must first create the files EXTEND.SYS and
ASSIGN.SYS. This is done with the accessories. First click on the
accessory "FSM Font Manager".
When this opens click on the "OPTIONS Menu".
Next click on "OUTLINE FONT SETUP".
Next click on "Set Font Cache". Set the 3 cache sizes to 20,20, and
200. Now click on OK. Next click on OK again and then on SAVE.
Click on "YES" to save an EXTEND.SYS file. Now select EXIT.
The process is somewhat more convoluted than necessary since the
accessory is designed for FSM GDOS of which FONT GDOS is a part.
Now click on the accessory "Printer Selector". This accessory is
badly named since it also sets up the ASSIGN.SYS file.
Click on "Options".
Click on "Set Font/Driver Path". This is where we tell the system
where we put the drivers and fonts. The system will come up with
the root directory in the box. Simply click on this to get a
standard file selector. Select the directory that you desire; for
example "C:\GEMSYS". Click on Ok and then on "OK" again. The system
will put up a message saying "Scanning Bit Mapped Fonts" and then
return you to the menu.
Now click on "Driver Installation". You must set up drivers for
devices 1 to 9 and for 21 and 31. Under Active devices use the up
and down arrows to select the Device numbers and then by using the
name selector choose "SCREEN.SYS" for each of 1 through 9. Now
switch to the bottom half of the screen.
Move the driver number to 21. Now using the name pointer choose the
printer type which you have; ex NB15.SYS. Click on "ADD" and then
"YES". This is necessary to ADD the device to the Top part which
represents available devices.
Now move the device number to 31. This time choose META.SYS as the
driver. Click on "ADD" and then "YES"
Now click on "MENU".
Click on "Font Installation"
For this purpose you must know what the the Device IDs represent.
ID # USE
1 Default Screen device
2 ST Low Resolution
3 ST Medium Resolution
4 ST High Resolution
5 Reserved
6 TT Medium Resolution
7 Reserved
8 TT High Resolution
9 TT Low Resolution
10 Reserved
21 Main Printer Driver
31 GEM Metafile driver
You need only install fonts for devices which you use. There is no
point in installing fonts for a screen resolution that you can not
use. Note that the same fonts may be used for many screen
resolutions. Basically you may use the same fonts for ID #s 4, 8
and 9. These fonts could also be used for 2, 3 and 9 but would not
look correct.
Assuming you have a MONO monitor on an ST select ID #4. You will
have no "ACTIVE FONTS" as of yet.
Click on "ACTIVE FONTS".
Click on "Show Inactive Fonts". You now have a list of fonts which
are available. This includes fonts which are not for the particular
device that you are using. Select the ones you want by holding down
the shift key and clicking on the correct ones. The names should
tell you whether they are screen fonts or printer fonts. You will
likely have to check with the documentation that came with the
fonts to determine what convention was used for naming the fonts.
Once you select the fonts click on "Append". You will be asked if
you really want to and say "Yes".
You must now do the same for ID # 21, the printer.
You do not generally select fonts for device 31. I have never seen
fonts made for device 31.
Having selected fonts for all desired devices, click on "MENU".
Next click on "TOP MENU".
If no printer is listed as "Current Printer", or the printer shown
is not the one you selected as the driver for ID # 21, then select
the same printer as chosen in setting the driver. To select the
printer click on the printer name box and then choose the desired
printer.
Click on "SAVE" and answer "OK" to save the ASSIGN.SYS file. Now
click on EXIT.
The last accessory is used to modify the printer drivers. "Printer
Config" does what its name implies. It does not change the printer
you have chosen. You may modify the quality, the paper size, and in
some cases the colors chosen.
You are now ready to go. Move FONTGDOS.PRG into the AUTO folder on
your boot disk and reboot the system.
When we set the size of the cache to 200 (K) in this exercise we
selected a fairly large cache size. The larger the cache size the
faster FONT GDOS will work. The size of the cache has to be larger
than the largest font that you are using. The size of the font can
be determined simply by looking at the file sizes for each of the
font files. A larger font cache (if you can spare the room) allows
the system to keep more fonts in memory at once and therefore cut
down on disk access. The result is a faster job. Generally printer
fonts are larger than screen fonts.
The other two caches were set to 20. They could be set smaller
since they are unused by FONT GDOS. They are used only by FSMGDOS.
However if you go much smaller you get a warning printed. You can
probably ignore the warning but what the heck, who wants warnings
when you are first installing something.
ə