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1995-03-18
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This package is provided "as is", without any further guarantee. The author
can not be made responsible for direct or consequential damages resulting
from the use of this software package or inability to use it. The complete
risk of running the programs is with you.
Coyright 1991-1992 Dietmar Eilert
INTRODUCTION
DeskJet family printers provide a high printing quality, but as far as font
variety is concerned, frugality has to be faced. There are many font
cartridges available to help you out of this situation. Unfortunately
comfort (plug it in and turn printer on) has its price, so many users tend
to use software solutions as DTP systems: flexible, but slowly. Softfonts
are a possible compromise: fonts stored on disks that are sent to the
printer if needed. Once bought, a softfont cartridge will give you access
to all the fonts you need; many of them are available as PD-software (most
of them are MS-DOS files; use MSH or similar utilities to convert them to
standard Amiga format). The big advantage of softfonts is their fast
printing speed. While most DTP-programs work about 5-10 minutes/page,
download fonts are printed with up to 200 cps. Softfont transfer to the
printer will take only a few seconds and has to be done only once - after
the printer has been turned on. Another advantage of softfonts is printing
quality: in letter mode the DeskJet employs 600*300 dpi (!) resolution,
whilst DTP programs can use "only" 300*300 dpi (graphic
mode).
24-Pinwriters
TypoGrapher does support pinwriter fonts, too: just use the INSTALL option
to set up your printer model. Most of the following explanations do apply
for both kinds of printers.
Laser printers
Laser printers are not supported by TypoGrapher even though you can read
LaserJet Fonts (these fonts are converted to DeskJet fonts at once);
nevertheless, utilities as SetFont, Cartridge, MakePropTab and PCL2IFF do
support laser printers, too.
USING SOFTFONTS
Softfonts - once sent to the printer - are accessed just as built-in fonts:
your text system tells the printer about desired font characteristics
(style, size, slant), the printer then chooses a font as close to your
wishes as possible (pinwriters' softfonts are managed less comfortably by
special ESC codes). Unfortunately, most of the editors available for the
Amiga are quite old fashioned in this regard (compared to MS-DOS packages):
Softfont selection by attributes usually is not supported. In most cases
you won't get around some printer driver adjustments. The necessary steps
are described in this text later on. Softfont transfer to the printer is
done either manually (COPY XY TO PAR:) or by one of the utilities of this
software package (e.g. SetFont).
GETTING STARTED
Hardware requirements: Any Amiga with at least 1 MB RAM and Kickstart 1.2,
1.3 or 2.04. A DeskJet printer has to be equipped with at least 128 KByte
RAM (these expansion cards are called 'Softfont cartridges'). You can't use
softfonts with the 16K RAM buffer built in regulary. 256K cartridges are
available for less than 150 DM (about 85$), but smaller 128K cartriges are
suitable for private use as well. If you own a pinwriter, you should be
able to use softfonts without special hardware: most printers provide a
built-in softfont buffer. Sometimes, DIP switches have to be adjusted
before - have a look at your printer's manual.
Useful hardware expansions
Using font sizes as 255*125 dots will result in considerable memory needs
of about 1 MB RAM: 255*125/8*255. Even though this effect is reduced by
internal data compression (as used by the DeskJet, too), RAM expansion
cards will be useful.
Installation
If you own one disk drive only, you should use the InstallBoot-utility to
create a bootable TypoGrapher disk (otherwise startup would result in quite
a lot of diskchanges). If you want TypoGrapher on your HD, just drag the
TypoGrapher folder to your disk. Don't forget to set up your printer
('install' from TypoGrapher's tools-menu) if you run this program for the
first time.
About this manual
This manual consists of five parts: Part one introduces the SetFont
utility. Part two describes the Cartridge command. Part three is the main
reference section descibing the functions of TypoGra
pher (alphabetical order). Part four is a kind of workshop introducin g you
into TypoGrapher. The last section (appendix) provides you with additional
("low level") information about TypoGrapher. I would recommend to read
part 1 & 2 before having a look at the workshop (part 4). Some parts of the
reference section might be too difficult to understand for a novice user
without deeper knowledge of his/her printer.
S E T F O N T - U T I L I T Y
for DeskJet/LaserJet
SetFont is a little LaserJet/DeskJet utility designed to make softfont
handling more comfortable: usually softfonts a prepared for output by
sending the font files to the printer one by one, accompanied by some
administrative information (identification number, permanent/temporary
flags). SetFont does support font file compilation into 'cartridges'. 16
cartridges are available, so you can put up special cartridges for special
purposes or applications. Unfortunately, you can't use this program with
pinwriters for these printers usually don't support multiple
download.
How does SetFont work ?
The SetFont utility puts up a script file that does describe desired
cartridge contents (i.e. softfonts). The DOWNLOAD-command of Setfont will
read this list and transfer the necessary softfont files to the printer.
The script file (called cartridges.txt) is always kept in the S:-directory
of your system disk/partition. Once designed, you can use your "cartridges"
with the Cartridge-command directly from the shell, too. It shouldn't be
too difficult to write a script file providing automatic font download each
time you run your favorite text processing system.
How to use SetFont
1.
Run SetFont via shell or workbench. In the upper half of its window seven
'slots' are displayed, each of them capable of pointing to one softfont
file. So far, these slots are empty. Activate slot #1 by clicking at it
with the left mouse button.
2.
Select the "Add" gadget. A filerequester appears. Use RTSetFont instead of
SetFont if you want to use the file requester of Nico Francois'
reqtools-library (FD). Otherwise, SetFont's own requester is
used.
3.
Select a softfont file (have a look at the HP-FONTS directory, suffix is
.DJP). Click at "Add". The file is examined and - if found to be a soffont
file - stored into slot #1. Besides the font name the following attributes
are displayed:
- font size (points)
- font type (Laser=LSR, DeskJet=DJP)
- style attributes:
P = proportional U = upright F = fixed E = expanded
L = landscape I = italics B = bold C = compressed
After including a new softfont, memory calculation for the current
cartridge is updated. You have to consider that a 128K-cartridge won't
actually support a download of 128K due to the printer's internal memory
organization. Put the bigger font files in the first slots to have them
sent to the printer before the smaller ones. This will reduce memory
problems.
4.
Let's name the cartridge - its number (0) is displayed below the slots:
Click at the gadget next to the memory usage display and enter a name.
Don't forget to terminate your input by a <CR>. The cartridge's name is
used by the CARTRIDGE-command (see next chapter) .
5.
Use "+" or "-" to get access to the other cartridges. Fill them with
softfonts, too. The font files may be spread about different disks; Setfont
will remember their locations and ask for required disks during download.
6.
Select "Save" to save the results of your work. The configuration file
("cartridges.txt") is kept in your current 's:'-directory.
7.
Hit 'DOWNLOAD' to send the current cartridge to the printer (turn it ONLINE
before !). The "current" slot (marked by a bright frame) is considered to
be the default font: it will be used by the printer for output as long as
no printer reset or opposite font selection command occurs. Access to the
other fonts is provided by ESC-sequences (see last
chapter).
GADGETS
AddFont ............. fill activated slot with a new softfont
Remove .............. clear activated slot
CLR ................. clear all fonts of current cartridge
Save ................ safe configuration
Download ............ download current cartridge
Test ................ perform printer selftest
Reset ............... printer reset; clears all softfonts
Par/Ser ............. select printer interface: parallel or serial
Lace/Norm ........... toggle between interlace/non-interlace mode
4 linefeed keys ..... set default linefeed of cartridge
Stop ................ exit SetFont
Amiga DOS
The download of a font cartridge followed by a shell command as 'LIST df0:
TO PRT:' probably won't work as expected: your printer driver - when the
printer is accessed for the first time - tells the DeskJet to use a
standard font (hard-coded in the driver) und thus disables your softfonts.
Solution:
o print anything (e.g .ECHO >PRT: "")
o perform the download using SetFont
o print desired text
Original DeskJet
If you own the original DeskJet, the maximum font size understood by your
printer is 14 points. DeskJet plus/500 support a maximum of 30 points.
C A R T R I D G E
for DeskJet/LaserJet
The Cartridge command has been developed for easy softfont access from the
shell. It uses the information about cartridges put together by Setfont as
described above. You won't be able to use Cartridge as long as no
cartridges have been generated. This utility unfortunately can't be used
with pinwriters, too: those printers usually do not support multiple
download.
As mentioned above, Cartridge is a shell command that can not be used at
workbench level (exept via tools as AmiDock or Stefan Becker's
ToolManager). It is intended to be part of a startup sequence: Insert disk,
turn power on - done. The softfonts will be sent to the printer
automatically, your editor starts.
Syntax
CARTRIDGE [?] [CLR] [SET <name>,<name>, ...] [FROM <script>] [SER:] [LIST]
[USE <#>] [TEST]
? = explain syntax
<name> = name or number of cartridge to be downloaded
<script>= papth of the configuration file (cartridges.txt)
CLR = clear printer's RAM
SER: = use serial port (default is parallel port)
LIST = list cartridges
<#> = set default font
TEST = order printer selftest
SOME EXAMPLES ...
a) CARTRIDGE LIST
... displays a list of available cartridges and their contents. If no
cartridges have been put together (using SetFont), a 'script file not
found'-error occurs.
b) CARTRIDGE CLR
The printer's RAM is cleared. Note: Softfonts ususally are NOT cleared by a
reset. You don't have to use this command before a download beause the
softfonts in the printer's RAM simply will be overwritten by a second
download if same ID codes are used (see f). Nevertheless, it can be useful
to reduce memory fragmentation.
c) CARTRIDGE LIST FROM Df0:S/
... does have the same effect as CARTRIDGE LIST - execpt that the
configuration file (cartridges.txt) is looked for using the given path. You
are no longer limited to the s-directory of your boot disk.
d) CARTRIDGE SET LETTER
... downloads all fonts of a cartridge called "letter". You can access
cartridges by their numbers, too: 'CARTRIDGE SET 0'. The 'FROM'-Option (see
d) is available. The cartridge's default font (see SetFont section) is used
as default font by 'Cartridge', too.
e) CARTRIDGE SET MATHS FROM DH0:S/ USE 2
... transfers the softfonts of the MATHS-cartridge to the printer. Its
configuration is read from the file 'DH0:S/CARTRIDGES.TXT'. Slot #2 is
choosen to be the default font.
f) CARTRIGE CLR SET LETTER, HEADLINE SER:
... clears the printer's RAM before performing a download of the 'LETTER'-
& 'HEADLINE'-cartridges. The serial interface is used.
'Cartridge' does assign unique ID-numbers to the fonts during the download
process. These numbers can be used for softfont access (see ESC-section).
If you download one cartridge only, the slot number is used as ID-code,
too. However, if you perform a multiple download (example f), the ID-number
is set to cartridge*10+slot (e.g. '123' would refer to cartridge 12, slot
3). All ID-numbers are displayed during the download process.
T Y P O G R A P H E R
for DeskJet/24-Pinwriters
This is the reference section describing all functions of TypoGrapher
(alphabetical order). You should have read you printer's manual at least
once before.
INTRODUCTION
Start the program - after booting from your workbench or a bootable
TypoGrapher disk (created by the InstallBoot-program) - by clicking at its
icon. After a few seconds, the welcome-message should appear. Choose your
preferred language (English or German are available so far) and adjust
TypoGrapher to your hardware equipement: select the wrench-symbol. Finally,
we enter the main program with the start gadget.
User interface
The softfont editor is operated almost completely by the mouse. Many
operations will be performed at once, others evoke a 'Pop-up-menu' at the
current mouse position, offering a greater variety of options. If a
pop-up-menu appears, you don't have to keep any mousebutton pressed down.
Instead, the menu will disappear after selection of one of its items. Hit
at any point outside the menu if you want to cancel without
selection.
Overscan
You have probably already noticed that the screen display is bigger than
usual: the program uses overscan graphics (704*240 dots). Use
TypoGrapher's 'center'-function (section A6, install) to center the screen
display. You need an utility as PPREFS (FD) to get access to overscan areas
for your mouse if you dont't own OS2.04 with its overscan
capabilities.
This manual ...
In the following sections all functions are describred with the
reference-picture (see next page) in mind. A code as "L3.2" would refer to
the third key from the left in the second line of gadget group
L.
REFERENCE SHEET
(sorry, picture missing)
A . . . . . . . . . Pull down menus
B . . . . . . . . . clipboards #1 (left) and #2 (right)
C . . . . . . . . . magnify frame
D . . . . . . . . . design cell; use area between (E)
E . . . . . . . . . character paddings
F . . . . . . . . . underlines: positions and thickness
G . . . . . . . . . cursor (used for setting the magnify frame)
H . . . . . . . . . xHeight guide
I . . . . . . . . . baseline guide
J . . . . . . . . . design-cell dimensions display
K . . . . . . . . . paddings-display (E)
L . . . . . . . . . drawing commands (three levels)
M . . . . . . . . . i/o-functions (download, IFF-import/export)
N . . . . . . . . . drawing commands level switch
O . . . . . . . . . drawmode (draw / delete)
P . . . . . . . . . general displays (coordinates, status)
Q . . . . . . . . . symbol set display
R . . . . . . . . . drawing area (magnified)
S . . . . . . . . . 'store'-keys to store cell to character buffer
T . . . . . . . . . 'recall'-keys to load character to design cell
U . . . . . . . . . scroll keys
V . . . . . . . . . buffer overview gadget
W . . . . . . . . . screen depth gadget ('sleep'-gadget)
X . . . . . . . . . undo for (S)
Y . . . . . . . . . blackWidth overflow display (pinwriters only)
A1 - FILES MENU
LOAD FONT
Read a softfont file. The fonts of this package are placed in the
HP-FONTS-/24-FONT-directories; the suffix is either '.DJP' (DeskJet font),
'.LSR' (LaserJet font) or '.PRT' (pinwriter font). The font type is
recognized by TypoGrapher if the suffix is "wrong", too.
DeskJet:
Cell dimensions are set according to the font decriptor section of the
softfont file. Unfortunately, these values aren't set proberly sometimes.
Turn the <IGNORE DEFAULTS>-option <ON> if this happens to be the case;
ususally, this function should not be used.
Pinwriter:
TypoGrapher tries to determine the softfont's printing mode (e.g.
superscript) from the softfont by looking for approbiate ESC codes. If
these codes are missing, the default font of your current driver (see
appendix B) is used. You might want to choose an approbiate mode on your
own (see J).
If a font has been designed for a printer different from your own one, it
might be impossible to display it correctly (e.g. if its characters are to
wide).
SAVE FONT
The current font is saved according to your printer's format. Set up your
model with the install-option of TypoGrapher (A5). The suffix '.DJP'
respectively '.PRT' is appended to the font's name.
Write proptab
This command does create a table containing all characters' width; the
units are 1/300" if you use a DeskJet/LaserJet; otherwise, 1/360" are used.
The table can be used directly with the BeckerText-II text processing
program (a BT-II screenfont table is generated, too).
SAVE SETTINGS
TypoGrapher's settings (exept font) are saved.
BACKUP
The present configuration of TypoGrapher (font, iff-buffer, ...) is saved
to disk. Everything will be available automatically at your next session.
The backup is written to the SETTINGS-directory (split up in several
parts).
LOAD/DELETE BACKUP
Read/delete the backup.
DELETE FILE
Delete a file.
WORKBENCH ON/OFF
Turns the workbench on (if it's off) or off (if it's on). Turning the
workbench off will free some memory, but this is possible only if no
application (e.g. the CLI) is running on the workbench screen. The
workbench is turned on again automatically if you leave TypoGrapher.
EXIT / BACKUP & EXIT
Leaves TypoGrapher at once (Exit) respectively after performing a complete
backup (Backup & Exit).
A2 - INFO MENU
LICENCE
Some copyright remarks. If this is a registered version, your serial number
will appear. You'll have to send me your original disk with a valid serial
number if you want an update.
STATUS
After selecting this entry you get a short overview about basic system
parameters as RAM consumption, defined characters or the last error. While
'big' errors are handled using special requesters, minor ones just cause a
flashing of the error-light (P2.2). Choose 'status' to get a more detailed
report. Clicking directly at the error-light would have the same
effect.
A3 - ATTRIBUTES MENU
Besides the character data softfont files usually provide additional
information about the font. The 'Edit attributes' option gives you the
opportunity to set this "additional information":
DeskJet
If the DeskJet recieves a select-font command, it will have a look at the
list of fonts available at that moment and choose a font as close to your
demands as possible. It is therefore quite important to set font attributes
properly. At least all entries marked with '!' have to be set. A '*'
indicates that the DeskJet will ignore the entry (but your text system
maybe won't). The font attributes are:
TYPE Proportional and FixedWidth are available. Fonts of the latter type
result in printtouts with constant character spacing, whereas each
character of a proportional font may be of different width.
Symbol Set Character positions within a font are standardized - this entry
describes what kind of standard is used by your font (HP-ROMAN8
recommended). TypoGrapher uses this hint to adjust the inscription
of the character buffers (T). This option is purely descriptive -
it doesn't affect the font structure itself (you have to take care
of putting suitable patterns to the correct character buffers on
your own). Supplementary changes of a ready-made font should better
be done with the EDIT-command (A4, symbolset). WARNING: character
sets "24-..." are pinwriter-only !
X-PITCH This value affects the print pitch of fixed pitch fonts as well as
the width of SPACE (code 32) if your font is a proportional one.
DESIGN Spezifies the design height of your font in points. The printer
HEIGHT examines this entry if a character-height ESC sequence is recieved.
Use the ruler L5.1.2 to determine the point size: measure the distance
from the top of the tallest character (usually 'Ä') to the greatest
descender (usually 'g').
STYLE Upright, Italics or Slant are available (Slant is not recommended for
DeskJet fonts).
STROKE Describes the appeareance of a font as far as its blackness is
concerned
QUALITY Describes the quality of your font. 'Near letter quality' is
treated as 'Letter quality' internally.
NAME This text (max. 16 letters) is printed during the DeskJet's selftest.
HOLD TIME Delay factor, affects output speed. Slow printing sometimes
DELAY increases quality of output.
UNI- Fonts taller than 50 dots have to be printed in several passes due to
DIRECTIONAL the limited height of the printhead. If this is done bidirectionally,
print quality will degrade because upper halves probably won't match
the lower ones exactly. Switching to unidirectional will minimize
this problem.
COMPRESSED This entry signals the presence of 'compressed-flags'; these flags
are not supported so far.
FLAGS: EDV, Your DeskJet is able to generate these styles for any softfont
1/2 WIDTH automatically but you have to decide, wether corresponding demands
of text systems are ... answered at all.
BOLD The DeskJet offers two internal alorithms used for bold printing.
METHOD 'Dark bold' is recommended for big fonts.
FONT TYPE The entry describes quantity and arrangement of a font's characters.
7-bit-fonts and 8-bit-fonts are available. Not used by the DeskJet.
RESERVED All 'reseved' fields should be set to zero (= not used).
WIDTH TYPE Subjective description of average character width (eg. narrow,
wide, ...)
SLANT Slant of your font (sorry, no further information found so far)
SERIFE Spezifies the style of serifs. Serifes are the little 'hooks' at
STYLE characters.
PLACEMENT Description of character positions relative to baseline (superior,
normal, ...)
NOMINAL Enter your suggestion for the font's optimal horizontal motion
WIDTH index. Even though the field is ignored by the printer, your text
processing system might have a look at it.
NOMIAL LINE Enter your suggestion for the font's optimal vertical motion
SPACING index. Even though thie field is ignored by the printer, your text
processing system might use it.
EXTENDED Fine tuning of x-pitch (this entry is ignored by TypoGrapher as
HMI well as by DeskJet printers).
EXT. HEIGHT Fine tuning of design height (this entry is ignored by TypoGrapher/
your DeskJet)
FONT NUMBER This number is provided by Hewlett Packard. It is of no interest for
your own projects.
COPYRIGHT You may enter any text to be included into the softfont file
(ignored by the DeskJet).
Pinwriters
24-Pinwriters offer a great variety of printing modes (e.g. LQ,
proportional, EDV, superscript, ...), but they usually can hold only one
softfont (one style) in memory. The softfont's style depends on the
printer's settings during download: if the proportional mode is turned on,
your softfont becomes a proportional font, too. TypoGrapher does
incorporate all necessary ESC codes into your softfont files. Thus, a
proportional font would alread have a 'turn proportional on' command in its
header. Additionally, you can add further information to the softfonts
header using the attributes-requester. Please set entries to "IGNORE" if
you don't want them to become part of the softfont
header.
CHARACTER Character positions within a font are standardized - this entry
SET describes what kind of standard is used by your font. TypoGrapher uses
this hint to adjust the inscription of the character buffers (T). This
option is purely descriptive - it doesn't affect the font structure
itself (you have to take care of putting suitable patterns to the
correct character buffers on your own). Supplementary changes of a
ready-made font should better be done with the EDIT-command (2.2,
symbolset). WARNING: only character sets "24-..." can be used ! (the
other sets are DeskJet-only).
PRINTER Determines wether to add a printer reset code to the header of
RESET your softfont.
SLANT Set this entry to 'Italics' if you want italics printing directly
after download
COPY ROM If you order a copy of the ROM, undefined characters are printed
TO RAM using the character bitmaps stored in the printer's ROM. Otherwise,
undefined characters would result in blank printing. Some printers
offer several typefaces for a ROM copy. Just enter desired typeface
number.
LINEFEED This value is used for paper advance if LF's are encountered by
the printer.
DOUBLE Deterermines wether to add double-strike ESC codes to the softffont's
STRIKE header
DBLE WIDTH Enable this flag if you want double width printing directly after
download
WIDTH OF This important option decides about the handling of blanks (code
SPACE 32): 'ignore' will let the printer deal with this code on his own,
whereas 'full width' sets spacing to current design cell width. If
your font is a proportional one, you can choose other values, too
(e.g. 10 pixels). See section J for more details.
BOLD Enable this flag if you want bold printing after download.
A4 - EDIT MENU
Unlike the drawing commands (L), this menu doesn't effect the editor's
matrix but a variable number of character buffers. Set the desired range
using the 'range' command presented by most of the sub items of this menu.
Range selection can either be done by mouse or by using area-based commands
(mark area, clear marks etc.) . Selected characters are highlighted.
Undo
Only available if undo-buffer has not been turned off (default is on). You
can't undo UNDO !
Style
This function will generate new typefaces based on the current font. The
available effects (3-D, Shadow, Outline, Italics, ...) are the same as
described in the L-section (drawing commands) of this text - they even use
the same preferences settings (see L1.1.2).
Copy matrix
The contents of the editor's matrix ("design cell") are written to the
selected character buffers. Previous contents are overwritten (use UNDO to
recall them).
Mix matrix
Matrix contents are mixed to the selected character buffers. Pads are
adjusted if necessary. Quite useful to add accents to characters.
Range - duplicate
A selected range of buffers (e.g. 'A'-'Z') is copied to target buffer ff.
(e.g. 'a'-'z'). The target buffer has to be defined during range
selection.
Range - delete
Selected character buffers are cleared.
Range - move
Use this option to scroll characters within their buffers; the
L5.1.1/L1.1.2 settings (speed, pad handling) are considered by this
command, too.
Range - double width
Doubles the width of character buffer contents. You should adjust design
cell size before to keep the new size, too.
Range - to baseline
Positions characters on the baseline. Cell dimensions are considered. If it
is not possible to position a character on the baseline (e.g. if there is
not enough space), the character is moved as close to the baseline as
posssible. No parts of the character will be lost.
Symbol set
If you want to change the symbol set of a font (e.g. from German to USA),
you should use this function instead of just changing the symbol set
attribute (A3). Doing so ensures that the characters are actually moved
within the font if necessary (A3 attributes are purely descriptive). Do not
use pinwriter's symbol sets (24-....) with your DeskJet and vice versa !
Additionally, you can advice the program to preapare 'twin characters'
(e.g. copy 'a' to the 'ä'-buffer if the latter one has been empty so far).
Many pinwriters do offer limited download capacities only (e.g. 128
characters). This option might generate too many characters - have a check
with A2 (info).
Paddings
This option sets characters' paddings to new values. You can choose between
absolute changes (e.g. set three free collumns on the right side of each
character) or relative adjustments (e.g. add three blank collumns to the
right side of each character).
Optimize
Pinwriters as well as DeskJet printers can't print two horizontally aligned
dots - they can't fire their needles/drops fast enough (see section A5,
char access mode). If you own a DeskJet, you get 600 dpi positioning but
only 300 dpi printing (in graphics mode positioning and printing are both
300 dpi). If you own a pinwriter, positioning is done with 360 dpi but only
180 dpi are actually used for printing (LQ text mode). Usually, you design
your characters without worrying about these details. Just use the full
resolution. Ask TypoGrapher to remove superfluous dots afterwards: Either
set char access mode to "automatic thin out" (A5) or call the 'thin out'
function (A4). Unfortunately, character's right borders might look a little
bit distorted afterwards: eventually border dots had to be removed, too.
Borders might look toothed. The optimize-function will minimze this
problem: It looks for critical lines and removes points from the interior
of a character if necessary. The goal is to keep border points by
"sacrificing" less important points. If you own a DeskJet, you won't be
able to recognice missing dots from the character's interior, but right
borders will become much shaper. Note: The optimize-function has to be used
before (!) thin-out takes place; you can't improve ready-made fonts. I
would recommend to turn TypoGrapher's auto-thin-out option off during font
development. Design your font. Save your result as 'master font'.
Afterwards, ask TypoGrapher to reduce resolution to your printer's limits:
Optimize the font, then call 'thin-out" (A4). Finally, save it as
ready-to-use softfont.
Thin Out
Checks all character buffers for horizontally aligned dots (neither DeskJet
nor pinwriters support aligned dots) and removes superfluous dots if
necessary. See previous paragraphe for more details.
A5 - IMPORT MENU
LOAD AMIGA FONT
After choosing a amiga font file in the FONTS: directory (e.g
fonts/Times/52), select the characters you want to include : <select
characters>. You have to toggle <adjust-design-cell> on if you want the
design cell set to the amiga font's characteristics.
LOAD IFF PICTURE
As a matter of principle, the import functions do only accept med-res
pictures (640*200 respectively 640*256 for the PAL version of TypoGrapher)
with one bitplane. Letters have to be drawn with dark color on a bright
background. Pictures that have been generated by TypoGrapher's export
functions can be <import>ed (M2.1) automatically because the program
'knows' about characters' positions - this information is kept in barcodes
at the bottom of pictures; turn <snap-to-guides> off to ignore this
information.
GRAB SCREEN
You don't have to load IFF files from disk: just grab the screen of some
other application running at the same time.
SHOW BUFFER
TypoGrapher keeps IFF images in its internal "iff buffer". Use the option
to examine the buffer's current contents.
CLEAR BUFFER
This command does clear the IFF buffer; about 16K RAM are given back to the
free memory pool.
PREFERENCES ...
Use the preferences-requester to get a more detailed control about import
functions. See M2.1 for additional information.
A6 - OPTIONS MENU
Install
Use 'install' to configure TypoGrapher according to your hardware and
likings. Probably, the option 'center' will be of special importance to
you: it is used to center the overscan display without having to change the
settings of the monitor. If you don't own Kickstart 2.o with its overscan
capabilities, use a program as PPREFS (FD) to get access to overscan areas
for your mouse.
If you want to install your printer but no pinwriter file for your model is
available, have a look at appendix B. It shouldn't be too difficult to
write your own driver file. You might as well use one of the other
drivers. Usually, there are only minor differences between modern
24-pinwriters as far as font download is concerned. TypoGrapher has been
configured for DeskJet mode when it came to you. If you own a pinwriter,
you might want to use 24-compression (see A5). On the other hand,
HP-compression (same menu) should be turned off.
Pass heights (DeskJet only)
Characters taller than 50 dots have to be printed in several passes due to
the height of the printhead. You can set the height of each pass manually.
Hewlett Packard recommends the use of values evenly divisible by four. The
standard DeskJet does support only two passes !
Search widest
This function looks for the widest character present in your (proportional)
font.
AutoCenter
Turn AutoCenter off to enforce blank collumns storage of fixed pitch
characters. Doing so will help you achieving exentric printing of
characters within their design cell. See section (E) for more details.
Char access mode
Neither DekJet nor pinwriters do support horizontally aligned dots for the
printhead couldn't 'fire' fast enough. As a result, magnified softfonts
resemble a chess-board. Nevertheless, on the paper a homogeneous impression
arises. You can mask out all unnecessary dots already while developing the
font: Toggle the access mode to 'thin out before storage' - then all
unnecessary dots will be removed before storing the design cell contents to
a character buffer. If 'fill gaps while loading' is used, the resulting
chess-board-like patterns will be filled again if the character is recalled
from its buffer. If you use the options, characters might look slightly
different when you recall them to the editor's matrix. This is not a bug of
TypoGrapher but simply the consequence of converting from 600 dpi to 300
dpi (i.e. thin out) and vice versa. Since the 'optimize' function of
Typographer (A4) can't improve characters that have been converted to 300
dpi before, the use of 'thin out' respectively 'fill gaps' is not
recommended any more.
HP-compression
Usually, TypoGrapher internally uses a simple data compression algorithm
to reduce memory consumption (zero-byte compression as used by the DeskJet,
too). You schould turn off compression if you develop pinwriter fonts for
it is less effective for small characters. Note: you won't see any effect
at once after changing compression mode for this option affects only
store/recall operations but doesn't crunch/decrunch existing character
buffers.
24-compression (pinwriters only)
TypoGrapher offers you the possibilty to save a fixed width font more
efficiently (as if it were a proportional one). Some printers won't accept
this format - you therefore might want to disable this option.
B - CLIPBOARDS
Both clipboards are intended to be short-time storages for design cell
contents. Additionally, they support some effects as mixing of two
characters.
Files (B1, B7)
You can write clipboard contents to disk respectively load them from disk.
Some reay-made backgrounds are available. You will get nice effects if you
AND (B6) them with the design cell contents.
Store (B2, 8)
The design cell contents are written to the clipboard.
Swap (B3, B9)
Contents of clipboard and design cell are exchanged.
Fetch (B4, B10)
Clipboard contents are written to the design cell, overwriting its prior
contents.
MIX (B5, B11)
Clipboard contents are mixed to the design cell.
AND (B6, B12)
AND-function: Design cell contents and buffer contents are combined using a
logical AND function. The clipboard is supposed to keep a background
pattern. Use this function to get a combination of foreground (design cell)
and background (buffer). If you put a stripes-pattern to the clipboard
before, your character will look striped after performing this function.
C - Magnify Frame
This frame highlights the magnified section of the design cell. Locate it
with a simple mouseclick at desired location. The magnify is turned off, if
that point is out of design cell borders. The drawing command L1.1.3
provides another way to turn off magnify, thus shortening the response time
of operations as scrolling.
D - Design Cell
Setting the design cell size correctly is of great importance for font
development: It must be tall enough to accept the biggest character as well
as the greatest descender of your font. Design cell size is valid for all
characters of your font. It describes the possible size of characters but
not always the actual size: If you develop a proportional font, design cell
width is different from the characters' width - the width of a character
depends on its pad lines (E) settings. See E for more details. All
dimensions are set by clicking at the corresponding displays (H-K).
Pinwriter
The design cell height is either 24 dots (normal) or 16 dots
(sub/superscript). Limits for cell width depend on choosen printing mode
(e.g. proportional); the mode is set by <J>.
DeskJet
You can set design cell size to any value within the printer's limits (max.
255*125 dots). Nevertheless, Hewlett Packard recommends to use even cell
width values only. Design cell dimensions do affect neither linefeed nor
the print pitch (horizontal motion index) directly. The linefeed value has
to be set after download; it is not part of a softfont. The x pitch value
is set either by the X-PITCH field of the attributes-menu for all
characters (fixed pitch fonts) or for each character separately
(proportional font, see E).
Design cell structure
(sorry, picture missing)
1 . . . . . . . . matrix width = max. character width
2 . . . . . . . . matrix height = max. character height
3 . . . . . . . . actual character width (= proportional pitch)
4 . . . . . . . . pad-lines, used to set the character width
5 . . . . . . . . underscore area (e.g. the hook off this 'g')
6 . . . . . . . . most characters are placed here
7 . . . . . . . . guide for lowercase letters, called 'xHeight'-line
8 . . . . . . . . baseline - the font's characters should 'stand' on it.
E - PADDINGS
A printer ususally differentiates between fixed width fonts on the one side
and proportional fonts on the other
side:
PROPORTIONAL
DeskJet
Proportionaly characters may be of different width. X-pitch (the distance
between two characters) used by the printer and character width as
displayed by TypoGrapher are identical. The pad-lines are used to set the
width; use (K) to change their position. Note: You shouldn't use odd width
values (e.g. 33 1/600") for text processiong systems ususally expect
multiples of 1/300" only. The maximum width of a character is the design
cell width (paddings set to 0) as set by (J). Don't forget that the only
way to influence intercharacter spacing (i.e. the empty space between two
characters) of a proportional font is to include blank collumns to the
right or left side of a character by adjustimng the positions of the pad
lines. However, the width of the SPACE character (ASCII-code 32) is set by
the pitch-field of the attributes-menu.
Pinwriter
Proportional characters may be of different width. The width is set by the
pad lines (E). The maximum width of a character is the width of the design
cell (J) (i.e. paddings set to zero). However, many pinwriters limit the
"black width" of a proportional character: The black width is the distance
from the leftmost (black) dot of a character to the rightmost (black) dot
of this character. Usually, the black width is slightly below the full
width of a character due to blank collumns on the left/rigt side of a
character. The maximum black width value depends on your printer. Usually,
it is a few dots (e.g. 3-4) less than the maximum with of current printing
mode. TypoGrapher will give you a warning if your character is too wide -
see (Y).
FIXED WIDTH
DeskJet
Fixed pitch fonts a printed with constant character spacing. Use the
attributes menu to set the spacing (x-pitch). The x-pitch value describes
the distance between the middle axis of two adjacent characters, i.e. the
printer doesn't care about the position (left, right, middle) of a
character within the design cell. It does "center" the characters
internally before output to ensure constant spacing. If the x-pitch is set
to a value less than design cell width, characters will overlap. Usually,
only black parts of a character are considered for centering. Turn
AutoCenter (A6, options menu) off if you want to have the full width of a
character (section 3 of the design cell; see picture D) considered. If you
turn AutoCenter off, pad lines will become available to set the width of a
character. If you add more blank columns to the right of a character than
to its left side (or vice versa), the black parts of your letter are
printed eccentric related to imaginary middle axes with x-pitch
spacing.
Pinwriter
Fixed pitch fonts are printed with constant character spacing. Spacing is
design cell width (set by D) plus empty columns at the left/right side of
each character (set by D as well). If you turn AutoCenter (A6) on, the
position of a character within design cell is not considered by
TypoGrapher. Instead, characters are centered before output (i.e. the
character's middle axis appear to be spaced with constant distance).
F - UNDERLINES
(for DeskJet only)
You have to tell the printer about the position and thickness of
underlines, if you want him to correctly perform an underline command
recieved from a text system. Single and double underlines are available -
both of them are set via (J). Only the bottom 12 lines of the bottom pass
(see A3.1) are available for underlining. The maximum underline height is
12 dots.
G - CURSOR
After approaching the design cell with your mouse, a frame will appear.
Click at any position within design cell to set the magnified area (R) of
the design cell. Click at any point outside the design cell to turn
magnify off. If you turn the magnify off, some operations (e.g. scrolling)
will beome faster und thus more comfortable (you might want to have it the
other way, too, if you own a fast 68030 CPU).
H - x HEIGHT
This is a guideline, helpful for developing lowercase letters: lowercase
letters should fit in between baseline and the xHeight guide. Select the
xHeight display to position this guide. The xHeight value is part of any
DeskJet/LaserJet font but not supported by pinwriter fonts: if you load a
pinwriter font, the xHeight line has to be set manually (if you want to use
it at all).
I - BASELINE
DeskJet
The baseline is very important for font development. All characters of a
font should 'stand' on it to enable correct printing of different fonts
within one line. Select the display (displays the distance between top of
design cell to baseline) to edit baseline position. Baseline positioning of
characters is supported by the Edit-Menu (A4, Range, ... to
baseline).
Pinwriter
The baseline guide should make font development more easy. You don't have
to use it. Ususally, all characters of a font should "stand" on the
baseline. Select the baseline display to set baseline position. Basline
positioning of characters is supported by the Edit-Menu (A4, Range
toBaseline).
J - DESIGN CELL
Select this gadget to set design cell's dimensions. TypoGrapher ensures
that all values are within your printer's limits. Sometimes, limits are
resticted by your printer's manufacturer, so it won't always be possible to
transform your conceptions completely.
Set underlines (DeskJet only)
This option is available in DeskJet mode only. It offers you the
possibility to set positions and thickness of both, single and double
underlines (see F). Only the bottom twelve lines of the bottom pass are
accessible for underlines, so the maximum thickness is 12 dots.
Design cell dimensions
DeskJet
Basic characteristics of the design cell (e.g. width, height) are available
for adjustment. Some presets can be kept in memory by using one of the
preset buffers. Just select the storage-arrow followed by one of the
buffers to store the current settings. The 4th preset buffer will
automatically be set to a font's characteristics after loading it, so do
better not use it for your own purposes. If your design cell height is
beyond 50 dots (the height of the printhead), you should have a look at the
pass heights afterwards (A6, options menu). Please do not set the cell
width to odd values of 1/600"for text processing systems usually expect the
character width to be a multiple of 1/300".
Pinwriters
Pinwriters offer a great variety of possible printing modes (e.g.
subscript, proportional, fixed width, ...). The requester connected to this
gadget is used to switch between available modes. Each mode has its own
characteristics as far as design cell dimensions are concerned. You should
decide for a mode before attempting to develop a font. It is possible to
change the mode at any time but due to design cell size changes this might
result in a loss of data. A few printers limit the sum of cell width &
left/right padding to a fixed value; check your printer's manual (download
section). The limitations for your current printing mode as well as the
number of printing modes are read from the pinwwriter driver file set up by
the install-printer command (A6, options menu).
K - PAD LINES
The pad lines are used to set the width of a character independently from
the width of the design cell. If you develop a fixed pitch font, all
chacaters are of same width, so no pad lines are used. This gadget tells
you about the distance of pad lines from left respectively right borders of
the design cell. If distance is zero, no pad lines are drawn.
DeskJet
If you develop a fixed pitch fonts but turn AutoCenter off, pad lines are
used even so characters are of same width as far as printing is concerned:
Pad lines are used to affect the position of a chacater's black parts
within the (fixed) space reserved for it by the printer. See E for more
details.
L - DRAWING COMMANDS
I would suggest to use the export functions of TypoGrapher and perform
major drawing tasks with external programs as DPaint (see M2.1,
Import/Export). However, TypoGrapher itself offers drawing facilities, too,
and some are quite useful for font development (e.g. effects as 3D or
outline). The drawing commands do effect design cell contents only. If you
want to edit a character of a font, recall it from its character buffer
first (T). After drawing is done, write the modified character back to its
buffer (S). Check the Edit-menu (A4) if you want to affect more than one
character simulanously. Working area for all L-drawing functions is the
magnified area (R), the drawing commands are gathered as function group
(L), available on different command levels, thus providing access to more
than 40 functions. Use (N) to toggle between the three levels. Here are the
available commands; the third index indicates the command level:
Drawing functions of level #1:
1.1.1 scroll up
2.1.1 scroll down
3.1.1 scroll left
4.1.1 scroll right
5.1.1 scroll distance ("speed") used by 1.1.1 - 4.1.1
1.2.1 undo last drawing operation
2.2.1 line - use drawMode (O) to select color
3.2.1 toggle drawmode to 'set points'
4.2.1 clear matrix
5.2.1 remove paddings, i.e. set paddings to zero
1.3.1 draw box
2.3.1 draw filled box
3.3.1 draw ellipse
4.3.1 draw filled ellipse
5.3.1 toggle command level
Drawing functions of level #2:
1.1.2 effect preferences (e.g. slant of the italics effect 3.2.2)
2.1.2 shadow-effekt; use 1.1.3 to set patttern, 1.1.2 to set shadow's pos.
3.1.2 bold-effect (use 1.1.2 to set desired stroke)
4.1.2 print matrix
5.1.2 ruler - measures the distance between dots
1.2.2 undo last drawing command
2.2.2 outline-effect; use 1.1.2 to set thickness of lines
3.2.2 italics-effect; use 1.1.2 to set slant
4.2.2 fill gaps introduced by 5.2.2 (every dot is doubled)
5.2.2 thin out (see A4, Edit menu - thin out)
1.3.2 (not used)
2.3.2 reverse: black dots are cleared, background dots are set
3.3.2 3-D-effect
4.3.2 optimize character (see A4, Edit menu - optimize)
5.3.2 toggle command level
Drawing functions of level #3:
1.1.3 turn magnify off
2.1.3 perform design check (report is written to RAM-disk)
3.1.3 mirror (x)
4.1.3 double width (adjust design cell size before)
5.1.3 set pads to minimum (i.e. no blank columns on right/left side of
character); see 5.2.1
1.2.3 undo last drawing command
2.2.3 cut single char from IFF buffer (see M2.1, Import, pick single
char)
3.2.3 mirror (y)
4.2.3 remove line from design cell without leaving a gap
5.2.3 insert line (hit at any line; line ismdoubled)
1.3.3 pattern preferences for 2.3.3 (fill), 5.3.3 (texture mapping),
2.3.3 fill area with pattern set by 1.3.3
3.3.3 texture mapping: black parts of your character are filled with
pattern set by 1.3.3
4.3.3 position char on baseline (i.e. scroll matrix contents)
5.3.3 toggle command level
Most of the effect commands (e.g. italics) are quite flexible. Use 1.1.2
(preferences) to adjust settings to your needs (e.g. slant used by the
italics-effect). The preferences command affects the way paddings are
handled, too: some commands might enlarge characters. For example, a
character's width usually is increased by a few dots if you use the italics
effect. You have to decide, wether pad lines (and thus character's width)
are adjusted: if you choose 'adjust paddings', your character will have as
many blank columns on his left/right side after a drawing command as it had
before it. If you disable 'adjust paddings', the width won't get adjusted;
parts of your character are lost if it is enlarged by a drawing command.
Finally, you have to decide about the way the pseudo-600/360 dpi-resolution
of DeskJet/pinwriters is treated (see A4, Edit menu, optimize/thin-out):
Some commands (e.g. filling operations) enforce the filling of the gaps
introduced by thin-out: your character turns solid. Using
<automatic-thin-out> will restore the typical chess board like appearance
after performing a command. Besides these settings, you can enforce a
thin-out (i.e. the removal of the second, unnecessary of two aligned dots)
by function 5.2.2 (thin out) at any time. The fill-gaps-command 4.2.2 just
works vice versa - it provides you with an impression of the final printing
result. Please do never use any thin-out/fill-gaps function if you intend
to use TypoGrapher's optimize-capabilities (see A4, Edit menu, optimize) !
M1.1 - DOWNLOAD
Your font is sent to the printer. The font's attributes (A3, Attributes
menu) are considered. If you own a DeskJet (capable of multiple download),
the font is addressed as softfont #0. After download, the font is available
for output. Use TypoGrapher's built-in printer menu (M3.1) to order a
sample printout. Warning: Accessing a softfont from shell level (e.g. COPY
XYZ TO PRT:) might cause problems: the printer device (PRT:) switches to a
hard-coded default font if it is accessed for the first time and thus
disables your softfont. Additionally, national characters (e.g. "ä")
usually result in a font-select ESC-sequence switching the printer back to
its ROM fonts. Use the 'softfont' command of M3.3 (printer menu) to
reactivate a softfont that has been disabled by other applications without
having to download it once again. Persomnally, I wouldn't recommend the use
of softfonts from shell level - adust your text processing system instead
to use softfonts. See 'How to use softfonts with editors' (workshop
section) for more information.
M2.1 - IMPORT / EXPORT
The import/export functions offer you the opportunity to exchange data
between TypoGrapher, drawing tools, graphic applications and Amiga fonts
(bitmap fonts). Edit your fonts with a powerful program as DPaint, or just
use a handy scanner. Use TypoGrapher to turn data into DeskJet/pinwriter
softfont files.
Read Amiga font
This command is used to read standard Amiga fonts (have a look at the
workshop if you want to import CG outline fonts of OS2.0). You don't have
to read a complete font; it is possible to import only a limited number of
characters. Use 'select range' to decide about the characters you want to
import. You can import any font from any directory. All you have to to is
to select a font data file. Usually fonts are kept in the FONTS directory
of your boot disk. Fonts (e.g. Topaz) consist of several parts: a font file
(e.g. topaz.font) and a corresponding directory containing data files for
each size (e.g. topaz/8). The name of the data file tells you about the
font's height; units are dots. You have to select these data files if you
want to import a font, not the font-file ! TypoGrapher is able to read
design cell dimensions (e.g. cell size, baseline position) directly from
the font. Enable 'adjust design cell' if you wan't to use this feature.
Otherwise, design cell dimensions won't be affected be font import.
IMPORT IFF
As a matter of principle, the import functions do accept med-res pictures
only with one bitplane (i.e. monochrome). The resolution has to be 640*200
(NTSC version) respectively 640*256 if you own a PAL version of
TypoGrapher. Characters have to be drawn with dark color on a bright
background. You can either load IFF-files from disk ('load iff') or copy
other applications' screens ('grab screen'). You can grab med-res screens
only. If you want to grab from DPaint (running as further task), set its
screen format to 640*200 (PAL: 640*256), 2 colors. However, you can set
DPaint's page size to any value (e.g. 1024*1024) and thus import (grab)
from big pictures/scans, too. Every IFF import - wether you load from disk
or grab screens) is written to TypoGrapher's IFF buffer. The IFF buffers
contents are available as long as TypoGrapher is running. They are even
kept for your next session by the 'backup' command (A1, Files menu).
However, every import/export is done via the IFF buffer, so previous import
buffer contents are lost if you perform a font export. If you don't need
the buffer any more, free its memory by the 'free buffer' option of the
import-menu. Pictures that have been generated by TypoGrapher's export
function are imported automatically (i.e. you don't have to pick single
chars) because the program 'knows' about characters' positions - this
information is kept in barcodes at the bottom of pictures. Turn
<snap-to-guides> off to ignore this information.
Load IFF
Load IFF picture to TypoGrapher's IFF buffer. Only monochrome med-res
pictures (640*200/256) are accepted. The characters have to be drawn with
bright colors on dark background. If you want to import from bigger
pictures, the use of the grab-screen command (see below) is recommended.
Grab screen
Copy other application's screen to TypoGrapher's IFF buffer. You can grab
from monochrome med-res screens (640*200/256) only. Fortunately, many
graphic applications (e.g. DPaint) support a large page buffer independet
from screen size. Thus, you can grab from a large black & white picture,
too: just set DPaint's "viewport" before you grab its screen. See
AutoUpdate, too.
View
Display TypoGrapher's IFF buffer (if used at all).
Import
Read all characters directly from IFF buffer to the character buffers (T).
You can use this function after import of IFF files that have been exported
by TypoGrapher before. TypoGrapher "knows" about the positions of the
characters within its own files by examining the "barcodes" kept at the
bottom of the pictures. If you enable 'adjust cellsize', design cell
dimensions are set according to barcode information, too. Otherwise,
current design cell dimensions are used (might result in loss of data). If
you want to design a new font using Dpaint, export empty frames before.
Call TypoGrapher's 'import' facilities to read in the your DPaint results
later. The 'import' function writes to character buffers directly and
therefore depends on char-access-mode settings (A6, Options menu), too. I
would recommend to turn auto-thin-out/fill gaps off. Otherwise, characters
will look slightly different (toothed) if you recall them to the editor's
matrix. See A4 (Edit menu, optimize) for more details.
Pick single
Pick a single char from the IFF buffer and copy it to the matrix. This
function performs the same task as the L2.2.3 drawing function (the latter
one provides faster access). If the IFF buffer contains barcode information
(see Import), the pick-cursor can be positioned on characters only. Disable
'snap to guides' if you want to ignore barcode information (i.e. move your
cursor without restrictions). If you enable 'adjust cellsize', cell
dimensions are set according to barcode information, too. Otherwise,
current cell size dimensions are used.
Clear
Clear the IFF buffer. Free its memory (about 32K).
Adjust cellsize
Enable this option if you want TypoGrapher to set design cell dimensions
acoording to barcode information (see 'load IFF') when performing automatic
import / cutting a single character from the IFF buffer.
Snap to guides
Enable this option if you want to use barcode information (see 'Load IFF')
for easy positioning of the 'pick-char' cursor.
AutoUpdate
TypoGrapher doesn't grab directly from other applications' screens but uses
its IFF buffer instead. Enable the 'AutoUpdate' option if you want a buffer
update every time TypoGrapher's screen is moved to the front. This facility
is quite useful to get a 'fresh' snapshot of the other application (e.g.
DPaint) after having spent some time there (e.g. after having changed
Dpaint's viewport position when working on large pictures).
EXPORT IFF
"Export IFF" does copy a variable set of characters into one or more IFF
files, ready to be used with DPaint or other drawing tools. Use 'set range'
to select the characters you want to export. The number of required IFF
files depends on size/number of characters; it is displayed when
TypoGrapher asks you for the export file's name. If more than one file is
generated, TypoGrapher adds extensions as '_#001', '_#002', ... to your
file name. The characters are kept in (labeled) frames of design cell size.
Unused character buffers result in empty frames. The barcodes at the bottom
of the picutures mustn't be destroyed if you want to use automatic import
later (see Import IFF / Load IFF). Last but not least, you should put the
"right" characters to the "right"frames only (i.e. don't put a 'B' to a
frame labeled as 'A').
M3.3 - PRINTER COMMANDS
1.1 activate softfont 1.2 letter quality 1.3 bold
2.1 form feed 2.2 draft 2.3 17 cpi
3.1 printer self test 3.2 italics 3.3 06 lpi
4.1 print sample 4.2 proportional 4.3 08 lpi
5.1 printer reset 5.2 5 cpi 5.3 10 lpi
This menu imitates a printer's keypad, i.e. using a function as 2.1
(formfeed) would have the same effect as pressing the printer's formfeed
key. You can use this menu to set different printing modes after having
performed a download: Set a style, order a sample printout (4.1) of your
softfont and check the font's appearance. Additionally, the 'activate
softfont' function (1.1) of this menu is used to reactivate a soffont that
has been disabled inbetween (e.g. by a printer reset). Unfortunately,
pinwriter softfonts often don't survive a reset, so this function might be
useless for some models. Perform a new download instead (M1.1). The sample
text used by 'print sample' (4.1) is
'TypoGrapher/environment/testfile.txt'. It is very strongly recommended to
adjust this (ASCII-) text to your needs
N - COMMAND LEVELS
This key toggles the command levels of drawing functions (L). Three command
leversl are available, thus providing access to about 40 drawing
functions.
O - DRAWMODE
Some drawing functions (e.g. lines, frames or circles) do support two draw
modes - write or delete:
O1.1 - Normal drawmode (toggle)
Selected points are toggled. If you keep the button pressed whilemoving the
mouse, the first point determines the color: if it has been black, it turns
white and vice versa.
O2.1 - delete
All drawing functions use background color.
P - STATUS
X/Y position display (P1.1, P2.1)
Indicates (absolute) cursor position within design cell. The top left
corner dot is (1,1).
Busy-display (1.2)
If the busy-light is on, TypoGrapher won't accept further inputs. If you
have to expect a longer absence period, the mouse pointer turns into a busy
pointer, too. Aditionally, the busy light provides access to a 'hidden'
screen update function. Hopefully, you should never need it - its only
purpose is to redraw the complete display. I wanted to have it quick; it
consumes quite a lot of memory for a background buffer.
Error display (P2.2)
Minor errors just cause a flashing of the error light instead of big error
messages. However, you may ask for more details by choosing 'Status' from
the Info menu (A2) or by hitting directly at the error display (P2.2).
Q - SYMBOL SET DISPLAY
The symbol set entry (A3, Attributes menu) defines the relationship between
the character buffers (T) and their contents (i.e. what character should be
put to buffer No. xy). It determines the inscription of the character
buffers. Most symbol sets (e.g. ECMA LATIN standard) do not use all buffers
- TypoGrapher marks 'unused' buffers by numbers (three digits). Somy symbol
sets (e.g. chinese are not yet supported, causing a fallback to numbers,
too. You can use 'unused' buffers, too, but text processing systems won't
use them unless you explicitely tell them to do so (i.e. write your own
driver files).
By numbers
You can enforce the use of numbers for inscription of all buffers by this
command.
Use default set
Use font's symbol set (A3, Attributes-menu) for inscription of character
buffers (T).
R - Drawing area
This is the magnified area of the design cell marked by the magnify frame.
Only points within design cell limits and between pad lines (E) are
accessible. You have to set the magnify frame (see G) before drawing
becomes possible. You can relocate magnify during drawing operations (e.g.
set the first point of a line, relocate magnifies area, set second
point).
S - Storage key
After selection of a character buffer's arrow symbol, the design cell
contents are written to that buffer (T). You can undo this operation (X),
but you can't undo the UNDO. If design cell is empty, the buffer is
cleared. This function is influenced by the char-access-mode settings (A6,
Options menu): if 'thin out before storage' is enabled, "superefluous" dots
(i.e. horizontally aligned dots) are removed before the character is
written to the buffer. See 'Char access mode' (A6, Options menu) for more
details. The use of TypoGrapher's thin-out option is recommended for novice
users only for it prevents you from using the 'Optimize' function (A4, Edit
menu).
T - Character buffers
The character buffers (T) contain all the characters of your font. Filled
ones are highlighted. The inscription corresponds to the symbol set
selection (A3, Attributes menu, symbol set). Most symbol sets don't require
the use of all buffers - 'unnecessary' positions are marked by numbers
instead of inscription (see Q for more details). To load a buffer's
contents into the design cell, just click at it. This recall operation is
influenced by the char-access-mode settings (A6, Options menu): if 'fill
gaps while loading' is enabled, any gaps introduced by TypoGrapher's
thin-out functions during storage (see previous paragraphe) are filled. The
character looks solid. (otherwise, it would resemble a chess board). Gaps
are filled by doubling each point. A character might look slightly
different after a thin-out/fill-gaps loop: thin-out means loss of data; it
is impossible to restore the original completely. Don't forget that your
printer actually requires a thin-out, it doesn't need/want 'solid'
characters. However, solid characters are more convenient to edit. Ask
TypoGrapher to care about these details (enable the auto-functions: A6,
Options, char-access-menu) or decide to do things on your own (see A4, Edit
menu, optimize). Doing things on your own will yield better fonts.
U - Display management
Use these arraows to scroll the character buffer display. However, buffer
access by buffer overview (V) ususally is faster.
V - Buffer overview
All character buffers are presented as a table, giving you an idea about
what characters have been defined already (white) and how many still are
"missing" (black). The inscriptions depend on the font's symbol set (A3,
Attributes menu) and display settings (Q). Click at a buffer to recall it
to the design cell. Have a look at section T (Character buffers) for more
information about recall-operations.
W - Screen depth gadget
If you hit at this gadget, the TypoGrapher screen is sent to the background
and the program is set to the idle mode, consuming almost no cpu time.
TypoGrapher is reactivated by clicking at any point of its screen after you
got it back to the front (you can't use the program's menus in idle mode).
If the IFF buffer is used (and AutoUpdate has been enabled), a grab-screen
operation is performed when you bring TypoGrapher's screen to the front.
See M2.1 (Import) for more details.
X - Undo storage
This command does undo the last store-operation (S). The original state of
the affected character buffer (T) is reconstructed. You can't undo a
UNDO.
Y - BlackWidth overflow display (Pinwriters only)
The "black width" of a character is the distance from its leftmost (black)
dot to its rightmost (black) dot. Ususally it is below its "real" width due
to blank columns at both sides of a character. Many pinwriters limit the
black width of proportional characters (e.g. maximum black width might be
cell width - 4). This display gives you a warning if your character grows
too wide. Please adjust its width as soon as possible (otherwise
TypoGrapher will do this job).
Appendix A: ESC - Sequences
DeskJet / (LaserJet)
The DeskJet/LaserJet does support font selection by attributes as well as
by font ID codes. If you want to use selection by font ID codes, send a
softfont's ID code to the printer to set it for output. Font ID codes have
to be assigned to a font before download. Usually, this is done by
utilities as SetFont or Cartridge anyway, so you don't have to care about
it. Have a look at the description of these programs if you want to know
what ID codes are used. The ESC sequence to set a softfont by its ID code
(#) is:
Select primary ID: 027 040 # 088
The font's ID code (#) has to be provided as ASCII-String. For example, the
following ESC sequence would tell the printer to use softfont No. 7 (the
ASCII-Code of seven is 55):
Select font No. 87: 027 040 055 088
If your editor doesn't support softfont selection directly, you have to
adjust its drivers (if possible). For example, if you are using Beckertext
I, the following modification of the program's printer driver file (ASCII
translation table; left side: screen code, right side: corresponding
printer code) should work:
[ 27,40
] 88
^ 27,40,51,64
After this little change, an expression as '[2]' within any text wouldn't
be printed as text but switch to softfont #2, whereas a '^' would
reactivate the default font.
Font selection by ID codes is quite inflexible: You always have to ensure
that the "right" codes are used by your printer, your download utilities
and - last but not least - your text processing system. Additionally, you
probably have to adjust printer driver files to access the font at all.
Fortunately, HP printers provide a further, much more powerful possibilty
for font access: font selection by attributes. Your text system "descibes"
the font it wants by sending approbiate ESC sequences (e.g. selecting
attributes as italics, size or quality). After recieving these commands,
the DeskJet has a look at its list of currently available fonts (internal
fonts, soft fonts, font cartridges) and selects the best match. Of cource
the printer has to know about any font's characteristics for correct
decision. As far as softfonts are concerned, it it your task to provide
correct information by setting the font's attributes (see A3, Attributes
menu of TypoGrapher). Some requests (e.g. size) are considered to bee more
important than others (e.g. quality) by the printer, so if there is no 100%
match, the DeskJet is able to decide for the (hopefully) better solution.
The priority of characteristics is:
1. orientation 5. design height
2. symbol set 6. style (italics or upright)
3. fixed or proportional ? 7. stroke weight
4. x-pitch (HMI) 8. typeface
As long as your text processing system is able to generate ESC codes for
these attributes, you don't need any special printer driver; exept font
download, everything will work automatically. Unfortunately, most Amiga
text processing systems do not support the 'typeface' ESC code required for
font selection. You might therefore have to patch the driver. I would
recommend to use BeckerText-II because of its flexible font support; see
'How to use softfonts with editors' for a step-by-step introduction to
softfont access using this program. If you want formatted printing of
proportional fonts, your text system has to know about every character's
width. Use TypoGrapher's 'write proptab' option (A1, Files menu) to get a
width table (BT-II format).
Pinwriters
After having sent the softfont file to the printer (e.g. by a shell command
as 'COPY 24-FONTS/FINE TO PAR:' , the font is controlled by the following
ESC sequences:
turn it on: 27 37 1
turn it off: 27 37 0
You have to incorporate these codes into your text processing system's
printer driver files if softfont selection is not supported alredy. For
example, if you own BeckerText I/II or TextPlus, the following modification
of its driver file (ASCII translation table; left side: screen code, right
side: corresponding printer code) should work:
[ 27, 37, 1
] 27, 37, 0
After this change, an expression as '[' within any text wouldn't be printed
as text but switch to the softfont, whereas ']' would disable the softfont.
Some pinwriters do not support 'permanent' softfonts (i.e. the softfont is
lost if a printer reset occurs). You than have to remove the reset-code
(27, 64) from the printer driver file.
Appendix B - HP Typefaces
Amelia 058 HP-GL Spline 049
Baskerville 039 ITC AvntGardeGothic 031
Bauer Bodoni 022 ITC Bengeriat 062
Blippo 033 ITC Bookman 047
Bodoni 053 ITC Cheltenham 063
Broadway 021 ITC Clearface 057
Brush 032 ITC Gaillard 030
Caslon 009 ITC Garamond 018
Century Expanded 064 ITC ITC Garamond cond. 040
Century Schoolbook 023 ITC Korinna 027
CG Times 4101 ITC Souvenir 016
Clarendon 044 ITC Tiffany 056
Coister Black 029 ITC Zapf Chancery 043
Cooper 046 ITC Zapf Dingbats 045
Cooper Black 019 Letter Gothic 006
Courier 003 Line Printer 000
Dom Casual 061 Melior 055
Elite 002 Naskh 028
Franklin Expressed 066 Old English 147
Franklin ExtraCond 067 Optima 017
Franklin Gothic 065 Orator 010
Futura 014 Palatino 015
Futura Book 136 Park Avenue 059
Futura Condensed 026 Peignot 038
Futura Light 146 Pica 001
Gil Sans 051 Plantin 068
Goudy Old Style 042 Presentation 011
Handel Gothic 060 Prestige 008
Helevetica Outline 025 Ribbon (Coronet) 020
Helv Compressed 036 Rockwell 054
Helv Extra Compr. 037 Script 007
Helvetica 004 Serifa 013
Helvetica Condensed 012 Stick 048
Helvetica Light 148 Times Roman 005
Hobo 034 Trade Gothic 041
HP-GL Drafting 050 Trump Mediaevel 069
Univers 052
University Roman 024
Windsor 035
Appendix C - pinwriter driver files
This is an explanation of TypoGrapher's 24-pinwriter driver files. These
files contain information about available printing modes/limitations of
your model. Use any ASCII editor to edit/customize these files. You need a
detailed description of your printer's capabilities; usually, the
'download' section of your owner's manual should provide all the
information wee need. The driver files are kept in the 'TypoGrapher/prt/'
directory. The format is:
line 1: identification string ('&&&')
line 2: number of supported download characters (ususally 128)
line 3: reserved; set to '0'
line 4: number of printing modes (see line 7 ff.)
line 5: number of default mode (set to any mode: 1,2, ...)
line 6: empty line
line 7: description of first printing mode
line 8: description of second printing mode
line 9: ...
Each printing mode (line 7 ff.) is described by one line. These lines
describe the mode's characteristics. The number of modes depends on your
printer. For example, if proportional printing, sub/superscript printing
and printing quality are available as independend attributes, at least 4
combinations (modes) are available: proportional-LQ-superscript,
proportional-LQ-subscript, ...
The structure of mode description is:
column 1-24 name of mode (whatever you like, 24 letters)
column 26-28 character height (either 24 or 16)
column 30-32 max. blackWidth value (see Y)
column 33-36 max. width (blackWidth + borders)
column 38-40 proportional flag
column 42-44 fixed-width flag
column 46-48 NLQ flag
column 50-52 DRAFT flag
column 54-56 subscript flag
column 58-60 superscript flag
column 62-64 condensed flag
column 66-68 Pica flag
column 70-72 Elite flag
Please do always use three digits for numbers (pad with 0, e.g. 024 instead
of 24). Flags (e.g. the NLQ flag) accept three values:
000 not used
001 unknown (use not recommended).
002 used
Set a flag to 'used' if it essential for your printing mode. For example,
if your line describes the 'proportional superscript letter quality'
printing mode, set the 'LQ'-flag, 'proportional'-flag and
'superscript'-flag to "002" but all other flags to "000". You mustn't
introduce contradictions (e.g. dont't set LQ flag and Draft flag
simultanously to "002"). Example line:
Fixed, LQ (Elite) 024 023 030 000 002 002 000 000 000 000 000 002
o the mode's name is "Fixed, LQ (Elite)"
o the font height is 24 dots
o max. black width is 23 dots
o max. characters' width (black width + borders) is 30 dots
o this mode isn't a proportional one (000)
o this mode uses fixed spacing (002)
o this mode uses (N)LQ: the LQ flag is set (002)
o this mode isn't doesn't use Draft (000)
o this mode is not superscript (000)
o this mode is not subscript (000)
o this mode is not condensed (000)
o this mode is not Pica (000)
o this mode uses Elite spacing (002)
Appendix D - Tips
- Font doesn't appear when printing
Your printer hasn't got enough RAM. DeskJet printers do need at least a 128K
RAM cartridge. Pinwriters should have at least 16K (16 K usually is enough
for 128 download characters).
Maybe you forgot to download it ? Is your printer ONLINE?
Have you installed the right printer/port (A6, Oprions menu, install) ?
The font might be too big for your printer (standard DeskJet: max. 14
points)
The soffont has been disabled by a reset/by the printer device: Have a
second download.
You might have choosen "bad" pass height values. Try other values
(divisible by 4 !)
You have set your softfont's attributes to nonsense values; check the
Attributes menu (A3).
If you print from shell level (e.g. by a copy-to-par: command), national
characters (e.g. 'ä') will cause a fallback to the printer's default font.
No solution known.
You haven't enabled your pinwriter's download capability. Check its DIP
switches.
- (big DeskJet-) Font looks "distorted"
Switch to unidirectional printing if your font height is above 50 dots (see
A3, Attributes menu)
- Only parts of a line are printed
The printer device uses the preferences settings for calculating the number
of characters/line. These values are valid for "standard fonts" (Elite,
Pica) only. Adjust the margings if you intend to print "wide" or "narrow"
fonts (if you want to print from shell level at all).
- the linefeed is insufficient
You have to set linefeed values on your own; they are not part of a
softfont definition.
- I can't set design cell dimensions (e.g. position of baseline) the way I
want to have them
Your printer doesn't accept certain combinations. TG ensures that only
correct values are used.
- Some characters are missing when I order a sample printaout (M3.1)
This function simply prints a file called 'TypoGrapher/Environment/testfile.txt'.
Edit this file (any ASCII editor will do) to get whatever characters you want. I
would recommend to add a short text (about 20 lines) to get an impression of
your font's overall apperance, too.
- The characters look slightly different if they're recalled from character
buffers
This is a result of the char-access-mode settings (see A6, Options
menu)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appendix E- Registration
You can become a registrated user of TypoGrapher after paying the shareware
fee of 30 DM (20$); this includes:
o the full version of this package
o free updates
o a printed manual
My current address is supposed to change 12/1992. It is:
Dietmar Eilert
Mies-van-der-Rohe-Strasse 31
D-5100 Aachen (Germany)
Phone: (0241) 81665
My home address (delivery might take a few more days if you write to this
one):
Dietmar Eilert
Kampstrasse 28
D-4720 Beckum 2 (Germany)
Telefon (02525) 7776
The printed manual is included only as long as mailing fees don't exeed 3$
(sorry).