Question on Fonts

davethemackem · 22 July 2021, 13:24

Hi All, not the most interesting of subjects but I am trying to get to grips with Amiga fonts and all the different types there are out there. I know fonts reside in the Sys/fonts drawer but apps I have (WW7, Page stream 3 & Final writer) all have fonts drawers in their respective parent drawers.
I downloaded fonts and copied them to WW7 fonts drawer then ran the tool there, the fonts appeared in the program, but not in the other apps.

Is there a manual on understanding fonts anyone knows of?

Will apps read the sys/fonts drawer and use fonts accordingly or do you have to install fonts in each app, in theory if this is the case then you may have the same app installed several times (not the most elegant of solutions I would have thought)
Then the different types come into play, intellifont, compugraphic etc et the list seems endless.
Its all confusing so I am trying to find out the best way to manage my fonts.
As always thanks in advance
Cheers
Dave

fxgogo · 22 July 2021, 14:14

Hi Dave, what are you saying....fonts are damn interesting!!!

It was actually an interesting time for fonts for the Amiga, as it straddled the bitmap and vector style fonts era.

Some of this is going from memory, but the reason the apps would have their own fonts folder is speed and compatibility. The Amiga would slow down quite heavily when the Sys/fonts folder filled up, so if each app kept their fonts to their program folder, you could still have a zippy OS.

Of course the flip side is the other program could not use said fonts. I can't remember if font managers existed on the Amiga, I would be surprised if it didn't but that would allow you to activate and deactivate fonts in the Sys/fonts folder. So you had speed and variety.

The other issue is compatibility of fonts. PostScript(PS) especially, were very temperamental and had compatibility issues with different programs. Imagine 3D for example, uses PS fonts, but would not see the PS fonts Cinema 4D used.

I quite like the idea of keeping my system fonts folder lean and then if the software I use allows it, keep a separate folder for that app. with my massive CF cards on my system, space is not an issue.

I am busy doing the same as you, so I will post updates as I get on.

redblade · 22 July 2021, 22:45

matsp888 uploaded some AGFA compugraphic fonts to add to your collection

Matt_H · 23 July 2021, 01:38

fxgogo has given a good overview of the situation. To expand on some details, the system font renderer (diskfont.library) can only handle Amiga bitmap and Compugraphic/Intellifont fonts. Unfortunately Intellifont never really caught on as a standard and the industry gravitated to PostScript and TTF fonts. Since there was no support for these at a system level, Amiga word processor developers included their own font renderers to handle the other formats. And sometimes their Intellifont renderers were better than the system one. Hence why they store their fonts locally instead of the systems Fonts: directory.

Matt_H · 23 July 2021, 02:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by redblade

matsp888 uploaded some AGFA compugraphic fonts to add to your collection

Thanks, great resource! High-quality, "official" Compugraphic fonts are quite hard to find.

AmigaHope · 23 July 2021, 09:18

The nice thing was that the 2.x+ font system (bullet.library) allowed for multiple font engines, so even though it only supported old Amiga bitmap fonts and Compugraphic fonts, it was possible to add more font engines to it.

Matt_H · 23 July 2021, 15:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by AmigaHope

The nice thing was that the 2.x+ font system (bullet.library) allowed for multiple font engines, so even though it only supported old Amiga bitmap fonts and Compugraphic fonts, it was possible to add more font engines to it.

Was anything ever written to take advantage of that mechanism? Later we got the third-party type1.library and ttf.library but I thought they used a different way to hook into the system. I’d love to see the plugin system used to support OTF.

Gotta love the extensibility of the Amiga!

Thomas Richter · 23 July 2021, 18:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt_H

Was anything ever written to take advantage of that mechanism?

Actually, that is diskfont, not bullet. Bullet is the compugraphic engine. Yes, of course, there are true-type support libraries on aminet.

Actually, compugraphic is really ill-suited for bitmap fonts. Compugraphic fonts are more for professional printing applications.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matt_H

Later we got the third-party type1.library and ttf.library but I thought they used a different way to hook into the system.

Not that I know of.

marcfrick2112 · 24 July 2021, 04:48

Could anyone upload these fonts to the Zone? I only have my phone for Internet, and I get 'filetype not supported'

davethemackem · 01 August 2021, 22:02

This is great, I have a much better understanding of this now and some great site to get fonts from. Makes sense really if you think of it but being out of the Amiga game for many years and using windows (I know :-( ) you don't really think of fonts much (at least I don't) but I will now.
Thanks to everyone who replied

redblade · 01 August 2021, 23:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by marcfrick2112

Could anyone upload these fonts to the Zone? I only have my phone for Internet, and I get 'filetype not supported'

In the zone as AGFA_FONTS_matsp888.zip. Can you post if you can't download them, there are also some AGFA Fonts on the ftp server, I don't know what those ones are like.

marcfrick2112 · 11 August 2021, 17:14

Thanks for uploading these to the Zone! Looking forward to trying them out.... I have a Slight Amiga font addiction! ??

22 July 2021, 13:24	#1
davethemackem Registered User Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: UK Posts: 45	Question on Fonts Hi All, not the most interesting of subjects but I am trying to get to grips with Amiga fonts and all the different types there are out there. I know fonts reside in the Sys/fonts drawer but apps I have (WW7, Page stream 3 & Final writer) all have fonts drawers in their respective parent drawers. I downloaded fonts and copied them to WW7 fonts drawer then ran the tool there, the fonts appeared in the program, but not in the other apps. Is there a manual on understanding fonts anyone knows of? Will apps read the sys/fonts drawer and use fonts accordingly or do you have to install fonts in each app, in theory if this is the case then you may have the same app installed several times (not the most elegant of solutions I would have thought) Then the different types come into play, intellifont, compugraphic etc et the list seems endless. Its all confusing so I am trying to find out the best way to manage my fonts. As always thanks in advance Cheers Dave

22 July 2021, 14:14	#2
fxgogo Also known as GarethQ Join Date: May 2019 Location: Twickenham / U.K. Posts: 715	Hi Dave, what are you saying....fonts are damn interesting!!! It was actually an interesting time for fonts for the Amiga, as it straddled the bitmap and vector style fonts era. Some of this is going from memory, but the reason the apps would have their own fonts folder is speed and compatibility. The Amiga would slow down quite heavily when the Sys/fonts folder filled up, so if each app kept their fonts to their program folder, you could still have a zippy OS. Of course the flip side is the other program could not use said fonts. I can't remember if font managers existed on the Amiga, I would be surprised if it didn't but that would allow you to activate and deactivate fonts in the Sys/fonts folder. So you had speed and variety. The other issue is compatibility of fonts. PostScript(PS) especially, were very temperamental and had compatibility issues with different programs. Imagine 3D for example, uses PS fonts, but would not see the PS fonts Cinema 4D used. I quite like the idea of keeping my system fonts folder lean and then if the software I use allows it, keep a separate folder for that app. with my massive CF cards on my system, space is not an issue. I am busy doing the same as you, so I will post updates as I get on. Last edited by fxgogo; 22 July 2021 at 14:14. Reason: spelling mistakes

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22 July 2021, 22:45	#3
redblade Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Middle Earth Age: 40 Posts: 2,127	matsp888 uploaded some AGFA compugraphic fonts to add to your collection

23 July 2021, 01:38	#4
Matt_H Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Boston, MA Posts: 943	fxgogo has given a good overview of the situation. To expand on some details, the system font renderer (diskfont.library) can only handle Amiga bitmap and Compugraphic/Intellifont fonts. Unfortunately Intellifont never really caught on as a standard and the industry gravitated to PostScript and TTF fonts. Since there was no support for these at a system level, Amiga word processor developers included their own font renderers to handle the other formats. And sometimes their Intellifont renderers were better than the system one. Hence why they store their fonts locally instead of the systems Fonts: directory.

23 July 2021, 09:18	#6
AmigaHope Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: New Sandusky Posts: 942	The nice thing was that the 2.x+ font system (bullet.library) allowed for multiple font engines, so even though it only supported old Amiga bitmap fonts and Compugraphic fonts, it was possible to add more font engines to it.

24 July 2021, 04:48	#9
marcfrick2112 Amiga Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA Age: 53 Posts: 179	Could anyone upload these fonts to the Zone? I only have my phone for Internet, and I get 'filetype not supported'

01 August 2021, 22:02	#10
davethemackem Registered User Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: UK Posts: 45	This is great, I have a much better understanding of this now and some great site to get fonts from. Makes sense really if you think of it but being out of the Amiga game for many years and using windows (I know :-( ) you don't really think of fonts much (at least I don't) but I will now. Thanks to everyone who replied

11 August 2021, 17:14	#12
marcfrick2112 Amiga Fanatic Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Phoenix, Arizona, USA Age: 53 Posts: 179	Thanks for uploading these to the Zone! Looking forward to trying them out.... I have a Slight Amiga font addiction! ??

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