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For linux users, you can open the .FON files with fontforge, then go to file menu -> generate to create a .bdf file (I prefer to use bitmap over ttf to avoid an

For linux users, you can open the .FON files with fontforge, then go to file menu -> generate to create a .bdf file (I prefer to use bitmap over ttf to avoid any artifacts).

viler 6y ago
At the right sizes the included 'Mx' fonts should avoid those artifacts - they're ttf but contain embedded bitmaps, which seem to be better supported in Linux than in Windows (supported, but silly hacks required) or macOS (seemingly not supported at all). :) I do want to include .bdf fonts in future versions, especially if the conversion is as simple as that. But if I do it I want to be sure I do it correctly, and I'm still not 100% familiar with the format.
- duskwuff 6y ago
  Any chance you can publish some details on what your workflow looks like to generate these fonts? I'd be interested in generating some bitmap conversions of some classic non-VGA fonts, like Apple's bitmap fonts (some of which were never converted to TrueType!) and some X11 standards like fixed13.
  - viler 6y ago
    To sum it up (links to the various tools can be found at https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/readme/#tools_used https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/readme/#tools_used): usually the starting point is some sort of raw bitmap data, which I convert to .png with something like Binxelview, although ImageMagick can also do the trick. The .png then goes into Bits'N'Picas to trace the glyphs and produces an outlined .ttf. This .ttf is far from final however, as it still needs an encoding with proper Unicode mapping, some height/metric adjustments, and so on. The specific changes depend on the font, but they can be done in Fontforge, which is very scriptable thankfully. The same goes for things like aspect correction (mark all glyphs, scale down on the X-axis) and producing embedded bitmaps (add "bitmap strikes" at the target pixel/point sizes, export w/"bitmap in TTF/OTF" option). Fontforge's bitmap export options should also let you create bitmap-only fonts in formats like .bdf or .otb. As I still use only .fon for bitmap fonts (though this should change in the future), I do those in a different program named Fony, which like Bits'N'Picas can import the glyphs from a .png and export to .fon after some adjustments and metadata massaging. More details than that would probably belong in a blog post or so, but that's it in a nutshell.
klodolph 6y ago
If you are on Linux, you will probably want to convert to OTB instead. Pango has dropped support for BDF and it’s just a matter of time before your distro gets hit with the full effect (if you are on a “stable” channel then you probably haven’t gotten hit yet). If you use old-school X programs without Pango you may not notice, but nearly everything on Linux that doesn’t look like XTerm uses Pango. See: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BitmapFontConversion https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BitmapFontConversion As a side effect, the fonts will probably work better as OTB anyway. At least, that’s my experience.
- bitwize 6y ago
  Makes sense. Bdf is an X11 format, and X is deprecated technology. X font rendering is certainly deprecated.
  - badsectoracula 6y ago
    > X is deprecated technology That is false, X and Xorg are being under continuous development. Some Wayland fanboys use this as weaselwords to convince less informed people to migrate to it in an attempt to increase its user share, but Xorg still has dedicated developers working on it and it wont go anywhere for the foreseeable future.
    - klodolph 6y ago
      > Some Wayland fanboys use this as weaselwords to convince less informed people… This is some first-class flamebait in really poor taste. Anyway—from what I understand, Xorg is is nearing the end of its life as an actively developed project. You can see that the release cadence is much slower than it was a couple years ago, it’s gone from something like a six-month cadence to a two-year cadence. The lion’s share of the development is sponsored by orgs like Red Had and they’ve publicly warned people that this may not continue into the future. See: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X.Org-Maintenance-Mode-Quickly https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X.Org-Ma... The comments about font rendering technology are relevant. You simply can’t use X font rendering to achieve what is, in 2020, considered to be the bare minimum for text presentation. Up until recently, this was papered over by libraries that could abstract over the differences between old-style X fonts and modern TTF fonts (TTF is almost as old as X!) For various reasons, the backwards compatibility was ditched a few months ago. The abstraction had just grown too unwieldy and had too many special cases.
kristopolous 6y ago
You can just convert it on the command line with FF as well. I didn't even know FF Even Had a GUI until I read your comment

For linux users, you can open the .FON files with fontforge, then go to file menu -> generate to create a .bdf file (I prefer to use bitmap over ttf to avoid any artifacts).

viler 6y ago

At the right sizes the included 'Mx' fonts should avoid those artifacts - they're ttf but contain embedded bitmaps, which seem to be better supported in Linux than in Windows (supported, but silly hacks required) or macOS (seemingly not supported at all). :) I do want to include .bdf fonts in future versions, especially if the conversion is as simple as that. But if I do it I want to be sure I do it correctly, and I'm still not 100% familiar with the format.

duskwuff 6y ago
Any chance you can publish some details on what your workflow looks like to generate these fonts? I'd be interested in generating some bitmap conversions of some classic non-VGA fonts, like Apple's bitmap fonts (some of which were never converted to TrueType!) and some X11 standards like fixed13.
- viler 6y ago
  To sum it up (links to the various tools can be found at https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/readme/#tools_used https://int10h.org/oldschool-pc-fonts/readme/#tools_used): usually the starting point is some sort of raw bitmap data, which I convert to .png with something like Binxelview, although ImageMagick can also do the trick. The .png then goes into Bits'N'Picas to trace the glyphs and produces an outlined .ttf. This .ttf is far from final however, as it still needs an encoding with proper Unicode mapping, some height/metric adjustments, and so on. The specific changes depend on the font, but they can be done in Fontforge, which is very scriptable thankfully. The same goes for things like aspect correction (mark all glyphs, scale down on the X-axis) and producing embedded bitmaps (add "bitmap strikes" at the target pixel/point sizes, export w/"bitmap in TTF/OTF" option). Fontforge's bitmap export options should also let you create bitmap-only fonts in formats like .bdf or .otb. As I still use only .fon for bitmap fonts (though this should change in the future), I do those in a different program named Fony, which like Bits'N'Picas can import the glyphs from a .png and export to .fon after some adjustments and metadata massaging. More details than that would probably belong in a blog post or so, but that's it in a nutshell.

klodolph 6y ago

If you are on Linux, you will probably want to convert to OTB instead. Pango has dropped support for BDF and it’s just a matter of time before your distro gets hit with the full effect (if you are on a “stable” channel then you probably haven’t gotten hit yet). If you use old-school X programs without Pango you may not notice, but nearly everything on Linux that doesn’t look like XTerm uses Pango. See: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BitmapFontConversion https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/BitmapFontConversion As a side effect, the fonts will probably work better as OTB anyway. At least, that’s my experience.

bitwize 6y ago
Makes sense. Bdf is an X11 format, and X is deprecated technology. X font rendering is certainly deprecated.
- badsectoracula 6y ago
  > X is deprecated technology That is false, X and Xorg are being under continuous development. Some Wayland fanboys use this as weaselwords to convince less informed people to migrate to it in an attempt to increase its user share, but Xorg still has dedicated developers working on it and it wont go anywhere for the foreseeable future.
  - klodolph 6y ago
    > Some Wayland fanboys use this as weaselwords to convince less informed people… This is some first-class flamebait in really poor taste. Anyway—from what I understand, Xorg is is nearing the end of its life as an actively developed project. You can see that the release cadence is much slower than it was a couple years ago, it’s gone from something like a six-month cadence to a two-year cadence. The lion’s share of the development is sponsored by orgs like Red Had and they’ve publicly warned people that this may not continue into the future. See: https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X.Org-Maintenance-Mode-Quickly https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=X.Org-Ma... The comments about font rendering technology are relevant. You simply can’t use X font rendering to achieve what is, in 2020, considered to be the bare minimum for text presentation. Up until recently, this was papered over by libraries that could abstract over the differences between old-style X fonts and modern TTF fonts (TTF is almost as old as X!) For various reasons, the backwards compatibility was ditched a few months ago. The abstraction had just grown too unwieldy and had too many special cases.

kristopolous 6y ago

You can just convert it on the command line with FF as well. I didn't even know FF Even Had a GUI until I read your comment