FONTZ! Documentation Additions
For Version 1.11 -- 6/2/88
Copyright 1988 NEOCEPT
Congratulations on your purchase of FONTZ!, the only GEM font
editor with font conversion utilities for your Atari Mega or ST. The
conversion utilities mean that in one easy step, you can make the five
fonts which are included with FONTZ!, as well as hundreds of others
available on public domain bulletin boards, work with programs such as
WordUp (also by NEOCEPT), Easy-Draw, DEGAS Elite, Fleet Street
Publisher, Abacus PaintPro, Timeworks Publisher ST, Microsoft Write,
and more!
The editor part means that FONTZ! can automatically create
different sizes of your fonts. For users of 520ST and 1040ST
computers, editing also means that you can remove unused characters
from your fonts to save disk space and memory. This will allow you to
install a greater variety of sizes and typefaces, as well as have more
room for your documents within a program.
Since the manual for FONTZ! went to the printer, there have been
some changes made to the program and disk that you should know about.
ATARI GDOS INSTALL PROGRAM
--------------------------
A GDOS installation program from Atari is now available. This
program is designed to help you to install your GDOS system files into
your system, as well as set up your ASSIGN.SYS files.
Before you get too excited, we must make a few comments
regarding this program. First of all, it insists on using a folder
called GDOS.SYS to store device driver programs and font files. Many
people already use folders with such names as GEMSYS, GEM, GDOS, or
FONTS. The INSTALL program will not recognize these folder names.
Also, the program does not really work well with single floppy drive
systems; it is designed for a minimum system of two floppy drives
and/or a hard disk system. Lastly, it does not seem to understand some
ASSIGN.SYS files which GDOS considers perfectly valid. In particular,
those with comment lines seem to be interpretted incorrectly.
Overall, we recommend using the methods described in the FONTZ!
manual to create your ASSIGN.SYS configuration, rather than the INSTALL
program. Once you learn how to do this, it is actually pretty easy.
Unfortunately, no documentation on this program is available for
our distribution at this time, so it is not included with FONTZ!. But
since this program might be of use to some people even without
documentation, you may obtain it free of charge from NEOCEPT by sending
a self-addressed, stamped envelope and a letter requesting the ATARI
GDOS INSTALL PROGRAM, along with your original FONTZ! disk and an
unformatted, blank disk. We will send back your original FONTZ! disk
and the other disk with the INSTALL program copied ontoit. However, we
must refer you to Atari Corporation for any questions or problems you
may have regarding this program, as we are unable to answer questions
regarding it.
Files On The FONTZ! Diskette
----------------------------
\AUTO - Folder
\AUTO\GDOS.PRG - GDOS Release Version 1.1
\GDOS.SYS - Folder containing GEM fonts and drivers
\GDOS.SYS\FX80.SYS - GEM Printer Driver for Epson FX-80/compat.
\GDOS.SYS\CMLT14HI.FNT - GEM Font: Camelot 14 point (hi-rez screen)
\GDOS.SYS\CMLT18HI.FNT - GEM Font: Camelot 18 point (hi-rez screen)
\GDOS.SYS\CMLT36HI.FNT - GEM Font: Camelot 36 point (hi-rez screen)
\GDOS.SYS\CMLT14CG.FNT - GEM Font: Camelot 14 point (med-rez screen)
\GDOS.SYS\CMLT18CG.FNT - GEM Font: Camelot 18 point (med-rez screen)
\GDOS.SYS\CMLT36CG.FNT - GEM Font: Camelot 36 point (med-rez screen)
\GDOS.SYS\CMLT14EP.FNT - GEM Font: Camelot 14 point (FX80.SYS printer)
\GDOS.SYS\CMLT18EP.FNT - GEM Font: Camelot 18 point (FX80.SYS printer)
\GDOS.SYS\CMLT36EP.FNT - GEM Font: Camelot 36 point (FX80.SYS printer)
\GDOS.SYS\SAMPLE.FNT - GEM Font: Sample font
\FONTZ.PRG - FONTZ! GEM Font Editor
\FONTZ.RSC - GEM Resource File for FONTZ!
\README.DOC - Last-minute documentation
\ASSIGN.SYS - Special GEM file
\BLKSDW48.MFT - MACINTOSH FONT: Black Shadow 48
downloaded from Genie Information Service
uploaded to Genie by user RPIOVANETTI
\BOISE18.MFT - MACINTOSH FONT: Boise 18
downloaded from Genie Information Service
uploaded to Genie by user HELGESON
\KEYS15.AFT - AMIGA FONT: Key Tops 15
downloaded from Genie Information Service
created by Lion Kuntz
uploaded to Genie by user GRAFIX.M
\LCD.FNT - DEGAS FONT: LCD (no lowercase letters)
created with original DEGAS font editor
by FONTZ! author Mike Fulton
\BIGTALL.FNT - DEGAS FONT: Bigtall
created with original DEGAS font editor
by FONTZ! author Mike Fulton
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga, DEGAS, and Macintosh format fonts are public domain,
and you can distribute them as you wish. However, all of the Camelot
fonts which are on the FONTZ! disk in GEM format are (c) 1988 by
Neocept, and you may not distribute them in any way without the express
written permission of Neocept.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Amiga, DEGAS, and Macintosh format fonts on this disk have
not been converted into GEM format, and GEM will not recognize them as
fonts until this has been done. They have been left in their original
formats so that you may have a chance to convert them yourself and gain
bit of familiarity with the process. See your FONTZ! manual for more
information about converting these fonts.
Program Changes
---------------
The QUIT item in the FILE menu now has a keyboard equivalent,
which is Alternate-Q.
Program Limits
--------------
The tallest font you can edit is 300 dots tall, regardless of the
device or point size settings. This works out to 72 point for a 300dpi
laser printer. The widest character that you can edit is 320 dots wide.
Reporting Bugs
--------------
We have done our best to insure that FONTZ! works correctly and
without problems. However, should you find an error within the
program, please attempt to document each step that led up to the
problem and contact us with this information. If the program appears to
freeze on you, try to save your work by pressing F10 and entering a
filename (we recommend using a different filename from usual, just in
case the font is messed up somehow). See the section of your manual
titled TECHNICAL SUPPORT for more info.
Mix Two Parts of This and Three Parts Of That...
------------------------------------------------
Finally, we've noticed that there appear to be some conflicts
between some desk accessories or AUTO-folder programs and GDOS. This
is probably because the desk accessory/AUTO-folder program is using
un-documented memory locations that it shouldn't, or improper
programming methods.
Note that these kinds of problems are almost never the fault of
GDOS. They are almost always the fault of the other program because of
a failure to follow the proper Atari ST programming procedures.
If you have this problem, please remove all desk accessories and
other AUTO folder programs and try again if you have problems. (Turn
your computer and hard disk drive, if present, off. Wait at least 15
seconds before turning them back on again.) If all else fails,
telephone our technical support line and tell us about your problem.
Compatibility Problems
----------------------
Some of you may have noticed that the program Microsoft Write
does not seem to work properly with some fonts created or converted
with FONTZ!. Specifically, the font names show up in the font choice
dialog, but when you choose them, you get some other font instead.
This is due to a bug in Microsoft Write has a bug which causes it to
not recognize fonts with ID numbers of greater than 255. If you have
this problem, try using FONTZ! to change the id number of these fonts.
Remember to change all the fonts of the same typeface to the same id
number, regardless of pointsize or device.
The program PaintPro, from Abacus Software has a similar
problem. It has space for five font names in its font choice dialog.
Unfortunately, the program does not get the font ID number from the
font the way it should, and instead assumes the fonts have ID numbers
of 1 to 5. If you want to use a font with PaintPro, you will have to
use FONTZ! to make sure that the font ID number is within that range.
FONTZ! & TIMEWORKS DESKTOP PUBLISHER ST
---------------------------------------
Fonts created and edited by FONTZ! are compatible with Timeworks
Publisher ST. However, you must be sure to do all of the following steps
before the fonts can be used.
1) You must have both a screen font and a printer font.
2) The font files must be in the folder specified in the ASSIGN.SYS
file.
3) The font filenames must be listed in the ASSIGN.SYS file under the
proper device name.
4) After steps 1-3, reboot your system with your Timeworks boot disk
5) Run the program FONTWID.APP.
6) You are now ready to run Publisher ST.
FONTZ! & G+PLUS
---------------
The G+PLUS program is a substitute for Atari's GDOS, and is available
from Codehead Software. Fontz! is compatible with G+PLUS, but the use of
one of the extra features of G+PLUS could cause an error message to occur
when Fontz! tries to read the ASSIGN.SYS file.
With Atari's GDOS, the ASSIGN.SYS file is kept on the main directory of
either drive A: or C:, and is read by GEM when you boot the system. The
information in this file is used by GEM to keep track of what fonts and
printer drivers are available. Normally, a program which uses fonts and
printer drivers never needs to access the ASSIGN.SYS file directly,
because it gets all the information it needs from GEM. FONTZ! is a little
bit different, and it wants additional information that GEM doesn't normally
make available to programs. So it reads the ASSIGN.SYS itself to get this
extra information.
G+PLUS has the ability to keep track of several different files with
ASSIGN.SYS file information. It can automatically switch back and forth
between these different files when you run different programs which use
fonts and printer drivers. These files can be located in any directory, on
any drive. Because of this, many hard disk users no longer use a
C:\ASSIGN.SYS file.
Unfortunately, FONTZ! has no way of knowing that G+PLUS has gotten the
ASSIGN.SYS file information from another file, or what file that might be.
As soon as it recognizes that GDOS (or G+PLUS) is available, it tries to
read the ASSIGN.SYS file. If this file is not on drive C, it tries drive A.
If it cannot find the file, it asks you if you want to change disks in
drive A: and try again. If you cancel, or if you give it a file that is
not the one currently being used, then FONTZ! will give you an error
message that the ASSIGN.SYS file cannot be found, or that it has been
changed.
The only aspect of FONTZ! that this error will affect is the SET FONT
DEVICE, SCALE FONT TO DIFFERENT DEVICE, and SHOW DEVICE RESOLUTION dialog
boxes. When the ASSIGN.SYS file is not available, these dialogs will not
show the names and resolutions of the currently installed GEM devices,
except for those of the screen. If an incorrect ASSIGN.SYS file was read,
then this information may be present, but incorrect.
If you want to take full advantage of FONTZ!, you will need to have
an ASSIGN.SYS file in its normal place, which is C:\ASSIGN.SYS for hard disk
users, or A:\ASSIGN.SYS for floppy disk users. You should set up G+PLUS so
that this is the file used when you run FONTZ!. If you do this, then you
should have no problems using FONTZ! and G+PLUS together.
Ideas
-----
If you have any ideas for new features that you'd like to see in
FONTZ!, please let us know about them. We at NEOCEPT want to keep our
products current and user input is welcome. Please keep in mind,
however, that some things may not be practical or possible.
Fonts
-----
If you create any fonts that you are especially proud of, we'd
like to see them, so let us hear from you. If we like what you have
done, we may be interested in publishing your fonts. We prefer
complete font sets in a variety of sizes for the most common
devices**, but let us hear from you whatever you have.
** In order of importance: Monochrome and medium res color screens,
Epson FX/compatible printers, Epson LQ/Star NB 24-pin, and Atari SLM804
and other 300 dpi Laser Printers.
Miscellaneous
-------------
Please remember to send in your warranty cards as soon as
possible. It is NEOCEPT's policy not to provide telephone technical
support for unregistered users, so it is important that we receive your
warranty card quickly.
WE HAVE MOVED!!!
----------------
We have moved into new office space. Our new address is shown
below. Please send any future coorespondence to this address.
NEOCEPT
547 Constitution, Unit A
Camarillo, CA 93010
(805) 482-4446
Technical Support: (805) 482-0313
Monday-Thursday, 11am-12noon & 3pm-5pm