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diff --git a/fauxtari.rst b/fauxtari.rst new file mode 100644 index 0000000..736a9c4 --- /dev/null +++ b/fauxtari.rst @@ -0,0 +1,175 @@ +======== +fauxtari +======== + +-------------------------------------------------------------------- +Atari 8-bit-based font for Linux console and X11/Wayland/Mac/Windows +-------------------------------------------------------------------- + +.. include:: manhdr7.rst + +DESCRIPTION +=========== + +**fauxtari** is a set of monospaced bitmap fonts for use with the +Linux console or graphical environments such as X11. Most of the +glyphs are taken from the Atari XL/XE ROM font; see **GLYPHS**, below. + +Three font formats are provided: **psf**, for use with the console; +**bdf**, for use with "old-school" X11 apps such as **xterm**\(1); +and **ttf** for use with modern X11/Wayland/Mac/Windows apps. + +APPEARANCE +========== + +The console (**psf** files) and X11 (**bdf** files) fonts each come +in 3 sizes: 8x8 (original size), 16x16 (scaled 2x), and 24x24 (scaled +3x). The scaling has no interpolation or antialiasing, so the larger +fonts have a blocky "retro" look. + +The appearance of the font is also vertically squashed, since it was +designed for non-square pixels (NTSC and PAL "pixels" are slightly +taller than they are wide). This allows you to fit a *lot* of text +on the screen, in the console or with a fullscreen X terminal: + +.. csv-table:: + + "Font Size", "Display Size", "Characters" + "8x8", "1280x1024", "160x128" + "8x8", "1920x1080", "240x135" + "8x8", "3840x2160", "480x270" + "16x16", "1280x1024", "80x64" + "16x16", "1920x1080", "120x67" + "16x16", "3840x2160", "240x135" + "24x24", "1280x1024", "53x42" + "24x24", "1920x1080", "80x45" + "24x24", "3840x2160", "160x90" + +Of course, the smaller font sizes might be too small to read, especially +on smaller displays. + +The TrueType font is scalable, but always retains the pixelated look. + +CONSOLE +======= + +If the **psf** fonts have been installed to the standard console font +directory (usually **/usr/share/kbd/consolefonts/**; this is done by +**make install** when **bw-atari8-tools** is built), you can use e.g.:: + + setfont fauxtari-16 + +Replace the 16 with 8 or 24, for the other sizes. For Slackware Linux, +you can make this the default in **/etc/rc.d/rc.font**, or just put it +in **/etc/rc.d/rc.local**. Other Linux distributions will have their +own ways to set this up (especially systemd-based ones). + +X11/etc +======= + +TTF (scalable) +-------------- + +The scalable font is called **Fauxtari Scalable Mono**, and should be +selectable from graphical applications that allow choosing the font. +You may also see **Fauxtari Fixed Mono** in the list; this is the **bdf** +font. + +It can also be used in **urxvt** and **xterm** (provided **xterm** +was built with support for TTF fonts):: + + urxvt -fn 'xft:Fauxtari Scalable Mono:pixelsize=16' + + xterm -fa 'Fauxtari Scalable Mono' -fs 16 + +The font can be scaled to any size, though it will look best if you +stick with multiples of 8 pixels. + +The scalable font should also work on Wayland, Macintosh, or Windows +systems, though this hasn't been tested. + +BDF (non-scalable) +------------------ + +If the **bdf** fonts have been installed (via **make install** when +**bw-atari8-tools** is built), you should be able to launch a terminal +via:: + + xterm -fn fauxtari-16 + +Replace the 16 with 8 or 24, for the other sizes. These names are +aliases (added to **fonts.alias** in the font directory); the full +names are: + +- -bw-fauxtari fixed mono-medium-r-normal--8-80-75-75-c-80-iso10646-1 + +- -bw-fauxtari fixed mono-medium-r-normal--16-160-75-75-c-160-iso10646-1 + +- -bw-fauxtari fixed mono-medium-r-normal--24-240-75-75-c-240-iso10646-1 + +For **urxvt**\(1), you might have to turn off the **boldFont** resource (set +it to an empty string), or run it as:: + + urxvt -fn fauxtari-16 -fb "" + +This keeps **urxvt** from using some other font (from its built-in +list, or from your **URxvt.font** resource) for bold characters. + +For **st** from suckless.org, run:: + + st -f fauxtari-16 + +It's possible to use the fonts with **rxvt**, but since **rxvt** +doesn't support Unicode, it won't be all that useful except for plain +ASCII text. Why are you still using **rxvt**, anyway? + +GLYPHS +====== + +All 3 sizes contain the same set of glyphs. These include: + +- Printable ASCII. Complete. Mostly taken from the Atari 800XL ROM + ($E000 area), except the **~** **{** **}** **`** characters which are + missing from the Atari's character set (these were hand-drawn by the + author). + +- Unicode mappings for ATASCII graphics characters. Complete set. These + work well with **listbas**\(1), **a8cat**\(1), and **a8xd**\(1). The glyphs + are taken from the 800XL ROM. + +- The XL International Character set (umlauted/accented letters, plus + the **ยก** character and the British pound sign), taken from the 800XL ROM + ($CC00 area). + +- Arabic, taken from Atari's Arabic model of the 65XE. Only the + isolated and terminal letter forms are included, but these are + also mapped to the Unicode codepoints for the initial and medial forms. + Hopefully this results in readable Arabic text. The creator of + **fauxtari** can't read Arabic at all and doesn't know anyone who + can, so some of the character mappings may be wrong. + +- Hebrew glyphs, the complete aleph-bet, taken from the Hebrew ROM + modification that was available for sale in Israel in the early 1980s. + I'm almost 100% certain this was a 3rd-party product, not made by Atari. + +- Polish accented letters, taken from a Polish XL ROM found on the Web + at some point. No idea who created this or whether it was homebrew or + commercial. + +- A few extra Latin-1 characters, hand-drawn by the author. These include + Spanish punctuation (quotation marks, inverted question mark), the + copyright symbol, and the Euro currency sign. + +- TODO: Commodore 64 graphics characters. + +LIMITATIONS +=========== + +- There should be more glyphs; at least Unicode Latin-1 should have complete + coverage. Some of them (e.g. fractions) will be hard to do in 8x8 character + cells... + +- There are no true descenders, since the Atari ROM character set doesn't use them. + Someday I may add hand-hacked true descender versions of the fonts. + +.. include:: manftr.rst |