Re: XY4Dos Fonts

[fenda@xxxxxxxx]

For Paul (and whom it may be of interest to), I'll explain a solution to
the font replacement question. Obviously, Pak Kasim (aka Robert
Holmgren) knows a lot more than me about this matter. Therefore, any
correction or enhancement would be welcome.
First of all, screen font changes only modify your screen, not your
printout or the way XyWrite stores your files. Second, screen fonts are
codepage specific: 437 (typical USA codepage), 850 (European codepage),
1252 (ANSI Windows codepage). You need to use different fonts for every
codepage.

There are also several possible scenarios: full screen DOS session or
windowed session, Win9X or Win2000, Standard XyWrite or Ansi XyWrite.
In short:

DOS sessions

Win9X and W2000: it's possible to replace the VGA font with a different
font. Free programs like FONTED or FONTMAN lets you change the default
VGA font with a different font. It's necessary to load the right font,
according to the codepage you are using. FONTED includes several fonts
for different codepages. With an utility like VGA or another furnished
by these programs, the procedure is like this:
- From XyWrite command line, DOS/nv.
- In the DOS session, if necessary, set the codepage: CHCP???. If you
are using Win98SE, 1252 CP is not supported, but it's possible to load a
1252 capable font and Ansi XyWrite works perfectly.
- VGA FONT name_of_font.CPT to load the font.
- Exit.
Now you are again in XyWrite with the new VGA font working.
IMHO, the improvement you can get is small, because your are limited by
the VGA matrix. For me, this replacement makes sense only to have 1252
codepage support for ANSI XyWrite. Anyhow, screen fonts are a matter of
opinion and it's possible to play around with a lot of fonts like the
ones included in FONTED.

Windowed sessions

A font replacement in Windowed sessions makes sense for me if you are
using big monitors and the standard fonts look very small or ugly. Then,
the situation is trickier. To have big fonts available for XyWrite
desktop windows, two scenarios:

W9X: you need fonts in .FON format (with Terminal and OEM flag
activated). Then they will be available in your choice of fonts, as
shown in the top left corner of the window. The Siebert's fonts are that
way and they completely cover standard XyWrite needs (437 or 850
codepages). Remember that you need a font coherent with your default
codepage (437 or 850). To solve my particular problem (to have 1252
codepage working with Holmgren's Ansified XyWrite in W9X), I used the
same font editor that Siebert uses, SOFTY
(http://users.iclway.co.uk/l.emmett/sfty107b.zip), and I have built
several fonts customized for my display, modifying one of the Siebert's
fonts or building them from TTF bitmaps (using SOFTY). IMHO, font
replacement in this case is strongly recommended if you use a big monitor.

W2000: in this case, you have support for more codepages (1252 included)
and more font choices (raster fonts and true type fonts). Lucida Console
covers fairly well our requirements (any codepage). Anyhow, if you like
to occupy the whole screen with XyWrite, the use of Siebert's or
customized fonts are recommendable because metric of Lucida Console
doesn't fit screen proportions (at least on my display): part of the
screen is not visible or part of the screen is not occupied.
Siebert's or customized fonts need to be installed (copied to the
Windows font directory).


I am not sure if this explanation is clear enough. Anyhow, if required,
I could give further details or solve possible doubts.
Best regards,
Manuel Castelao

P.S.- There is an alternative to Siebert's fonts (untested):
http://www.procon.com.au/HVDOSBox.htm