Very Computer

My understanding:

1. FreeType is a free TrueType font handling library, which is used
by programs like the xfstt TrueType font server. You need it if you
want to recompile xfstt from sources, not otherwise.

2. xfstt is a font server that reads TrueType fonts, rasterizes them
into something palatable to the X server and passes them along. It does
the same job for TrueType fonts as xfs does for other types.

3. The easiest way is to install xfstt and point it at your TrueType
font directory. Then install xfs, set it's catalog to the font directories
mentioned in the FontPath directive in XF86Config, and include near the
front a reference to "unix/:7101" which is the xfstt font server port ( I
put it after the bitmapped fonts but before the Type 1 Postscript fonts
in the list ). Then comment out the FontPath directives in you XF86Config
file and add one that mentions "unix/:7100". Now start xfstt, then xfs,
then restart your X server. You'll want to edit runlevels, of course, and
make one modification to /etc/rc.d/init.d/xfstt: make it sleep for 5-10
seconds just after starting xfstt so that xfstt has time to get running
and set things up before xfs tries to talk to it. And make sure that
xfstt is started before xfs in the boot sequence, or things will get ugly.

--
We won, didn't we? Cope!
                                -- Mimi, Reality Check #8

You can find some info on this via Gary's Encyclopedia at

http://www.aa.net/~swear/pedia/fonts.html

 >
 >I have Linux mandrake 5.2 and it looks very, very good.
 >I just have a little problem with the fonts that come
 >with it. Anybody can help me how to put True type
 >fonts on it. What files are necessary to download and what are
 >the steps on how to do it? I've heard from a friend  about this
 >xfstt stuff and what it's got to do with Free Type fonts.
 >I'm confused. Are they distinct from one another? Do I have to
 >download both of them and if so how to do the implementation?

TrueType is the font format; FreeType is a library that allows
such fonts to be rendered, used by a package called xfsft:

http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/jec/programs/xfsft/

which also has a link to xfstt, another TrueType font renderer.

Bob T.

[Posted and mailed]

Quote:

> 1. FreeType is a free TrueType font handling library,

Correct.

Quote:> which is used by programs like the xfstt TrueType font server.

Not correct.  xfstt does *NOT* use FreeType.  Another TrueType font
server, called xfsft, *DOES* use FreeType.  xfsft is, as near as I can
determine, much more flexible, and I gather it's being used as the basis
for TrueType support in future versions of XFree86.

Quote:> You need it if you want to recompile xfstt from sources, not otherwise.

As xfstt doesn't use FreeType, you don't even need FreeType for that.  For
xfsft, that depends upon how the xfsft binary was compiled.  It can be
compiled with either static or dynamic linking to the FreeType libraries;
if it's dynamically linked, you do need FreeType (or, more precisely, its
dynamic libraries).  If it's statically linked, you don't.  I've seen both
types of binaries floating around.

Quote:> 2. xfstt is a font server that reads TrueType fonts, rasterizes them
> into something palatable to the X server and passes them along. It does
> the same job for TrueType fonts as xfs does for other types.

Correct.  To add to this, xfsft is based upon xfs, and can render all the
types of fonts that xfs can render, PLUS TrueType fonts.  It's therefore
possible to rely upon xfsft for all font rendering in X (unless you need
some other format that's handled by its own server).  xfstt can render
ONLY TrueType fonts.

I believe there's yet another TrueType font renderer floating around which
is based on FreeType, but I don't recall its name offhand.  As I recall,
its strength is in handling fonts with vary large numbers of glyphs or
characters or some such, which xfsft does poorly.  This is of great
concern in handling fonts for certain Asian languages, but not for most
European languages.  As I'm a US citizen who speaks English but no Asian
languages, I've not paid much attention to this third TrueType font
server.

--
Rod Smith

http://www.users.fast.net/~rodsmith
NOTE: Remove the digit and following word from my address to mail me

I stand corrected. I'm probably confusing the two since I've got both
of them and am trying to compile them ( and having some problems with
xfsft ), and a couple of other TrueType utilities as well.

I understand GhostScript can handle TT fonts if they're magicked into a
Type 42 format. Now all I need is a way to make StarOffice and WordPerfect 8
recognize them as well.

--
We won, didn't we? Cope!
                                -- Mimi, Reality Check #8

[Posted and mailed]

Quote:

> I understand GhostScript can handle TT fonts if they're magicked into a
> Type 42 format. Now all I need is a way to make StarOffice and WordPerfect 8
> recognize them as well.

If it's compiled with TrueType support, Ghostscript can handle "raw"
TrueType fonts via its FontMap.  To embed them in a document that
Ghostscript processes, I'd imagine that they'd have to be in Type 42
format.

AFAIK, there's no way to get WordPerfect to handle TrueType fonts.
Corel's got a FAQ that suggests it is possible, but they provide no
details, and imply that it's automatic if it's set up from a font server,
which I can say is not the case (WP 8 doesn't recognize any of my
TrueType fonts, though xfontsel, Netscape, Applix, and other applications
all do).  Perhaps this is an undocumented feature that requires some sort
of undocumented configuration, or a feature that will be present only in
the for-money versions of WP 8, or maybe the FAQ writer got it wrong.

I don't know enough about StarOffice to make any suggestions.

If you want these programs to handle TrueType fonts simply because you
have a bunch of these fonts that you don't want to give up, consider
using a TrueType-to-Type 1 converter, like the one available at
http://quadrant.netspace.net.au/~mark/ttf2pt1/.  If I understand
correctly, though, converted fonts will drop the hinting, and so won't
look as good at low resolutions as they would if rendered via xfsft or
xfstt.

--
Rod Smith

http://www.users.fast.net/~rodsmith
NOTE: Remove the digit and following word from my address to mail me

I think it's more generic than that: WP8 doesn't recognize _any_ fonts
that aren't installed in it's own directories. I'm wondering if I can
generate font metrics files and putting them in WP8's directories to
fool it into thinking it's got printer copies of the fonts it can get
from X11. The same thing may be true of SO.

Quote:> If you want these programs to handle TrueType fonts simply because you
> have a bunch of these fonts that you don't want to give up, consider
> using a TrueType-to-Type 1 converter, like the one available at

As you said, the conversion loses the hinting information. I'd rather
not do that, since the TT versions look much better. It's mainly a matter
of appearance. That, and I've decided I want to make the *y thing
work and I don't give up without a fight.

--
We won, didn't we? Cope!
                                -- Mimi, Reality Check #8

Quote:>I understand GhostScript can handle TT fonts if they're magicked into a
>Type 42 format. Now all I need is a way to make StarOffice and WordPerfect 8
>recognize them as well.

In that case I just got interested in ghostscript... But would you kindly
explain to me how to magic a TT font into a Type 42 format?
I know it's probably somewhere in the GhostScript docs... But would
you mind giving me an example of how to do it????  please...

thanking you in advance

        -^-   -^-
        <?>   <?>    Joe (theWordy) Philbrook
            ^

On 21 Dec 1998 16:23:05 GMT, joseph_a_philbrook__iii

Recently, I saw an announcement for a TT->T42 converter in
comp.os.linux.announce. If you look there *right now*, you will still find
the article.

mawa
--

My Geek Code is no longer in my .signature. It's available on e-mail request.
It's sad to live in a world where knowing how to programme your VCR actually
lowers your social status...

The program I was looking at was ttfto42, found at:

http://ftp.giga.or.at/pub/nih/ttftot42

It appears that Ghostscript can also handle TT fonts directly without
needing them to be converted into Type 42 format. I started off by
looking up the FreeType library home page and following things from there.

--
We won, didn't we? Cope!
                                -- Mimi, Reality Check #8