' Ron's Fonts Info'X +PRG formatted GEOS file V1.0#v Oki 120 NLQևևȘe`E B X RON'S FONTS INFO,BLASTER'S CONVERTER V2.5Y XRonsASCII 1.1YX) RonsTEXT 3.3)X -AWrite Image V2.0geoWrite V2.1  ...݅ ( >1 29 ..  9 <` " . r " `%@1ʎpAע9 V&L 3 \88888888 ______________________________ `8888888@RonsTEXTer 1.4 by Ronald B. Romine ______________________________ `8888888 In the beginning there was @Berkeley SoftWorks, it referred to as @BSW. @Berkeley @SoftWorks, looked upon the @Commodore @64 and said, "This is good, so let us make it better.^ And they did !!! Later, @GeoRon showed up and looked upon what @BSW did, and then he said, "This is good, I shall make it better.^ I'm still working on it. I had a few problems. I can program in neither @BASIC nor Assembly. So, I said, "If I can't program @GEOS, I'll write about it.^ I wrote, I wrote, and I wrote about it. One of my first files (with @geoWrite of course), reached a length of about 25K, and I was only into the third chapter!!! I soon realized that it was going to be too long to upload and download. I, then decided to divide all seven (or was it eight?) chapters into separate files. My next problem was: HOW?!? I discovered a way. In fact, I was so proud of my self that I wrote a file on how anyone with @geoWrite @2.0 or higher could do it. All during this time, I had been playing with a @GEOS font editor that I typed out of an @Abacust book. The font I was working on was a 9 point font, that could be used in place of the @BSW font. I changed several of the characters to make them easier to tell apart. I also noticed that there where several characters that I would probably never use, so added new charactes by replacing the unused ones. I called my font @RonsWriter (I'm a very humble guy.) Since I had typed my article using @RonsWriter, I decided to upload it with the article. I also add a file describing my font. And to go one step further, I then added three "special^ Printer Drivers which improved the printouts of my font. To make sure everyone found all the files, I used a "chaining-compressing^ utility called @ARC. This program took all my files (after converted them of course) and linked them into a single large file. It also compacted the files, making them smaller. A person could actually download this @ARC'd file fastest than downloading them separately. There are a few problems with offering an @ARC file instead of offering the files separately. First, many people DON'T like @ARC files, because they have to @un-@ARC them. Using the @ARC utility to @un-@ARC them isn't any fun (for them.) To solve the problem I @SDA'd them. In other words I used another program that takes an @ARC file and alters it into a "@Self @Desolving @A@RC.^ This @SDA file can be loaded the same as a @BASIC program and @RUN. The @SDA file will then disolve or `write' the individual files (contained within itself), onto a disk. This file I uploaded was "@Append.sda^. |`88888880 So, @GeoRon's FIRST upload was born. Since uploading the origional @RonsWriter, I've been working to improve it. I clean-up several characters, and re`88888880 So, @GeoRon's FIRST upload was born. Since uploading the origional @RonsWriter, I've been working to improve it. I clean-up several characters, and re-designed a few others. In fact I advanced @RonsWriter upto version @3.1.  However, version @3.1 was so different from the origionial, that I had to renamed it. This new font became @RonsPub. This meant that I had to find an earlier version to be @RonsWriter. I found @RonsWriter 2.2. It probably isn't as "finished^ as I would like it to be, but I needed to move on to other things. @RonPub has all the same characters as @RonsWriter, with a few exceptions: x8888888Pressing: C key and {*} 1= c (copyright symbol) C key and 1{u} 1= R (Registered TM) C key and {@} = ` (leading apostraphe) Shift  and {2} = " (leading quotations) {u} (alone) = ^ (closing quotations) `88888880There are also two changes in @RonsWriter: C key and {*} was now the {C} symbol C key and {@} was now the {`} apostraphe. Now, after creating/re-creating these two fonts I was already to upload them right? Wrong!! Something about the fonts didn't "feel^ right. Then I realized what was wrong. I had been so busy adding new point sizes and `tweaking' my fonts that I had forgotten what they were for. I had wanted a good looking font with a few useful custom chracaters. Its purpose was to be used as a font for ENTERING text, and easy READING without needing to print it with printer. This was when I started creating my third font. It was to be my main font, it would replace @RonsWriter and @RonsPub. I named my new font @RonsTEXTer. @RonsTEXTer, was for writing "text files^. Files, that contained things you didn't plan to print, but instead would read while displayed on the monitor's screen. @RonsTEXTer, is was to be totally compatible with files not written in @RonsTEXTer. To do this, I would have to make the @RonsTEXTer font the same as the @BSW font. And that meant NO custom characters. I could put the custom characters in a different font, but who wants extra font when @geoWrite has an "can only access eight fonts at a time^ limit. I knew of a better way. The problem with putting more characters into a font than can fit was solved by @BSW. When @BSW developed their @Megafonts, they had to overcome a small problem. The @Megafonts are quite large in size, averaging around a point size of 50. All @GEOS programs, that use fonts, have a "font buffer.^ This buffer is of limited size, if you can't fit the font into the buffer, you can't load the font to use it. Lr`88888880 @GeoWrite's font buffer is about 6000 bytes, a 9 point font is about 800 byt`88888880 @GeoWrite's font buffer is about 6000 bytes, a 9 point font is about 800 bytes. A 50 point font would take up enough bytes that it couldn't even get near the computer. The solution? If you couldn't fit a whole font into memory at once, load only the parts you need. And that's exactly what they did. Many people brake large fonts into separate font files; maybe all capital letters in one file, lower case in another, and maybe numbers and puncuation in third. @BSW didn't need to go that far. When @geoWrite loads a font into memory, it loads only the POINT SIZE needed. If another point size needs to be "deleted^ from the font buffer to make room for the one being loaded, it is. The fonts stored in the buffer are only needed while you are "typing^ in that font. When @geoWrite places a character on screen, it has been "drawn^ or "painted^ there. The "information^ on how to draw a character isn't needed again until you add or change a character, or make a change to character that affects it. When you do make a change, the needed informtion is either found in the font buffer, or loaded into the buffer for use. Remembering this "load one point size at a time^ trick, @BSW could place letters A-M in the 48pt, N-Z in 49pt, punction and number in 50pt size all within the same font file. No one could see the shifts in point size, since only the "ink^ of the characters are seen (not the empty "one pixel^ extending above or below the character Since I had decided to make @RonsTEXTEer only in one point size (9pt.), I could use 10pt to "store^ the all the lesser used characters and add more character later. In fact my font could have twice as many characters! I planned on designing @RonsTEXTer, to be 100% compatible with @BSW's font. However, this would mean NO custom characters could be used. But I WANTED custom characters. Using the 10 point custom characters @RonsTEXTer, does not have totally compatiblity. If a person were to use only the 9pt size, they could have @99% compatiblity. The @1% incomptiblity is due to the fact that I left two custom characters on the "main^ key board. I found two characters that I used too often to place on the "10pt keyboard^. The first was the "ending quotation mark^ and the second was the "leading apostraphe.^ The characters normally found in their place, were placed on the "10 point keyboard^. vH8888880 The H8888880 The @RonsTEXTer 9pt keyboard has only two custom keys: u key = { ^ } C key + {@} 1 = { ` } The @RonsTEXTer @10pt keyboard has the following keys: c = c C = C  t = t  T = T R = R u = u d = d l = l r = r m = m M = M x = x X = X b = b * = * u = ^ A = A = = = < = < > = > @ = ` p = p n = n N = N - = - e = e / = / : = : ; = ; Shift : = [ Shift ; = ] C : = { C ; = } C ? = \  Keys 1-9, are spaces with `key 1' being one pixel wide, and increase up to nine pixels for `key 9'. The shifts of keys 1-9 are underlined versions. GeoRon. =v@} = ` (leading apostraphe) Shift  and {2} = " (leading quotations) {u} (alone) = ^ (closing quotations)