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[cce.zizkov AT volny.cz]

On 11 Jan 05 at 19:09, keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org wrote:

> >> - downloadable fonts for HP Laserjet 3 or later
> >
> > I don't think this will work for my HP Laserjet IIP or the deskjet series,
> > unfortunately.  But maybe there is something in here I can use to design
> > my own fonts some day.  Thanks.  I will look into using my Epson fonts
> > with linux if I can find them and extract from the WP setup.

You _should_ try my fonts. There is nothing to lose. 
 
> See below for an explanation of why your Laserjet 3 fonts won't work on a
> Laserjet IIp or a deskjet.
> 
> ftp://ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/msdos/laser/
> I found (from 1988/89):  hpril.zip - Russian soft font
> and two printer font editors for laserjet:  gof10.zip and fntedt57.zip
> 
> And at /msdos/undefined/lqchr121.zip   to edit Epson printer fonts.
> 
> Perhaps I can find some way to import the Turbofonts Cyrillic fonts into
> this editor.  Turbofonts had some mistakes that needed correcting.

Yes, in those days I wrote a my own font editor in Basic, in 
order to print Latin 2 characters on my first matrix printer. 
But writing a complete new alphabet needs quite some time even for 
24pins only. 
 
> 
> Perhaps converting from ascii to ps would be simplest, and graphics is not
> as slow to print on a deskjet as on a dot-matrix. -------

I do not know deskjet at all. These printers are told to be too 
expensive. 

>                          Hewlett Packard Font Formats
> 
>     Since the introduction of the original HP LaserJet printer there has
>     been a demand for additional typefaces to compliment the printers'
>     resident fonts. The early LaserJet printers prior to the LaserJet III
>     printer in 1990 had a resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi) and only
>     supported fixed size fonts, called PCL bitmap soft fonts. The arrival of
>     the LaserJet III printer saw the resolution increased to 600 dpi and the
>     addition of support for Intellifont scaleable soft fonts. Both formats
>     are detailed below.
> 
>       Bitmap Fonts
> 
>       For PCL bitmap fonts a separate font must be created for each
>       required size. Therefore if a typeface was required to be used at 10,
>       12 and 14 point and was required in regular and italic weights, six
>       fonts would need to be produced.
> 
>       In addition a bitmap font is manufactured at a specific resolution of
>       usually 300 or 600 dpi and a font can only be used on a printer with
>       equal or greater resolution than the font. Therefore a 600 dpi font
>       can not be used on a 300 dpi printer and although a 300 dpi font can
>       be used on a 600 dpi printer it will produce a below standard image.
> 
>       Intellifont Scaleable Fonts
> 
>       The scaleable font format differs from a bitmap font because the
>       character data is stored as a mathematical outline. This enables a
>       single font to be used for all sizes as the outline data can be scaled
>       to any required size. The other benefit of using a scaleable outline
>       is that as it does not have a specific resolution, the printed image
>       is always produced at the maximum resolution of the printer.
> 
>       The Intellifont scaleable font format is supported by all HP
>       LaserJet printers from the HP LaserJet III onwards.


I think my fonts are not scalable and our HPLJ 4ML has only 300dpi. 
The font file is so big because for each type size there is an own 
font definition. So this actually should be compliant with the 
old HPLJ II. 

> 
>     Once soft fonts have been added to a LaserJet printer they are
>     accessed by sending an escape sequence which selects the font ready for
>     use. Data is then sent to the printer as usual and will be printed using
>     the selected font.

In order to test the font file you should take one Code sequence from 
hpcesky.txt (search for '_RUS') and put it with some cp866 Russian 
letters into a test file that will be sent to the printer after the 
download file. 

Christof

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