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On Fri, 27 Jul 2007, baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

> Message from Steven
> ===================
> Sindi wrote:
> > I see two each cl, lut and helv fonts (.pcf.gz)
> > in BL3 in /misc, about 3K each
>
> That's just about the smallest set of fonts you'll
> find anywhere.
>
> > Stripping these six fonts saves about 17K.
>
> A tiny set of tiny fonts.  I'm trying to reduce
> the X overhead as much as possible.  Remember
> one of the goals of BL3 is to get a useable X
> on a 486.

And on 2 floppy disks.
17K of fonts would fit on the second floppy disk.

> > But complicates life for people who want to read
> > French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, or math
> > symbols in an rxvt.
>
> BL1 had keymapping and other foreign language support.
> However, few people seemed to be using it, so I removed
> it (and the foreign language fonts) from the default BL3.
> Foreign-language users can add what they need (including
> full fonts) from Slackware.

Other than the full-size versions of the 6 BL3 fonts, what needs to be 
added back to BL3 to provide the BL1 level of support for non-English 
fonts and keyboards?  There are BL users who speak Scandinavian and E. 
European languages, not only French.  So far only one has complained but I 
am assumng there are another 90% who just gave up.

> > I think Opera has its own fonts.  Does Abiword also
> > use the X fonts?
>
> AbiWord has its own fonts.

Neither of these fits well in the loop version, where you need links 
or lynx for browsing, and X to view images with them.

You could add the BL1 zgv as a non-X viewer.  It works with more video 
chips than Xvesa does and is okay with 8-bit color.  I did this on the 486 
Compaq before getting the svga server to work.  The BL1 package lacks 
libvga.so.1 (which came with BL1).  Using lynx in console mode also fixes 
any color problem.

> > Maybe you could post a package of the unstripped fonts
> > (for 8859-1) so other non-English-writing users could
> > easily add them without downloading a large Slackware
> > package first.
>
> I expect most users will eventually install a full set
> of fonts from Slackware.  The default fonts in BL3 are
> *very* minimalistic.

Nearly 3MB - rather large for the loop version.
I have not found any need for them.  Are they used only in the rxvt?

If I make a package of the six full fonts, what else do you suggest adding 
to it, steven or czerno?  Any console fonts?  setfont has apparently been 
removed since BL3 and is 22K (glibc).  showfont is 5K.  xev 15K.


> > Type1 and 100dpi in BL3.50 each have a 34K .pfb
> > file.  BL2 does not seem to have any .pfb files.
> > What do they do?
>
> It is a scaleable font.  It is used by jwm and magicpoint.
> 34kb is fairly small for a scaleable font.

Does jwm use Type1 and magicpoint 100dpi or vice versa?
Why two scaleable fonts?

Does the Slackware fonts package include scaleable fonts?
I don't see .pfb or .pfa fonts there, just .pcf ones.

> Cheers,
> Steven

Sindi