Category : Alternate Operating Systems - Quarterdeck DesqView, CP/M, etc
Archive   : QWHITE13.ZIP
Filename : XFONTS.TEC

 
Output of file : XFONTS.TEC contained in archive : QWHITE13.ZIP
ID:FX Porting the Quarterdeck PC Fonts to Other X Platforms
Quarterdeck Technical Note #246 Filename: XFONTS.TEC
by Kris Williams CompuServe: XFONTS.TEC
Last revised: 6/29/92 Category: DVX

Subject: An explanation of how to port the PC fonts provided with DESQview/X
to non-DOS platforms, to support the running of DOS programs
remotely.


HOW TO PORT QUARTERDECK'S PC FONTS TO OTHER X WINDOW PLATFORMS

Why do other X platforms need Quarterdeck's PC Fonts?

When a DOS application's screen output is converted to X Protocol requests
by DESQview/X, the X Server displaying the DOS application will be
requested to provide the appropriate PC font resources. If the X Server
doesn't provide the PC font resources requested for the DOS application,
the content of the DOS application's window may not be visible, or if the X
Server substituted a different font, the screen updates will be extremely
slow and/or coarse.

What does this document cover?

This document explains the steps necessary to copy the PC fonts from the
DOS machine DESQview/X was installed on over to other X platforms and to
equip the X Server on the other platform with the PC fonts. The steps
covered in this document, assume that you already installed DESQview/X, and
have configured TCP/IP networking software on both the target X platform,
and on the DOS machine which runs DESQview/X.

THE PROCEDURE

1. Transfer the PC font files to the target X platform.

First, change to the directory on the DOS machine where the TCP/IP software
is configured, and which contains FTP.EXE.

Second, use the FTP (File Transfer Protocol) utility to copy
the .BDF files over to the target X platform. Usually you can do this by
issuing the following sequence of commands:

C> ftp [hostname] [username]
password: [user-password]

cd [fontpath]
mput \DVX\BDF\PC*.BDF
quit


In the above sequence of commands:

[hostname] is the alias name or Internet Protocol (IP) address of the
target X platform to which you are copying font files.

[username] is the login account name on the target X platform which has the
right to access the necessary paths.

[password] is the password required for [username] to log successfully onto
the target X platform.

[fontpath] is the directory on the target platform where the X Server font
resources are located. This directory varies from platform to platform.
If you are uncertain about this directory, please contact the system
administrator of the target platform.

2. Convert the font files from "binary definition format" (.BDF) to
"server natural format" (.SNF).

Before you can use the PC fonts on the other platform's X Server, you must
convert the .BDF files to .SNF files. You do this by issuing the following
sequence of commands:

cd [fontpath]
bdftosnf pc8x8.bdf > pc8x8.snf
bdftosnf pc8x14.bdf > pc8x14.snf
bdftosnf pc8x16.bdf > pc8x16.snf

The above commands assume the operating system of the target platform
allows command-line redirection, and the executable bdftosnf is available
and on the path. If bdftosnf is not on the path, you must specify the
appropriate directory information on the command-line. If you experience
any difficulty with this step, please notify the administrator of this
system, or reference this platform's documentation for the X Window System.

3. Append the PC fonts to the X fonts directory file.

When the X Server is requested for a particular font it will search the
fontpath for a file named FONTS.DIR. This file is a catalog of font
filenames which are associated with a particular X font resource string.
In order for the X server to use the PC fonts you must append the following
lines to the end of the FONTS.DIR file:

pc8x8.snf pc8x8
pc8x14.snf pc8x14
pc8x16.snf pc8x16

This can be done automatically by running the mkfontdir utility included
with this platform. Perhaps the following command:

mkfontdir /usr/lib/X11/fonts/misc


Please Note: The above configuration may vary from platform to platform.

4. Reset the X Server's default fontpath.

If you performed the previous steps all within the X Window System, you may
use the following command to reset the server's fontpath:

xset fp rehash

For the rest of this X Windows session the PC fonts will be usable. The
changes you made to the FONTS.DIR are automatically incorporated the next
time you start the X Server on this platform.


************************************************************************
*This technical note may be copied and distributed freely as long as it*
*is distributed in its entirety and it is not distributed for profit. *
* Copyright (C) 1991-2 by Quarterdeck Office Systems *
************************ E N D O F F I L E *************************


  3 Responses to “Category : Alternate Operating Systems - Quarterdeck DesqView, CP/M, etc
Archive   : QWHITE13.ZIP
Filename : XFONTS.TEC

  1. Very nice! Thank you for this wonderful archive. I wonder why I found it only now. Long live the BBS file archives!

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