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FONT MANIA USER MANUAL � ����������
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FONT MANIA �
Unregistered Version 2.2 � ����������
EGA/VGA TEXT FONT EDITOR � ��
BY Ut... � ��
COPYRIGHT (C) 1992 REXXCOM SYSTEMS � ��
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T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S
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Requirements..................................................1
Overview......................................................1
Quick Tour....................................................2
Using FONT MANIA..............................................3
Editing commands..............................................4
Using menus...................................................6
Saving Fonts..................................................9
Loading Fonts................................................10
Using COM Font Files.........................................11
Installing a Memory Resident Font............................11
Using Other File Formats.....................................12
Creating Special Effects.....................................13
Letters "Running Together"...................................17
Automatic Mode Reset.........................................18
Creating Tall, Small and Wide Fonts..........................18
Restoring the Default Font...................................19
Copying, Distribution and Registration.......................19
Illustrations...............................6,13,14,15,16,17,18
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Overview:
Are you tired of the letter style of your computer? Are you
looking for a change? Maybe you simply would like to have some fun?
FONT MANIA might just be the answer.
FONT MANIA is designed for editing EGA and VGA fonts with ease.
It incorporates a user-friendly menu-driven sytem which makes using
FONT MANIA incredibly easy. It is also packed with powerful tools for
easy editing of fonts. Here are just a few examples of applications
and uses for FONT MANIA:
- Save the font in a COM file which you can easily activate
from the DOS prompt or from any BATCH file, including your
AUTOEXEC.BAT
DEMO
and press <ENTER>. The demo will run and you can print this manual,
or the registration form at the end of the DEMO.
1
QUICK TOUR:
FM
then press <ENTER>. FONT MANIA's editing screen should appear on the
monitor. If not, check to make sure you are in the right drive and
path, and the program file is there, then try again.
You will see a giant yellow 'A' in a black area on left side of the
screen. This is the editing area. To the right of the editing area
are two boxes, one labeled STATUS, and the other labeled KEY. The
STATUS box shows the current status of FONT MANIA. The KEY box shows
the listing of the valid keys or key-combinations you may use.
Try moving the cursor by pressing right arrow key. You will observe
the cursor moving one space to the right. Try pressing other arrow
keys. The cursor will move according to the arrows. Try pressing
PgDn (Page Down), and you will see a huge 'B'. Press PgUp (Page Up)
to return 'A' to the screen. Now press space bar once. The pixel un-
der the cursor will toggle on or off. Notice the change in the 'A' in
the status box. Now press the tab key (that's the key with right and
left arrows on it). The entire character set will appear in place of
the editing area. Move the cursor in various directions. Press the
Enter key to return to the editing area ... it will now contain a
large image of the character your cursor was on when you pressed the
Enter key.
Now, let's try loading a font. Press F3 and FONT MANIA will prompt
you for a filename. Type the following:
COM_DEMO
then press <ENTER>. FONT MANIA will load the font. If there is an
error, make sure you have the file COM_DEMO.COM in your current di-
rectory.
After FONT MANIA finishes loading the font, you will notice a change
in the pattern of the huge 'A'. Let's try some other tools. Press
and hold the ALT key; then press I. The whole character will be in-
verted! Again, notice the change in the 'A' in the status box. You
are encuraged to try all the commands listed in the KEY box.
Now Press and hold ALT-A to save the font in COM file format. You
will be prompted for a filename. Type:
MYFONT
Press <ENTER>. The font is saved with the name MYFONT.COM. (The COM
extension is automatically added to your filename.)
Press ESC to exit the program. Press 'Y' when asked if you really
want to exit. That's it!!!, you just learned how to use FONT
MANIA!!! Pretty painless, wasn't it?!
2
USING FONT MANIA:
FM [filename]
FONT MANIA's editing screen will appear. There are many different
area of this screen which serve different functions. It really is not
confusing - just extremely comprehensive!
Menu Bar:
Across the top of the screen locate the menu bar. This menu
bar shows menu titles. To "pull down" a menu, hold down the ALT key
while pressing a key corresponding to one of the highlighted char-
acters in the menu titles. (Functions when editing area is visible;
does not function when character set is visible.)
Status Box:
LINES shows how many lines of text will fit into the current
screen. The number of lines which may be displayed on the screen
at one time varies depending on the number of scanlines and the
height of the font.
At the top of the box may be seen 2 smaller boxes. The first
will display the current character being edited, and the second box
will show the ASCII decimal value of that character.
This is the large box labeled KEY. This always shows the
valid keyboard commands. It will show the key combination which per-
form each function.
Status Line:
Editing Area:
This is the middle left hand side of the screen. When the
program is first excuted it will display a huge 'A' in a black
rectangle area with blinking cursor (yellow on red.) This is the
area in which each character of the font-set will be edited.
EDITING COMMANDS:
All editing commands are displayed in the KEY box. Press F1 for
the "second page."
Up, Down, Left and Right arrow keys will move the cursor.
Hold either Shift key in combination with one of the
arrow keys to "drag" the pixel. (Some computers need
the Num Lock key pressed first. If so, be certain
to press Num Lock again when finished.)
4
CTRL-B - Mark the beggining of block
You are encouraged to try all these commands. After all, it is the
best way to learn to use FONT MANIA.
Notice that CTRL commands will usually delete something, and ALT
commands usually add something to the editing character. CTRL-A, S,
W, and Z are easy to remember. Notice where A, S, W, and Z are
placed on the keyboard.
USING MENUS:
6
FILE menu:
Contains 8 items: Save, Save As..., Save ASM, Save PAS, Save C,
Save BIN, Load, About, and Exit. Selecting from among these items
will permit the use of the following functions:
Save:
Selecting this item is the same as using F2 command. Font
Mania will save the font in COM format. See SAVING FONTS for more
information. If 'FILE NAME' shows a name, that name will be used
and you will NOT be warned that the file already exists.
Save As...:
Selecting this item is the same as using ALT-A. Font Mania
will prompt you to enter a filename for the font. See SAVING FONTS
for more information. If you enter the name of an existing file
you will be warned of that fact.
Save ASM:
Save the font in ASSEMBLY text file format. See SAVING FONTS
for more information.
Save PAS:
Save the font in PASCAL format. See SAVING FONTS for more
information.
Save C:
Save the font in C header file format. See SAVING FONTS for
more information.
Save BIN:
Save the font in raw BINARY format. See SAVING FONTS for more
information.
Load:
Selecting this item is identical to using F3. FONT MANIA
loads the saved font file (COM format only) and reinitializes
itself. See LOADING FONT for more information.
About...:
Displays information about FONT MANIA.
Exit:
Selecting this item is the same as pressing ESC. FONT MANIA
will ask if you really want to exit the program. If the font
has been modified after the last saving of the font in COM file
format, FONT MANIA then ask if you want to save the font.
Contains 3 items: 200, 350, and 400. Each of the numbers cor-
responds to the number of scan lines on your monitor screen. This
scan line changing feature is operable only on VGA systems. If you
have EGA and try to change the scan line, FONT MANIA will display an
ERROR message. EGA always has 35O scan lines.
7
FONT menu:
200 8
350 14
400 16
BLOCK menu:
8
One unique function in this BLOCK menu is the BLOCK LOAD*
function. This option is similar to LOAD in the FILE menu, but in-
stead of replacing the current font by loading another entire font
file, BLOCK loads only the character(s) in the current block. Thus
it is easy to combine different portions (one or more characters) of
more than one font COM file. The uses of this feature are many. Just
as an example, if for some reason you wanted lowercase text to appear
in one style and uppercase in another style, you could "block copy"
lowercase from one font COM to another. To set your block, press the
Tab key to bring the entire character set to the screen. Place the
cursor on the first character of the desired block and press B (for
"Begin"). Then move the cursor to the last character of the block and
press E ("End"). Now Tab again and select BLOCK LOAD. Type the name
of the font COM from which you want to load the characters of the
block. In an instant the job will be done!
SAVING FONTS:
COM:
Saving in COM format is very simple. You can press ALT-S, ALT-
A, or F2 while the editing screen is visible. If you use ALT-S or
F2, and the font file already has a name, FONT MANIA will save the
file using that name and overwrite the old file. If the font has
not yet been named, or if you use ALT-A, FONT MANIA will ask if you
want to save it in 4O column mode. If you press 'Y', the resultant
COM file will change the screen mode to 4O columns when executed,
rather than 8O columns. Then FONT MANIA will prompt you for a file
name. Enter a name, including path if desired, with no extension.
If there is an existing file of the same name you will be alerted
to avoid overwriting it. The extension COM will be added automat-
ically. After saving you will be returned to the editing screen.
*The block load and block copy options are available in the registered version
of Font Mania.
9
ASSEMBLY:
To save in ASSEMBLY format, you must select Save ASM from the
FILE menu. You will be asked for the filename. Again, no
extension is needed. The extension ASM will be automatically
added to the end of the file name. After the name is entered you
will be prompted for a reference to be used. This is the name
used as the label for the font data. You will be returned to the
editing screen after FONT MANIA has completed these two saves.
PASCAL:
To save in PASCAL format, select Save PAS from the FILE menu.
You will be asked for the filename. Again, no extension is needed.
The extension PAS will be automatically added. When prompted for a
reference, enter a name to be used as the label for the font data.
You will be returned to the editing screen after the save.
C:
To save in C Header format, select Save C from the FILE menu.
You will be asked for the filename. Again, no extension is
needed. Extension H will be automatically added to the end of the
file name. After the file name is entered, you will be prompted
for a reference. This is the name to be used as the label for the
responding values for SCANLINE and FONT HEIGHT:
200 8
350 14
400 16
BINARY:
To save in raw BINARY format, select Save BIN. No extension is
needed; extension BIN is automatically added to the end of the
file name. After entering the file name, you will be asked for
a reference. This is the name to be used as the label for the
font data. You will be returned to the editing screen after
FONT MANIA saves the files. This format is for use with
languages other than the languages above.
LOADING A FONT:
10
In the above command "filename" is the name of a FONT MANIA COM
file. The file will be loaded automatically. To load a different
font while FONT MANIA is in operation, use ALT-L or choose "Load"
from the filemenu which is accessed with ALT-F. You will be prompted
for a filename. After entering the filename FONT MANIA will load
the font and reinitialize itself.
COM files are easiest to use. Just type the name of the COM
file at the DOS prompt; font will be loaded and the SCAN LINE will be
set (on VGA systems). For example, to load the font file named
COM_DEMO.COM type the following command and press <ENTER>:
COM_DEMO
As the file is loaded the scan line will be set to the correct scan
line setting (VGA systems only). The font will be active as long as
there is no change in video mode and no other font is loaded.
COM_DEMO I
The font will be loaded and remain resident in memory until the compu-
ter is reset or turned off. Such a memory-resident font will reload
whenever a change occurs in video mode, but graphics will not be af-
fected. To see how much memory is used by a font file, run ZMEM.EXE
(Comes with the REGISTERED VERSION of FONT MANIA).
For example, suppose you want to load the font into the character
generator block 0 and install the font in the memory. You would
use the command:
AMB b0 i
then press enter. Notice the use of the 'I' option. This option
enables you to uninstall the font from memory at any time with
the 'U' option. For example, to uninstall AMB.COM type the fol-
lowing:
AMB u
In general a program must use the ROM BIOS interrupt 10H (16), the
screen control interrupt, function 11H sub-function 10H to load the
font. The following are the parameters needed to call the interrupt:
AH = 11H
AL = 10H
BH = points (bytes per character)
BL = block (use 0)
CX = number of character defined by table (256)
DX = first character code in table (use 0)
ES = segment of the table
BP = offset of the table
For ASSEMBLY, C, and PASCAL, see the following files for examples of
the above. These may be typed to the screen or printed:
PAS_DEMO.PAS
ASM_DEMO.ASM
C_DEMO.C
For other languages, a programmer might use the COM file format by
shelling out to DOS to load the COM file. For example, in Quick Basic
the following command may be utilized:
12
SHELL "AMB.COM"
The spceial effects used in the DEMO program are quite easy to
make with FONT MANIA. Some effects are done by combining two or
more characters. Here are several examples showing how you may
create special effects with FONT MANIA:
INITIALS:
In this effect, once the COM file is loaded, typing one key will
produce a word, name or initials in miniature letters. It is
quite easy to alter a character (or more than one, if you like) to
achieve this effect. Pick any character you want to convert to its
new use. You might select characters such as < and > for example,
and totally change each of them:
"<" ">"
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13
BUTTONS:
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For the example, use the characters shown above the designs
to create the buttons. The above is just a sample design for 14-
point fonts. You are not limited to this design, of course.
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In the preceding example the equals sign (=) has been rede-
signed to be the flame, the bracket (]) becomes the tail piece,
the minus sign (-) is the body of the missile, and the greater-
than symbol (>) the head of the missile. When the font contain-
ing this design is active, typing (or having a program "print")
this string: "=]--->" will create a missile pointing to the right.
Notice the use of more than one minus sign in the string. By in-
cluding more than 1 body character the missile becomes as long as
desired.
15
AN ANIMATED CHARACTER:
"4" "5"
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Because each character differs just slightly from the first one,
simply create the first one "pixel by pixel" in Font Mania. Then
use the ALT-C "copy" command to create 4 copies; modify the copies
as shown here. By displaying these five characters in sequence at
one location on the screen, the illusion of an hourglass with fall-
ing sand is created. With a time-delay after each character's dis-
play, plus a loop, the animation of a character which is no larger
than one uppercase letter is easily created!
16
These few examples of special effects which may be made with
FONT MANIA provide a mere hint of possibilities. There is no
limit to effects which may be created with altered fonts made by
FONT MANIA.
Characters which are the full width of the block will be correct
when used with a VGA monitor, but the letters will "run together" on
an EGA monitor. The enclosed samples, JULIE.COM and POOTER.COM are in
this category. Wide fonts may be made narrower for use on EGA systems
by reducing their width, as we did by narrowing the POOTER font and
saving it as POOTER2.COM. To make the letters and numerals narrower,
we used Font Mania to remove one vertical column from each character
with CTRL-X. In some cases we added a pixel or two to improve a let-
ter's appearance. If we made an error, we restored the original font
with CTRL-D and tried again. The conversion of POOTER to POOTER2 was
accomplished in less than 1O minutes. Try not to lose sight of the
possibility of your fonts being used on an EGA system.
ILLUSTRATION SHOWING HOW THE POOTER FONT WAS EDITED TO MAKE POOTER2:
~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
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ORIGINAL "A" EDITED "A"
FILLS WIDTH OF BLOCK ONE COLUMN REMOVED PIXELS AUTOMATICALLY
(TOO WIDE FOR EGA) RELOCATE LEFT AS SHOWN
17
AUTOMATIC MODE RESET:
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The same row will appear as 50 dotted rectangles if the VGA scanline
is in effect. NOTE: An EGA system can not be reset to a VGA scanline.
A font which is not saved with automatic mode reset may produce a
small problem when it is installed on a system other than the one on
which it was created. For example, a font created on a VGA system
will be slightly "taller" if used with EGA, and the listing of a long
file directory will result in the apparent "disappearance" of the DOS
prompt and cursor below the bottom line of the screen. If this occurs
do not panic. Simply clear the screen with the CLS command and your
DOS prompt and cursor will reappear in the top left corner. The re-
verse effect will occur if a font made on an EGA system is displayed
on a VGA monitor. 25 lines of text will not extend to the bottom of
the screen, because each line will be vertically "stunted." To pre-
vent these minor annoyances when you anticipate that your font may be
used on both systems, save it as a 14-point font with a scanline of
350 and select automatic mode reset. If this is done, the font height
will not vary regardless of whether it is used with VGA or EGA.
There are times when it is advantageous not to use the automatic mode
reset. For example, if you want the text on the screen to "magically"
change to a different font, you must have the 2nd font saved without
automatic mode reset. Otherwise the screen will blank during the mode
set and the change will not appear as magical.
The default font style is that which appears on your screen when
you start your computer. Your computer has one particular font or
lettering style stored in its read-only memory or ROM. When a COM
file created in Font Mania is put into use, at a later time you may
wish to return to the default font. This will happen automatically
each time your computer is started or reset, unless your AUTOEXEC.BAT
file is set up to load a font COM. However, it is not necessary to
reset the computer to return the default font to the screen. If
neither the I nor R option has been used in loading the font COM file,
typing the following DOS command will restore the default font after
the Enter key is pressed: mode CO80
If the font COM file has been installed with the I option, it must be
uninstalled with the U option. This will restore the default font.
If the font COM is one which resets the video mode, restoring the
default font will not restore the computer's default video mode (EGA
or VGA scanline) if it has been changed. To restore the video mode or
scanline run EGA.COM or VGA.COM (included with registered Font Mania).
VGA.COM has no effect if you are using a system with an EGA monitor.
If you write a batch file or program which resets the video mode, and
you anticipate its use on both EGA and VGA systems, you may end the
file with commands which run EGA.COM followed by VGA.COM. In this way
you may be assured the system will be reset to both the default font
and the default video mode or scanline.
Please complete the registration form which follows, and mail with
payment in full. Thank you.
If you have questions regarding the use of Font Mania you may write to
REXXCOM at the address on the registration form, or leave a message on
CompuServe. Address Email to CompuServe ID 72656,2765.
19
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FONT MANIA Version 2.2 REGISTRATION FORM
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NAME: ________________________________________________________
ADDRESS: ________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
(Include ZIP code or equivalent)
[ ] 3.5" [ ] 5.25"
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TOTAL = __________
REXXCOM SYSTEMS
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Mail this form with payment in full to:
REXXCOM SYSTEMS
P.O. BOX 111
SCHOOLEY'S MTN., NJ 07870
THANK YOU.