Subject: comp.fonts FAQ: Atari Info
From: [email-masked] (Norman Walsh)
Date: 14 Aug 1996 10:35:24 -0400
Newsgroups: comp.fonts,comp.answers,news.answers

Archive-name: fonts-faq/part14
Version: 2.1.5

Subject: 9. Atari ST/TT/Falcon Information
  
  Erlend Nagel contributed the following information about the Atari
  ST/TT/Falcon.
  
Subject: 9.1. SpeedoGDOS
  
  SpeedoGDOS is similar to ATM.
  
  Fonts included with SpeedoGDOS 4.x
  ==================================
  
  14 fonts are included with SpeedoGDOS 4.x.
  
  Bitstream Cooper Black, Dutch 801 Roman, Dutch 801 Bold, Dutch 801
  Italic, Dutch 801 Bold Italic, Monospace 821, More Wingbats SWC, Park
  Avenue, Swiss 721, Swiss 721 Bold, Swiss 721 Italic, Swiss 721 Bols
  Italic, Symbol Monospaced, and VAG Rounded
  
  Fonts included with SpeedoGDOS 5.x
  ==================================
  
  24 fonts are included with SpeedoGDOS 5.x.  All fonts included with
  SpeedoGDOS 4.x plus the following:
  
  American Garamond Roman, American Garamond Bold, American Garamond
  Italic, American Garamond Bold Italic, AD LIB Regular, Allegro Regular,
  Amelia Regular, and Cataneo Bold
  
Subject: 9.2. Atari File Formats
  
  Atari Font formats
  ==================
  
  The standard Atari OS in ROM does not support any type of fonts. To use
  different fonts in applications, either the application has to have
  built-in support for some font format, or an add-on program is needed.
  This add-on program is called a GDOS, a Graphical Device Operating
  System. There are many different versions of GDOS.
  
  The earliest versions of GDOS supported only GEM bitmap fonts (*.FNT).
  These versions include GDOS, AMC-GDOS (Atari), G-plus (Codehead) and
  Font-GDOS (Atari again). Font-GDOS (available for free) added caching
  to the font-manager, so not all fonts need to reside in memory at the
  same time.
  
  FontGDOS and FSM-GDOS were develloped in parallel and are both
  successors of Atari-GDOS (1.x).  The FSM stands for Font Scaling
  Manager and allowed vector fonts to be used.  FSM-GDOS was only
  included with Wordflair II and G-Man. FSM-GDOS also still supported GEM
  bitmap fonts.  The font format is the QMS/Imagen format.
  
  After FSM-GDOS, Atari introduced SpeedoGDOS 4.0, using Speedo font
  scaling technology licensed from Bitstream. 14 fonts are included with
  this version (see 1.15). SpeedoGDOS 4.0 and 4.1 can use GEM bitmap,
  Atari encrypted and commercially encrypted Speedo fonts. As of version
  4.2 also the publicly available X11 Speedo fonts can be used.
  SpeedoGDOS offers improved speed and reliability over FSM-GDOS, as well
  as track- and pair-kerning.
  
  Recently Compo Software introduced SpeedoGDOS 5.x which supports GEM
  bitmap, Speedo, Truetype and Type 1 fonts. Included are 22 Speedo fonts
  (see 1.15).
  
  For more information about the GDOS format, consult the GDOS FAQ:
  ftp://ftp.cs.tu-berlin.de/pub/atari/Gdos/gdosi??e.txt.  The "??" is the
  version number; as of 01 Mar 95, the versions are: 24 in English and 25
  in German.  A LaTeX version of the German edition is also available.
  
  Also recently introduced was NVDI 3.0 by Behne & Behne, which supports
  GEM bitmap, Speedo and Truetype fonts. The biggest difference when
  compared to SpeedoGDOS 5.x is the improved speed, because NVDI is
  written in Assembler instead of C. Only 2 fonts are included with NVDI
  3.0.
  
  These fonts are transparent to programs. There are a few other options
  that require support by the program using the fonts. Two major font
  formats are supported in this way on the Atari, namely
  Signum!2/Signum!3 fonts and Calamus fonts.
  
  The Signum!2 font format is a bitmapped font format supported by many
  wordprocessors and some drawing packages. Amazing print quality on
  9-needle printers. Many high quality designs are available in Signum!2
  and Signum!3 format (Mostly German), especially for some special
  languages like Polish. There are also many PD fonts available in this
  format.
  
  The Calamus (*.CFN) format was introduced by DMC, in their Calamus DTP
  program that uses soft-RIPping. The Calamus font format has no hinting
  since it is meant to be used on very  high resolution type setting
  machines. Also supported by Digital Art's (DA's) software.  Many
  professional designs are available in this format, as well as a lot of
  PD fonts.
  
  Atari Font Format Extensions
  ============================
  
  File formats specific to the Atari platform:
  
     * .E24
  
       Bitmapped Signum!2 screen font.
  
     * .L30
  
       Bitmapped Signum!2 printer font for Laser and Deskjet printers.
  
     * .OTL
  
       Vector font table used by FSM-GDOS.
  
     * .P9
  
       Bitmapped Signum!2 printer font for Hi-Res 9-needle printers
       (214*196 dpi).
  
     * .P24
  
       Bitmapped Signum!2 printer font for 24-needle printers.
  
     * .QFM
  
       Vector font used by FSM-GDOS.
  
Subject: 9.3. Frequently Requested Atari Fonts
  
  Some fonts, including a few Speedo fonts are available from various
  archives. The most important Atari archive is atari.archive.umich.edu.
  
  Most fonts can be had from PD/Shareware distributors around the world...