Hello, Werner. On Sat, Jul 20, 2024 at 04:12:19 +0000, Werner LEMBERG wrote:
> Hello Alan, > > I was looking to convert some TTF fonts to bitmaps for use in the > > Linux console, and I was wondering whether freetype might be the > > right software for this. > What exactly are you doing? I am trying to enhance the Linux framebuffer console to handle an unbounded number of glyphs, not just the 256 (or 512) it's restricted to at the moment. Also, I want to enable 24-bit colour in place of the current 4-bit (or 3-bit) colour, but that's less important at the moment. I can't help thinking that somebody else MUST have done this already, but why have I not heard of it, and what has happened to her/his code? So, I need bitmap fonts for Unicode to be able to make this work. GNU Unifont is restricted to 8x16 pixel characters, which makes it unsuitable for what I want to do - I know people who use a larger font because their eyes can no longer see well enough for 8x16. Seeing as how there are a lot of existing .ttf fonts with open enough licences, it seems converting some of these to .psfu bitmap fonts is a good way to go. > You have glyphs indices, and you want to convert them to bitmaps? If > this is correct, then FreeType is indeed the right application. > However, if you have character codes, FreeType is too low-level, and > you first need a shaping engine like HarfBuzz to get glyph indices – > even for a console. Without a shaping engine, only the simplest > left-to-right text with old-style kerning pairs is supported > correctly. Yes. It is clear that the Linux console can't handle everything. I'm not at all familiar with non-European writing methods, but the console can surely be improved for European alphabets and this may spill over into other scripts. > > This tutorial is absolutely brilliant! It goes into exactly the > > right level of detail (at least, for me), and covered most (?all) of > > the little points I thought I'd need to spend hours scanning a > > manual for. > > Many thanks to the person who took the trouble to write it so well. > Thanks! The praise goes mainly to David Turner, who has started the > FreeType project many years ago. Since then, the tutorial has been > improved and updated here and there. > Werner -- Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).
