Bitmap fonts in Mac OS X

kdraperkdraper
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
How might a guy go about converting .FON files from Windows to something usable in OS X? I've grown attached to a few fonts for programming and command-line stuff, the SysMono font in particular (actually from OS/2).



Alternately, are there any decent tools available for creating this sort of low-tech font in OS X?



Alternately-alternately, anyone know of a good clean monospaced font that looks a lot like this? I really don't like the ultra-small and/or thin programming fonts (e.g. Proggy Clean).







Comments

  • Reply 1 of 9
    gregmightdothatgregmightdothat Posts: 1,709member
    Gross.
  • Reply 2 of 9
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    I use Monaco 10pt because it looks nice even with anti-aliasing off.
  • Reply 3 of 9
    splinemodelsplinemodel Posts: 7,311member
    I use Lucida Console. Nice font.
  • Reply 4 of 9
    mr. memr. me Posts: 3,221member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kdraper


    How might a guy go about converting .FON files from Windows to something usable in OS X? I've grown attached to a few fonts for programming and command-line stuff, the SysMono font in particular (actually from OS/2).



    Alternately, are there any decent tools available for creating this sort of low-tech font in OS X?



    Alternately-alternately, anyone know of a good clean monospaced font that looks a lot like this? I really don't like the ultra-small and/or thin programming fonts (e.g. Proggy Clean).



    ...



    The takeaway message is that you don't need a Windows font for your programming chores. If you would like a bitmap font, you should be able to find VT100 (aka VT100.suit) by searching your Mac shareware site. However, most people use Monaco for their onscreen monospace needs.
  • Reply 5 of 9
    kickahakickaha Posts: 8,760member
    What, no one else likes Copperplate Gothic for the Terminal? (joke)



    Here's a wacky idea... have you *tried* putting the .fon file into /Library/Fonts on your Mac and seeing if it works? I have this nagging feeling it might... ...and, no. Just tried. OTOH, I see a number of free fonts where the designer has been sent TrueType versions of their .fon files, and they've mad them available. So obviously there are ways to convert .fon to TrueType, and the Mac can use those just fine.



    While searching for the above, found this: http://www.tobias-jung.de/seekingprofont/



    I might have to try it out instead of Monaco, and see how it works... looks nice.



    Conversion links:

    http://guides.macrumors.com/Mac_Font_Basics_and_Sources

    http://cg.scs.carleton.ca/~luc/maceditors.html
  • Reply 6 of 9
    audiopollutionaudiopollution Posts: 3,226member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Kickaha


    What, no one else like Copperplate Gothic for the Terminal? (joke)



    I use Sabbath Black exclusively.
  • Reply 7 of 9
    thegarthegar Posts: 92member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kdraper


    How might a guy go about converting .FON files from Windows to something usable in OS X? I've grown attached to a few fonts for programming and command-line stuff, the SysMono font in particular (actually from OS/2).



    Alternately, are there any decent tools available for creating this sort of low-tech font in OS X?



    If you insist of using that particular Windows font, try converting it to a Mac font with FontLab Studio. It gives good results, as I use it all the time when I encounter this problem. Even for DTP/graphics stuff, and it's pixel-precise.

    FontLab is actually meant for creating fonts, so you might give that a try as well.
  • Reply 8 of 9
    kdraperkdraper Posts: 24member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by theGAR


    If you insist of using that particular Windows font, try converting it to a Mac font with FontLab Studio. It gives good results, as I use it all the time when I encounter this problem. Even for DTP/graphics stuff, and it's pixel-precise.

    FontLab is actually meant for creating fonts, so you might give that a try as well.



    I actually tried out BitFonter from the same folks. It worked great, but in the trial version it garbles 50% of the output characters; the full version is US $500, a bit steep for my uses. Seems to be a nice app though, as I'd guess FontLab is.
  • Reply 9 of 9
    kdraperkdraper Posts: 24member
    Nearly forgot to follow up!



    I settled this over the weekend with FontForge, an open source tool (requires X11). Not as polished as FontLab, but free, and it converted .FON to .dfont properly.







    Maybe not the prettiest font in the world, but I'm attached to it, and it manages to stay readable through bleary-eyed 14-20 hour sessions at the terminal.



    On the anti-aliased side, Microsoft's seems nice. I may give that a shot too.



    Thanks for your comments everyone.



    For the search engines: Convert Windows .FON to Mac .dfont with FontForge.
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