# README: information about jmk-x11-fonts
# created 1998-08-31 Jim Knoble <jmknoble@pobox.com>
# autodate: 1999-Jan-20 02:51

+-------------+
| Description |
+-------------+

These are character-cell fonts for use with the X Window System,
created by Jim Knoble.  The current list of fonts included in this
package are:

    Neep (formerly known as NouveauGothic)

        A pleasantly legible variation on the standard fixed fonts that
        accompany most distributions of the X Window System.  Comes in
        both normal and bold weights in small, medium, large,
        extra-large, and huge sizes, as well as an extra-small size
        that only comes in normal weight.  Both ISO-8859-1 and
        ISO-8859-2 encodings are available.

    Modd

        A fixed-width font with sleek, contemporary styling.  Normal
        and bold weights in a 12-point (6x13) size.  ISO-8859-1
        encoding only.

These fonts were created using the xmbdfed BDF font editor
<ftp://crl.nmsu.edu/CLR/multiling/General/>.

For more information about fonts and the X Window System, see the X(1)
man page.

+----------------+
| Recent Changes |
+----------------+

v2.0: 1999-01-20

  - Added ISO-8859-2 (Latin2) fonts.  Changed fonts.alias so that the
    ISO-8859-1 (Latin1) fonts are called, e.g.,
    `neep-iso8859-1-bold-12' instead of `neep-bold-12'.  `neep-bold-12'
    is, by default, an alias for `neep-iso8859-1-bold-12'; by editing
    fonts.alias before installing, you can make `neep-bold-12' point to
    `neep-iso8859-2-bold-12' to use the ISO-8859-2 fonts by default, if
    you use font aliases.
  
  - `NouveauGothic' has disappeared from fonts.alias, as a direct
    result of the above.  If you want NouveauGothic aliases, you'll
    have to maintain them yourself.

  - Very minor tweaks to some characters.  Specificially: improvements
    to characters with a cedilla in almost all sizes of Neep;
    improvements to characters with a tilde in Neep-12 and
    Neep-Bold-12.

v1.3: 1998-12-22

  - Changed the name of NouveauGothic to `Neep'.  I intended the font
    to be mostly practical (i.e., compact but legible), but with some
    aesthetic value.  `NouveauGothic' is just too damn long a name to
    be considered practical---four letters is much more practical.
    And, according to my (printed) edition of Webster's New Collegiate
    Dictionary:
    
        neep, n. < Anglo-Saxon `np'; (Scot. and Dial.) A turnip.

    What could be more practical than a turnip?
    
    NOTE:  If you install the `fonts.alias' file, the old names will
    still work.  They'll be phased out in a later release.

    NOTE ALSO:  If you have a prior version of jmk-x11-fonts, you should
    probably move the `jmk' font directory out of the way before
    installing this version.  If you don't do so, you're likely to
    create a bit of a mess.  If you upgrade using an RPM, you're in
    good shape (it's one good reason to use packages like RPMs).

  - Radically changed the shape of Neep-18 (the 10x20 font).  The
    shape was too round and created jaggies on some characters.  The
    new shape is more square, and i think it's more legible.
    Constructive comments are welcome on this.

  - Tweaked glyphs in Neep-9 (the 5x11 font).  Some glyphs weren't
    properly centered in the character cell, and some accented
    characters didn't have the proper shape.

  - Tweaked a few glyphs in Modd and Modd-Bold; the accented `i' glyphs
    still had an old serif on them.

  - Still only ISO-8859-1 encoding.  Sorry ... i was in West Africa for
    five weeks.  Next time.

v1.2: 1998-10-13

  - Added alternate set of NouveauGothic fonts which have a more
    traditionally-shaped ampersand (&) character, for those who prefer
    it.  The alternate fonts are installed alongside the regular ones
    and are available via font aliases as, for example,
    `nouveau-gothic-alt-12' or `nouveau-gothic-alt-bold-24'.  Thanks to
    Alain Empain <alemp@br.fgov.be> for pointing out that folks don't
    have the same typographical conventions everywhere.

  - Changed the filenames of the 5x11, 6x11, 6x13, and 8x15 fonts to
    use two digits in the XxY part of the filename (for example,
    `nouveau-gothic-05x11.bdf') so that filenames sort properly without
    user intervention.  This is something i should have done from the
    beginning.  This change will probably require that you either move
    the old font directory out of the way or remove it completely
    before installing the new fonts.  Note that this change does *not*
    affect the actual X11 font names, only the font filenames.

  - Radically restructured the way the NouveauGothic fonts are built in
    preparation for multiple font encodings down the road.

v1.1: 1998-09-16

  - Added Modd font family.
  
  - Added two new sizes to NouveauGothic: extra small (5x11 medium
    weight only) and huge (12x24).

  - Added tick marks to zero ('0') characters in medium weights of most
    NouveauGothic sizes, to aid in differentiating from capital 'O'
    characters.  Some bold weights (as well as the 5x11 medium weight)
    don't have enough room for tick marks.

v1.0.1: 1998-09-06

    Fixed bug in nouveau-gothic-6x11.bdf where characters 251 and 252
    were 1 pixel below the baseline.  Thanks to Edgar Toernig
    <froese@gmx.de>.

v1.0: 1998-08-31

    Initial release.

+------------+
| Installing |
+------------+

To use these fonts, you need:

    The X Window System

To install these fonts, you need:

    imake
    make
    bdftopcf
    mkfontdir
    gzip
    tar

Here's how:

    (1) Unpack the tarball containing the jmk-x11-font sources and
        change to the resulting directory.  If you're reading this, you
        already did that, or someone already did it for you.

    (2) Create the Makefile from the Imakefile using imake:
    
            xmkmf

    (3) Compile the BDF fonts to PCF fonts and compress them:
    
            make
            
        If your X Window System supports it, the PCF fonts will be
        compressed using compress (.Z) or gzip (.gz).

    (3) If you're upgrading from a prior release, move the old `jmk'
         font directory out of the way before installing:
         
            mv FONTDIR/jmk/ FONTDIR/jmk.old/

        (where FONTDIR is the directory under which you installed the
        prior release of these fonts).

    (4) Install the resulting PCF fonts and the fonts.dir and
        fonts.alias files:
        
            make install

        If you would rather install the fonts somewhere besides the
        default location, FONTDIR/jmk/ (where FONTDIR is the root of
        the directory hierarchy where the X Window System fonts are
        installed), you can specify the place to install them on the
        command line:
        
            make install INSTALL_DIR='/insert/your/dir/here'

    (5) Add the directory you installed the fonts into to your font
        path.  You can do this on the fly using (for example):
        
            xset +fp /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/jmk

        This adds the directory to the beginning of your font path.  To
        add the directory to the end of your font path, use:
        
            xset fp+ /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts/jmk

        Remember to replace `/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/fonts' with the
        directory where the X Window System fonts are stored on your
        system (if in doubt, look in the Makefile generated by imake
        for the value of the FONTDIR variable).

        You can add one of the commands above to your ~/.xsession or
        ~/.xinitrc or ~/.Xclients startup file in order to use acces
        the fonts in every X session.

    (6) You can use the font aliases defined in the accompanying
        fonts.alias file for easier specification of these fonts.  For
        example:

            xterm -fn neep-12 -fb neep-bold-12

+-------+
| Notes |
+-------+

I designed the Imakefile for X11R6.3.  If you have a different version
of X and the Imakefile doesn't work for you, let me know, and perhaps
we can fix it.

Yes, you really need imake.  No, i'm not going to duplicate effort and
maintain a Makefile in addition to an Imakefile.  If you don't have
imake on your system, but you have the X Window System, complain to
your vendor.  If you don't feel like complaining to your vendor,
perhaps you feel like figuring out how to use bdftopcf and mkfontdir.
They each have fine manual pages.  If you don't have manual pages for
them on your system, complain to your vendor loudly.

+---------+
| History |
+---------+

The Neep (formerly NouveauGothic) family of fonts started out with the
6x13 fonts, because the only decent-looking character cell font that
came with XFree86 was the 7x13 font, and i wanted a font that was
smaller (to make better use of my limited screen real estate) and at
the same time both legible and aesthetically pleasing.  That soon led
to the 6x11 fonts, which i made specifically for my laptop running
Linux and XFree86 at 800x600.  Then, since i had a small and medium
font, large and extra-large ones soon followed to make a relatively
full set.

+------------------+
| Acknowledgements |
+------------------+

Mark Leisher <mleisher@crl.nmsu.edu>, author of xmbdfed.
Lorry Philipp, my 7th grade teacher, who taught me calligraphy and the
    art of lettering.
The many folks involved with the X Window System.
The many folks who have sent me encouraging feedback.

+-------------------------------------+
| Copying, Copyright, and Open Source |
+-------------------------------------+

These fonts are all copyright  1998 Jim Knoble <jmknoble@pobox.com>.
I have chosen to release them under the terms of the GNU General Public
License (GPL) version 2.0, or, at your option, any later version.  This
means that you may freely modify and distribute these fonts, as long as
you distribute the source code for the fonts as well.  The full text of
the GPL is available at <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html> at the
time of this writing.

This form of `free software' is known as Open Source software.  See
<http://www.opensource.org/> for more information.

Some few parts of these fonts are derived from the 6x13 fixed font
accompanying the XFree86-3.3.2 distribution of the X Window System.
That font bears the notice `Public domain font; share and enjoy'.

The vast majority of this set of fonts is original work.  Besides the
derivations noted above, any resemblance to other fonts, copyrighted or
not, may be accounted for by standard letter shapes and the relatively
coarse resolution (75dpi) for which the fonts were created.

+------------+
| Disclaimer |
+------------+

No warranty of any kind, either express or implied, including that of
merchantibility or fitness for a particular purpose.  If anything
breaks, you get to keep both pieces.  Your mileage may vary.  Eat your
vegetables.

--jim 

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% jim knoble %%%%%%%% jmknoble@pobox.com %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
