FONTMASTER 1.0 LEVEL FOUR-ADVANCED SOFTWARE DESIGN  JPN 29/03/89

I. ABOUT FONTMASTER

Fontmaster is a program to create own fonts with the size 8x8.
It creates a pure data-file containing just all
informations which are needed for a font using the ASCII-area
from CHR$(32) -> CHR$(127). There are 96 characters which can
be modified so the hole data-file consists of 96*8 Bytes
=> 768 ($300) Bytes.

II. THE FUNCTIONS

1. How to select and edit a character

All functions are shown in the PAL-area of the screen.
Press 'HELP' to flip the HELP-page (There are two).
When starting the program two cursors are displayed.
The upper one shows the actual character and the lower one
is used to modify the character.
Use the cursor keys to select a character to be modified and
press 'ESC' to edit the character.
The active part of the screen is shown grey.
Now use the cursor keys to place the cursor anywhere on the
zoomed character you want and press 'SPACE' to set/reset a pixel.
There is one command which just can be used in this mode.
Press the 'TAB'ulator key and the actual databyte will be shifted.
The other functions can be used at both modes.

2. THE MAIN EDIT FUNCTIONS WHICH ARE POSSIBLE IN BOTH MODES

'HELP'     : flip help-page
'ESC'      : toggles between the select-mode and the edit-mode
'DEL'      : erases actual character
'X'        : mirror image X
'Y'        : mirror image Y
'I'        : invert character
'CTRL'     : rotates actual character
'CAPS/LOCK':  ON  -> cursor keys are used for scrolling the actual character
              OFF -> cursor keys are used to move one of the two cursors

3. OTHER FUNCTIONS

'F 1'      : load font (just pure data files)
'F 2'      : save font       DATA-FILE : saves just all data
                             SEKA-hex  : saves data as a SEKA
                                         source-file with hex-data
                                         looks like : dc.b $ff,$fe,$fd
                             SEKA-bin  : saves data as a SEKA
                                         source-file with binary data
                                         looks like : dc.b %00010111
'F 3'      : restores the Commodore system (TOPAZ) font.
'F 4'      : copy's the actual character into a buffer
'F 5'      : replaces the actual character by the character which
             is stored in the buffer
'q'        : exit FONTMASTER

III. FURTHER INFORMATION

1. LOAD & SAVE

- when pressing F1 (load) or F2 (save) by accident you just have to
  press return without any input to cancel
- if you save the font as a SEKA-file you must add the suffix '.s'.
- Only data-files can be loaded
- the comment 'CHECKING DISK' just waits to avoid system-requests
  like 'REPLACE VOLUME BLABLA'
- a font is saved/loaded when the text 'SAVING...' or 'LOADING...'
  appeared. Otherwise the disk was protected or
  initializing (Or not in drive!)
- the path must be set everytime the load or save function is
  used
- every disk access refers to df0: so you needn't to write df0:name,
  just the path and the filename : e.g. 'fonts/5x5'
                                     or 'charset'
  wrong would be 'df0:fonts/5x5' because the Amiga then tries
  to load 'df0:df0:fonts/5x5'
2. THE FORMAT

Just try the option 'SEKA-bin' in the save-menu und load the created
file with the SEKA-Assembler and you see how the databytes are stored
on disk.
The datas are in the order of ASCII :
first the 8 databytes from CHR$(32) which is a blank followed by the
          8 databytes from CHR$(33) which is a '!'
          8 databytes from CHR$(127) which is a ??? (I can't find it on
          the keyboard. Anyway CHR$(127) is CHR$(127).
          It looks like CHR$(102) on the C-64 (If I remind correctly)

Use following formula to get the startaddress of the wished character :

loadaddress+(asc("X")-32)*8      e.g.  you want a 'A' A=65
X=character you want                   fontaddress=$40000
                                       address=$40000+((65-32)*8)
IV. FINAL PAGE

This is all which must be known for the use of FONTMASTER.
I always like to hear critics (positive and negative) in order
to improve or change the present version.

We are still looking for good good coders and musicians to join us.
You needn't to be famous just good !!! We are now 7 coders so we
could help each other. If you are O.K. call BRD (0631)/$$1an8 (base=32)

                        (no name!)
                        PLK 106125 C
                        6750 KAISERSLAUTERN
                        WEST-GERMANY

Important note : The load-function does not work in case of running
                 Fontmaster from a 5.25 " drive !

Some personal greetings to : TCS,ROGI,GENESIS,EVE,PINCHER,DARRYL AND ALL
                             OF THOSE WHO ARE IN CONTACT WITH ME
JPN/LEVEL 4-ASD/AFL