Thank You for acquiring the ProStream Postscript Type-1 Typefaces Package from ALLIED STUDIOS. ========================================================== TECHNICAL SUPPORT is available by calling (415) 863-1781. Do not assume this phone number is correct after 1992 ends. Hours are usually 10:00 am - 6:00 pm weekdays, West Coast. ========================================================== Disks are cheaper than paper. One AMIGA 837K floppy disk holds words equal to about three newsstand paperback books. The cost of printing three pocket-sized books, by a small-scale publisher is over ten dollars. Most of the text documentation for this package is on disk number 2 in the set. It is very important that you read the introductory portion of the booklet before you make any attempt to use, or install the software. "Postscript" is a computer language, created and sold by ADOBE, INC., of Mountain View, California. A "Postscript Printer" is a computer with a built-in printer, designed to accept and follow postscript language programs. "Postscript Typefaces" (erroneously referred to as "fonts") are postscript language subroutines, which are useless by themselves without a program calling these subroutines. The postscript printer-computer receives its instructions in its own language from another computer connected to it by a cable. The computer sending the instructions to the postscript printer has to translate into postscript first before sending the instructions. In your case, you are using an AMIGA computer since you bought Amiga software here. There is no standard for installing Postscript Typeface software on the Amiga. Each program invents its own method for handling Postscript Typefaces. This is a major defect in the Amiga System software. Macintosh success is largely due to the ease-of-use of Postscript software with simple standardized installation. If you make even one small mistake you will fail to get satisfactory results. These typefaces are known to work with the programs Professional Page by Gold Disk, Inc., and PageStream by Soft-Logic, Inc. They work within the limitations of those programs, and within the limitations of the Postscript Computer Language, and within the limitations of the Postscript Printer Hardware. It is very possible for you to exceed a limitation which you do not know exists, because much of the internal details of Postscript, Professional Page, PageStream, and the decisions of the printer manufacturer are unknown to you. It is important that you not make any rash guesses or impulsive actions concerning the installation of this software if you are not already experienced in such installation. If you have never successfully installed extra typefaces for use by your software before, you must exactly follow the instructions given by this product for installation of this product. Even if you have installed extra typefaces before, other manufacturers have decided upon other methods of data storage and installation then you find here, and prior experience may lead you into trouble with these. These typefaces work when installed exactly as instructed. Troubleshooting is the term used to describe a "Sherlock Holmes" approach to solving troublesome mysteries. As Sherlock said: "When one has eliminated every other imaginable possibility, the answer, no matter how improbable, is the one left remaining." On disk is a text file of a series of steps you can take to examine and eliminate a number of possibilities of known troublemakers. No two people have the exact same amount of knowledge on a particular subject. There are people at Adobe, Inc., who obviously know more about Postscript than I do. There are people at Gold Disk, Inc., who know more about Professional Page than I do. There are people at Soft-Logic, Inc., who know more about PageStream than I do. I may know more than some of the readers of these words. There's a glossary of terms on disk to help those who need to understand the meanings of words used in the directions before they can even follow the directions. At one time every single one of us was a squalling baby who didn't know anything, including the people at Adobe/Gold Disk/Soft-Logic & Allied Studios. If we could learn it, you can learn some of it. In most cases, once the learning part is over, after a few months later we look back and wonder: "This stuff is so easy; why did I ever think it was hard?" ========================================================== READ THE GLOSSARY_TEXT FILE FIRST BEFORE CONTINUING! ========================================================== PROFESSIONAL PAGE INSTALLATION Professional Page, since version 1.3 allowed downloading typeface data files with a document file into a Postscript printer. Unfortunately, the method of installation of postscript typeface files for downloading was never explained. By examining PPage in a binary editor program, hunting for all occurrences of the ":" (colon) character, I was able to determine that PPage checked for a directory called "PS" in the "CGFONTS:" directory. I was further able to identify that the typeface file needed a suffix to their filename of ".psfont". Before this discovery I had success by using AmigaDOS to join, or concatenate, the typeface file followed by the PPage document printed to diskette. PPage needs something before the typeface can ever be used in the document creation. It needs an AmigaDOS standard diskfont bitmap font. Before it can begin to use the AmigaDOS font it needs a binary data file containing the widths of each character, and kerning pairs data, in its own ppage secret format, called a "metric" file. This file is stored along with the AmigaDOS diskfonts, with a required filename suffix of ".metric". AmigaDOS diskfonts have their own Commodore-Amiga imposed requirements. They are composed of three software components: (1) A file of the pictures of the letters in bitmap form, in a particular size, named with a number; (2) a directory, named after the typeface name, containing the size file(s); and (3) a pointer/index file, recording the size(s) available in the typeface directory, and identifying that directory as containing fonts of a particular typeface. There are then six requirements needed to download a typeface file to a postscript printer along with a ppage-created postscript program which utilizes the typeface data to output one or more pages. There has to be an Amiga font with its three requirements; plus a metric file along with the Amiga font; a directory named "CGFONTS:PS" has to contain a valid typeface file, correctly named plus correctly suffixed. AmigaDOS diskfonts are a complex subject beyond the scope of this document. The pointer/index file is a binary, or machine-language, file which requires special editing utilities, such as "Fixfont" included with AmigaDOS since version 1.3, or "FontFixer" from InterActive Softworks, Inc. Suffice it to say that unless you can edit the ".font" file (often spoken of as a "dot font" file), then you must install all the sizes which are included of a particular bitmap typeface name. If you use "DiskMaster" or any dirutil-type utility and only move some of the bitmap sizes, the index function of the .font file will be incorrect, and some software will perform with unpredictable results. (Can you say "GURU"?) The Quick-Start instructions in the booklet ignored all the technical mumbo-jumbo. It just directed you to install everything with a few commands typed on a Command Line Interface. That is not a practical situation for Amiga owners using floppy disks without any hard drive, or for those who only intend to use just a few of the typefaces provided. Amiga owners will need to be familiar with a few AmigaDOS commands. There are a dozen or so which are used frequently, and many more used on more rare occasion. The "AmigaDOS Replacement Project" redesigned some commands to perform better, and blessed is the user who has the best of both. Since AmigaDOS is included with every "Workbench" sold with every Amiga, I describe only the standard AmigaDOS commands, although I USE THE ARP COMMANDS BY PREFERENCE. To install ONE typeface for PPage to use, you use the following process: (1) Make a directory for the AmigaDOS bitmap font size(s) (2) Copy the size(s) from diskette to the newly made directory (3) Copy the bitmap font ".font" file for that typeface (4) Copy the metric ".metric" file for that typeface (5) Either make, or verify one exists, a "PS" directory in the "CGFONTS:" directory (6) Copy the psfont to the "CGFONTS:PS" directory To install MORE THAN ONE typeface for PPage to use, you use the following process: It is usually better to do all of a related group, such as making the bitmap fonts directories, copy all the bitmap software parts correctly, then copy all the psfonts together. However you want to proceed, here are the AmigaDOS commands you will need to use: Makedir, Copy, Dir, Info, List, Assign. Consult chapter seven in your Amiga Owners Manual, or a good AmigaDOS manual for more detailed information about these commands. Before you can begin to do any installation where there is any doubt that there will be sufficient storage space for the new software, you must verify the amount of space available versus the amount needed. The "Info" and "List" commands are used to perform the helpful functions needed. ----------- This is a result of using the "Info" command ------ Mounted disks: Unit Size Used Free Full Errs Status Name DF0: 880K 1678 80 95% 0 Read Only ProStream PPagePS 01 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ | | | | | | | This This This This This This This is is is is is is is the the the the the the the Hard- TOTAL FILLED EMPTY PER- CAN SOFTWARE ware BYTES BLOCKS BLOCKS CENT WE NAME name. EXISTS USED WRITE? ------------------------------------------------------------------ The INFO example tells us we have 80 blocks free. (A block is about 1/2 a KBYTE, so we have 40 KBYTES FREE on this disk. This disk is "Read Only" so we have to close the diskette write protect to write to it. We need to "List all the data files to find out how many blocks they would require. Examples C.L.I. commands: PROMPT > Info ; (press return) PROMPT > Dir CGFONTS: ; (press return) PROMPT > Dir CGFONTS:PS ; (press return) PROMPT > List DF0:CGFONTS/PS ; (press return) PROMPT > List DF0:CGFONTS/PS/Arctic.PSfont ; (press return) PROMPT > List DF0:FONTS ; (press return) PROMPT > List DF0:FONTS/Arctic ; (press return) PPage as a floppy system is unbearable unless you have four drives. You can exist with only one or two, but you are constantly disk-swapping. Furthermore, In version 2.0, & 1.3, If you use "Compugraphic" typefaces, they are on a diskette called "CGFONTS:" where the PS drawer for downloadable typeface files needs to be stored. Every time you use a CGfont in a new size, or in a new screen resolution, or you use letters you haven't used previously, the "CGCACHE:" drawer gets fuller. That means that the space available for these typeface files on the "CGFONTS:" diskette is secretly shrinking all the time. PPage 2.1 uses "bullet fonts" which do not require a cache. I will not tell you anything about how to solve this problem for 2.0 or 1.3; I refuse any responsibility for anything you try in attempting to solve this problem; and my only hint is to learn every AmigaDOS command which begins with the letter "D" and practice them only on backup copies of disks before trying them for real. Now you have to figure this one out for yourself. The point is, not only do you not have much room to add anything to the floppy disk setup provided by Gold Disk, but you have even less space than you think you do. Cheer up. Hard drives are much cheaper than they were just a couple of years ago. ====================================================== INSTALLING AMIGADOS STANDARD DISKFONT BITMAP FONTS AmigaDOS standard diskfonts need to be installed for Ppage to use, but are also used by many other Paint & Video Title programs, such as AmigaVision, DPaint, Notepad, Scala, TV*Text, and many many more. The Amiga is a multitasking computer. Many programs running simultaneously need to use fonts. AmigaDOS standard format fonts are located in three places: (1) ROM or Read Only Memory, (2) RAM or Random Access Memory, and (3) mass storage or disks. Fonts stored on disks are loaded into RAM as requested, where they remain until freed by the program calling them, and where they still remain until some other program then requests use of the RAM memory they occupy. Any font in RAM or ROM can be used by any program, and is located through the operating system. Fonts stored on diskette or hard drive, or any other type of mass storage connected to an Amiga can only be loaded into RAM for use if the font can be located. A hard drive can have thousands upon thousands of files, so the Amiga Disk Operating System (DOS) needs help in locating diskfonts. The system standard way of locating fonts, and relocating to find other fonts, is the "Assign" command. "FONTS:" is a logical device, assigned by the system at early startup. All requests for a list of fonts, or requests to load a specified font, are directed by the DOS to the "FONTS:" directory. If the requested font is not in the "FONTS:" directory, then the requester is out of luck, even if the font is there in the directory next door to the "FONTS:" dir. You, the Amiga user, have the responsibility of seeing that the correct dir is assigned before a program you use goes requesting fonts you know are stored in that dir. Success or failure is up to you. The "Assign" command has three uses, or functions: (1) it reports all logical device assignments presently existing; (2) it removes, or cancels, an assignment without replacing it; and (3) it creates an assignment which does not presently exist, or changes an assignment. Use of the Assign command involves one, two, or three words on the command line, corresponding to the above three functions. C.L.I. examples: PROMPT > Assign PROMPT > Assign FONTS: PROMPT > Assign FONTS: DF0:FONTS ------------ The first example: ASSIGN as reporting ------ Volumes: ProStream PPagePS 01 [Mounted] Lions [Mounted] Directories: CGCache HD1:CGFonts/CGCache CGFonts HD1:CGFonts PPageUtil HD1:PPageUtil PPage HD1:PPage fonts HD1:PPageUtil/fonts S HD0:s L HD0:l C HD0:c DEVS HD0:devs LIBS HD0:libs SYS HD0: Devices: NEWCON DF1 DF0 PRT PAR SER RAW CON RAM DH0 DH1 -------------------------------------------------------------- What you see is a three-part report of devices known to the system at the moment the assign command was issued. The top part is physical hardware devices, called volumes, and there are two named: "Lions:" and "ProStream PPagePS 01", and both are mounted, which means the disks are in the drives. The second part of the listing is a two-column list, titled directories. This is the only one of practical interest at this moment. We look down the list for "fonts" and find it. Over to the right is "HD1:PPageUtil/fonts", which means the assign command has reported that fonts will be located by DOS in this filepath, (drawer within a drawer on this hard drive). The second example cancels the "fonts:" assignment. If you did an assign report again you would find no "fonts" in the directories list. The third example inserts into that list a new assignment, now to floppy disk inserted in drive "DF0:" and into a dir named "fonts" on that disk. Until changed, all requests for diskfonts are now directed to that filepath. Logical devices are "nicknames" applied to hardware or software to simplify location in a sophisticated system. The nickname always has to have a colon ":" character added to it whenever used. When example one was in effect "FONTS:" was a nickname which meant exactly the same thing as "HD1:PPageUtil/fonts". Type "dir fonts:" or "dir HD1:PPageUtil/fonts" and you would get the same result. After example two you would get different results, because there would exist no assignment for nickname "fonts:". After example three, typing "dir fonts:" or "dir df0:fonts" would give exactly the same result. Besides saving a lot of typing of long filepaths by using assignment nicknames, assign is necessary for managing large collections of DTP and video titling fonts. Anything you can type on a command line you can store in a text file. Text files of a sequence of command line commands can be executed one after another by storing them in one file and executing the file. The DOS command for executing a file is, guess what, "Execute". There is a special text file named "Startup-Sequence" which DOS automatically executes every time the system starts up. It is stored in a special assigned directory, named "S:", for scripts, which are found by the system the same way fonts are found by the system. You can assign "FONTS:" in the startup-sequence, and always start up with your favorite fonts group assigned. You can have multiple files, with easy to remember names, stored in the "S:" directory. Examples might be "VideoFonts", "DTPfonts", "DefaultFonts", etc. Then instead of remembering a long filepath, such as "DH0:GraphicsDrawer/PaintPrograms/fonts" you can type "execute PaintFonts" and the system will locate the file you previously stored by the name of "PaintFonts" in the "S:" directory and skip all that typing and mistyping errors. Of course, you will have the command in that PaintFonts file "Assign fonts: DH0:GraphicsDrawer/PaintPrograms/fonts". PPage requires multiple assignments for installation on hard drive. They are "Fonts:", "CGfonts:", "CGcache:", "PPage:", "Env:", "T:" and "PPageUtil:". These are probably already in your startup-sequence. AmigaDOS requires six assignments of its own: "C:" (Commands), "S:" (Scripts), "L:" (Logical device drivers), "Fonts:" (self explanatory), "Devs:" (hardware Device drivers), and "Libs:" (Library resource files). Optional are "T:" (Temporary) and "Env:" (Environmental settings). Unless you absolutely know the consequences, do not use any of these required assign nicknames for naming floppy disks. A physical disk always has priority over a logical device assignment. A disk named "Fonts" will always prevent you from reassigning or cancelling a fonts assignment. Two disks both named "fonts" both mounted will crash the system the first time any program tries to access fonts. PPage will build a list of fonts from the "Fonts:" dir at the time of program startup. It requires the system diskfont "Topaz/11" to be present for correct rendering of the menus and requesters. It will function without it, but things will appear somewhat strange, with text spilling out of their designated places in the menus and requesters. At the time PPage builds this list, only fonts with correct PPage ".metric" files will be included. No fonts missing the .metric file will be available, even though they are real Amiga diskfonts in the same "fonts:" dir. Once the program has started, any reassigning of "Fonts:" will crash the system the first time you add or change any text on the screen. Deluxe Paint III & IV both change the system assignment, invisibly to the user, each time different fonts are listed in the load-font requester by typing into the "drawer" input requester box and pressing return key. DPaint will forget the previous assignment and leave it changed, systemwide, even after you exit DPaint. Remember this if multitasking, doing some touchups to bitmap graphics you are using in PPage, by using DPaint at the same time. This pretty much covers every contingency I can think of. Recapitulate: Read chapter seven. Info, Copy, Dir, List, Makedir, Assign. That pretty well sums it up. Copyright 1991, by Lion Kuntz, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 482 Hayes Street, San Francisco, California, 94102 (415) 863-1781 (Not valid phone by 1993) May not be copied or re-published in any form.