loadfont(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System loadfont(1)
NAME
loadfont - list or change font information in the RAM of the
video card
SYNOPSIS
loadfont
loadfont -f filename
loadfont codepage
loadfont -l
loadfont -d
loadfont -m mode
DESCRIPTION
The loadfont utility allows a user to load and activate a
different font into the RAM of the video card used by the
console of the INTERACTIVE UNIX Operating System. It can
also be used to display information about the font currently
in use. In addition, the -m option can be used to change
the size of the characters on the screen; it can also be
used to change the number of lines or colors, e.g., to run
an application at the console at 43 lines at a time instead
of 25. loadfont will always read from standard output; this
will allow a system administrator to use it from a remote
terminal.
Options
loadfont
When used without arguments, loadfont displays the dif-
ferent ways the command can be used, as shown in the
synopsis.
loadfont -f filename
This command reads the contents of filename and subse-
quently loads the font specified in the file into the
RAM of the video card. If the file does not have the
correct format, an error message is produced.
loadfont codepage
If codepage is the name of a hard-coded font available
for the current font size, this font will be loaded
into the RAM of the video card and activated. Avail-
able font names are listed when the -l option is used.
If the codepage argument specified is not the name of a
valid font, an error message will be produced.
loadfont -l
This option displays a short description of the fonts
that are hard-coded into the program and the name that
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loadfont(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System loadfont(1)
can be passed as a codepage. Only the fonts that match
the current font size are listed. loadfont -l also
displays the different character modes supported by
loadfont and the exact name that should be used with
the -m option. Here is a sample output:
Codepages supported for this size font are:
Name Description
________________________________
437 IBM 437 codepage
8859 ISO 8859-1 codeset
8859g ISO 8859-1 with graphics
850 IBM 850 codepage
Different possible text modes supported are:
Name Description
________________________________
E80x43 EGA 80 columns 43 lines
E40x25 EGA 40 columns 25 lines
E80x25 EGA 80 columns 25 lines
V40x25 VGA 40 columns 25 lines
V80x25 VGA 80 columns 25 lines
8859g means the 8859-1 codeset with box-drawing charac-
ters in column 9 of the table (characters 0x90 to
0x9a).
loadfont -d
This reads the font information from the video RAM and
writes it to standard output in a format compatible
with the Binary Distribution Format version 2.1 as
developed by Adobe Systems, Inc.
loadfont -m mode
This will attempt to change the mode of the console as
specified. This will result in having a different font
size and/or different number of lines and columns on
the screen. The mode that can be specified should be
one of the choices listed above in the loadfont -l out-
put. If an invalid argument is specified, an error
message is produced.
Fonts
A font is the representation of characters by images. The
need to use different fonts can be imposed by:
1.The codeset used to represent the characters inter-
nally.
2.The resolution used to display the characters.
Each font contains exactly 256 images. All fonts supported
are fixed size (constant width and constant height), i.e.,
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loadfont(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System loadfont(1)
each character takes the same amount of space on the screen.
When the monitor is not being used in graphics mode, the
loadfont utility allows a user to modify the font used by
the video card, so different images are displayed on the
screen of the console for the various characters. Depending
on the type of video card used, different text modes can be
supported by the same video card. They typically differ by
the number of pixels used to represent a single character.
For each character, the same number of pixels is used. For
the standard video cards, the different resolutions sup-
ported (all or a subset) are:
8 by 8 ( 8 horizontally and 8 vertically)
8 by 14
8 by 16
When loadfont is invoked to modify the existing font, it
will attempt to do so for the font size currently in use.
Use the -m option to switch to another font size.
loadfont and ttymap
There is an almost one-to-one relationship between the use
of the loadfont utility and the ttymap utility. Whereas
loadfont is used to list or modify the images that
correspond with the various characters, the ttymap utility
is used to determine how characters are generated from the
keyboard and which code (a single byte code) will be used to
represent the character internally. The default representa-
tion is the IBM extended ASCII codeset, often also referred
to as ``IBM codepage 437.'' A ttymap sample input file is
supplied that can be used for this codeset on a console with
a U.S. keyboard (usa.map). When a different keyboard is
used, a different ttymap input file is required (e.g.,
french.map for a French keyboard).
When a different codeset is used, both a different ttymap
input file and a different font are required. For the most
popular codesets, fonts are hard-coded into the loadfont
program for the 8 by 16 resolution (see ``Fonts''). If
these fonts do not satisfy your needs (because you want to
use a different font size or because a customized font is
required, e.g., a Greek font), a loadfont description file
to be used with the -f option is needed. A sample file that
describes the IBM extended ASCII font for an 8 by 16 resolu-
tion is supplied (vga437.bdf). A second sample file,
646g.bdf, contains a font file for German ASCII. See
ttymap(1) and loadfont(5) for additional details.
WARNING
When an attempt is made to switch to a mode that the video
card does not support (e.g., a switch to EGA on a VGA card
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loadfont(1) INTERACTIVE UNIX System loadfont(1)
that has no EGA mode) you will get a blank screen. There is
nothing wrong with the system; simply type in the command to
set the mode back, e.g.:
loadfont -m V80x25
FILES
/usr/lib/loadfont/vga437.bdf
sample Bitmap Distribution Format (BDF)
file for IBM 437 font on a VGA
/usr/lib/loadfont/646g.bdf
sample BDF file for German ASCII
SEE ALSO
ttymap(1), display(7).
loadfont(5) in the INTERACTIVE SDS Guide and Programmer's
Reference Manual.
ADDED VALUE
This entry, supplied by INTERACTIVE Systems Corporation, is
an extension of UNIX System V.
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