Conference bulova::decw_jan-89_to_nov-90

    You can't use .snf fonts under DECwindows. (.snf - MIT server font
    format.)
                                          
    DECwindows has its own secret .dwf font format. The official mechanism
    for letting users add their own fonts to a DECwindows system is to have
    the users express the font in Adobe ".bdf" (bitmap distribution format)
    and use a DECwindows font compiler to convert to the secret DECwindows
    format.
    
    Since the .snf format is public (documented at least in the MIT server
    sources), you may be able to convert an .snf to .bdf and then to .dwf.
    Small matter of programming... or maybe there is .snf to .bdf code
    already somewhere.
    
    (Caveat: Maybe .dwf is no longer secret? You probably still have to do
    a conversion.)

I have the Xtrek program with the .snf fonts  converted to work under
Ultrix-DECwindows (VAXstation).  

I don't have a  VAXstation anymore but I can make the code available when I
get back in the office on Friday.

Kris...

On Ultrix its dxfc that ships with DECwindows.  You type:

> dxfc xtrek.bdf > xtrek.dwf

Then move the xtrek.dwf file to the correct place.

PMAX uses the MIT file format and method you describe in .0

Neal

    ok, i copied/built/moved the font (same problem as .0) to the placed
    named by xset q, as well as tried to xset +fp /mydir; 
    
    xlsfonts doesn't show it, so xfd can't display it
    also after doing an xset +fp .... there's NO font list showed anymore
    on my pmax; i can restore it with xset fp default, and have tried an
    xset fp rehash as well;
    
    nothing appears to work; so, i copy the file and compile under a vms
    system, copy to the sys$common:[sysfont.decw.100dpi and .75dpi], do the
    ultrix system, do a setenv DISPLAY vmssys::0.0, do a xlsfonts, and
    there she is!, comes up nicely in xfd too; the xset q displays the path
    as DECW$FONT (assuming this somehow translated to the above vms
    directory)
    
    but the real question is assuming you have the .bdf source, shouldn't
    the following work on ultrix ?
    
    scenario a; VAX
    
    	dxfc xtrek.bdf > xtrek.dwf
    	cp xtrek.dwf /usr/lib/dwf/100dpi
    	cp xtrek.dwf /usr/lib/dwf/75dpi
    	{paths reported by xset q}
    	xset fp rehash
    
    scenario b: PMAX
    
    	xfc xtrek.bdf > xtrek.snf
    	cp xtrek.snf /usr/lib/X11/fonts/MIT
    	{first path reported by xset q}
    	xset fp rehash
    
    reboot or kill server
    under either, xlsfonts at this point doesn't show the font
    
    scenario c: either
    
    	xset +fp /my-local-dir
    
    clears the font path entirely; but still not seen by xlsfonts
    
    whats going on?
    
    /los
    

If you put the font in a directory that the server already knows about, you
should only need the xset fp rehash.  You also don't need to restart the server.

I would check the font files and make sure that your font has the same owner
and protection as everything else.
				Jeff

Use the following command to compile on a PMAX:

bdftosnf -t xtrek.bdf > xtrek.snf

Here is the man page from a PMAX:

NAME
     bdftosnf - BDF to SNF font compiler for X11

SYNTAX
     bdftosnf [-p#] [-s#] [-m] [-l] [-M] [-L] [-w] [-t] [bdf-
     file]

DESCRIPTION
     The bdftosnf command reads a Character Bitmap Distribution
     Format (BDF) font from the specified file (or from standard
     input if no file is specified) and writes an X11 server nor-
     mal font (SNF) to standard output.

OPTIONS
     -p#     Force the glyph padding to a specific number.  The
             legal values are 1, 2, 4, and 8.  -s# Force the
             scanline unit padding to a specific number.  The
             legal values are 1, 2, and 4.

     -m      Force the bit order to most significant bit first.

     -l      Force the bit order to least significant bit first.

     -M      Force the byte order to most significant bit first.

     -L      Force the byte order to least significant bit first.

     -w      Print warnings if the character bitmaps have bits
             set to one outside of their defined widths.

     -t      Expand glyphs in terminal-emulator fonts to fill the
             bounding box.

SEE ALSO
     X(1X), Xserver(X)


Extra Info on Xtrek on X11R3:

I have been told by some knowleageable folks that the Sun xtrek  program
that came with the MIT release 3 distribution is no good for liitle endian
machines.  Has anybody got the program to work on Ultrix?  I was lucky to
get it up once after making some changes to the TCP/IP prtion of the code.
Now, it refuses to come up at all !  I don't know what I did to break it.

Kris..

On PMAX you also have to edit the font.dir (something like that) file in the
font directory to add the new font and increase the font count at the top.

This is not necessary on a VAX.

Neal