This page describes setting the fontpath on the
ViewStation.
Loading Fonts to the ViewStation
There are a few simple requirements for using fonts. The
ViewStation can read .pcf, .bdf, or .snf font formats directly. If you
are using a font server, the server takes care of differences in server
format, so you don't have to have .snf fonts for the ViewStation.
Fonts must have the correct format (.pcf, .bdf, or
.snf). This was discussed above.
The fontpath must be correctly given to the ViewStation so
it can locate the fonts. If you're using a font server, its path must
be included.
There must be a fonts.dir directory.
There should be a fonts.alias directory (optional).
Setting the Fontpath
The fontpath is entered automatically if you use the automatic
HDSware configuration feature of the HDS ViewStation. You can also enter
the fontpath in Setup Mode on the User Preferences menu. A typical
path might be:
/FXUtilities/hds-fx/fonts/75dpi/,/FXUtilities/hds-fx/fonts/misc
where FXUtilities is the HDSware host and path.
If you have a font server, your path might be:
tcp/hostA:7000
You can use multiple hosts and multiple directories
separated by commas. If one host or directory is not reachable, the
ViewStation still uses the remaining ones. If the same .snf fonts are
located in more than one path, or on more than one host, only the first
path correctly reached will be used.
Backup Font Hosts
The font server has an alternate font server list as part of
its configuration. This is discussed in ViewStation
File Access.
If you use a regular fontpath, you can specify that a font
host act as a backup, and there is a little trick to make this happen.
You specify the same "local mount directory" for each host, then specify
the remote directory for each host (on the Remote hosts menu in Setup
Mode), so the resulting local font paths are the same. The server will
try each host which matches the local mount directory until it finds
one that responds. The Local Mount Directory specified must be the same
for each host, and only one font path using that mount point is entered
in Setup Mode.
For example, on the Remote host menu:
Remote Host 1:
Host Name: hdssun3
Network
address: 128.91.3.1
Local Mount Directory: /fonts
Remote
Mount Directory: /usr/lib/X11/fonts/hds-fx/fonts
Remote Host 2:
Host Name: hdssun6
Network address:
128.92.7.5
Local Mount Directory: /fonts
Remote Mount
Directory: /home/HDS/hds-fx/fonts
and so on.
If the font path entered in Setup Mode is
"/fonts/75dpi,/fonts/misc,/fonts/ 100dpi", then Remote host 1 will be
contacted first for all fonts, with Remote host 2 active as a backup in
case host 1 is not available.
Verifying the Fontpath Setting
You can use the xset command to set the fontpath. For instance,
xset fp= /usr/lib/X11/hds-fx/fonts/100dpi/
The command to update the fontpath setting is:
xset fp rehash
The HDS ViewStation automatically updates the fontpath when
you Apply Changes in Setup Mode (note the message at the bottom of the
Setup Mode window). You will probably also want to save the fontpath
setting in the ViewStation's NVM. If you have changed the fontpath, you
should verify that the fontpath is correctly registered or save it in
NVM and restart the ViewStation to be certain it is correctly read.
You can check the fontpath with the xset query command:
xset q
which shows many of your current server settings,
including the fontpath.
You can also use the xlsfonts command to show the available
fonts in your fontpath.
This is useful because it shows the
valid aliases as well as normal fonts. If you have set the fontpath in
Setup Mode, you will notice that the fontpath includes HDS$$ROM in
addition to your designated directory. This indicates that the ROM
fonts are in the search path. If you wish to append them to your font
path (a good idea), you can do it with the xset command as follows (the
command xset +fp puts the new directory at the beginning of the search
path and xset fp+ puts it at the end): xset fp+
/HDS\$\$ROM/
At this point, your xset query should show the correct
fontpaths, and your xls fonts query should list all the fonts you have
available. You can test the operation of your loaded fonts by running
an xterm program specifying one of the particular fonts in your
fontpath. Use a command line such as: xterm -fn timB18
to load the 18 point times bold proportional font. This xterm
will look strange because of the proportional font, but the font
appearance is distinctive so you'll know the font loaded correctly. If
the font doesn't load, a default will often be selected and an error
line appears saying the font couldn't be found. If you specify a font
by its entire font name (not its file name), you can use wild card
characters in the name, but you must use single quotation marks around
the font name, such as: xterm -fn
'*times-bold-*-180-*'
The wildcard characters are special UNIX characters and
the entire name must be quotation marks or the wildcards each preceded
by a backslash \, such as: xterm -fn
\*times-bold-\*-180-\*
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