I put together a little tool to allow non-Synchronet BBS systems to send
custom fonts to SyncTERM. You run it right at connect to load a handful
of fonts from a config file, and then you can switch to them with ANSI
escape codes (for example to load the LORE game font before running LORE,
or if you wanted to make a newspaper font for your daily news or something
I duno..).

Win32 & DOS

I threw it up on another.tel and bbs.anduin.net filename stfn-02b.zip or
via http @ https://kirin.dcclost.com/~alex/stfn-02b.zip

Let me know how it goes :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (21:1/616)

I put together a little tool to allow non-Synchronet BBS systems to send custom fonts to SyncTERM. You run it right at connect to load a handful
of fonts from a config file, and then you can switch to them with ANSI escape codes (for example to load the LORE game font before running LORE, or if you wanted to make a newspaper font for your daily news or something I duno..).

Sounds like a very cool tool! Definitely going to check it out and play around. Thanks!


Chris/akacastor


--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

On 22 Apr 2024, fusion said the following...

I threw it up on another.tel and bbs.anduin.net filename stfn-02b.zip or via http @ https://kirin.dcclost.com/~alex/stfn-02b.zip

Let me know how it goes :)

figures "how it goes" would be "bodged it immediately" .. lol

https://kirin.dcclost.com/~alex/stfn-03b.zip for the updated version..

in case you happened to download the 02b zip after i updated it, it includes the new zip file + oops.txt .. :)

same as before, if it's busted, lemme know :)

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (21:1/616)

https://kirin.dcclost.com/~alex/stfn-03b.zip for the updated version..

I haven't gotten it working, it returns errorlevel 1 each time it's run and doesn't seem to send anything to the com port.

Is the FOSSIL port # 0-based or 1-based?

The .CFG file has 3 fonts listed but only one font file is in the directory. I commented out the 2 fonts that I don't have files for, but it doesn't seem to have made a difference.

Are the font #s in SyncTerm 0-based or 1-based? When I look through the font list in SyncTerm I count 43. Should the first font listed in the .CFG file be 43 or 44?

When I run "ST16 1" (or "ST16 0") it doesn't output anything on the console. Just errorlevel 1.


Chris/akacastor

--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

On 24 Apr 2024, AKAcastor said the following...

https://kirin.dcclost.com/~alex/stfn-03b.zip for the updated version..

sigh.. updated again :) i should perhaps be a little nicer about game devs that ship buggy games.. then again we don't get paid for bbs stuff ;)

https://kirin.dcclost.com/~alex/stfn-04b.zip

I haven't gotten it working, it returns errorlevel 1 each time it's run and doesn't seem to send anything to the com port.

Is the FOSSIL port # 0-based or 1-based?

sorry for wasting your time.. though it was definitely helpful to me.

it's 0 based.. which i didn't account for. fixed that. apparently it's not a good idea to develop targeting NetFossil because it's *extremely* lenient (fossil init seems to never fail there either.. i'll be booting my os/2 vm for stuff like that now)

The .CFG file has 3 fonts listed but only one font file is in the directory. I commented out the 2 fonts that I don't have files for, but
it doesn't seem to have made a difference.

sorry, yeah it's just an example. either the link in the config file, or the windows syncterm package should include a bunch more fonts. wasn't really sure about just nicking the whole set.

Are the font #s in SyncTerm 0-based or 1-based? When I look through the font list in SyncTerm I count 43. Should the first font listed in the .CFG file be 43 or 44?

zero. the first non-default one would be 43.

When I run "ST16 1" (or "ST16 0") it doesn't output anything on the console. Just errorlevel 1.

thanks for your patience. hopefully it's all set now.

Alex

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (21:1/616)

sigh.. updated again :) i should perhaps be a little
nicer about game devs that ship buggy games.. then again
we don't get paid for bbs stuff ;) https://kirin.dcclost.com/~alex/stfn-04b.zip

Seems to have the same behaviour on my system. Nothing output, returns errorlevel 1.

sorry, yeah it's just an example. either the link in the
config file, or the windows syncterm package should
include a bunch more fonts. wasn't really sure about
just nicking the whole set.

The fonts included in the Syncterm package will already be available in Syncterm, I assume? So they're just for illustrative purposes (but wouldn't actually provide an additional font)?

I assume only .F16 fonts (4KB filesize) are supported?

BTW the file endings on the doc and cfg are unix-style, so they don't display quite right in DOS.

Is there documentation on the font support in SyncTerm? I didn't search too hard but didn't find anything describing the escape sequences used other than the brief description in STFN.DOC.


Chris/akacastor

--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

On 24 Apr 2024, AKAcastor said the following...

Seems to have the same behaviour on my system. Nothing output, returns errorlevel 1.

made a little video for how i run it. not really sure why it's misbehaving now..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OG86f-lN6Xs

The fonts included in the Syncterm package will already be available in Syncterm, I assume? So they're just for illustrative purposes (but wouldn't actually provide an additional font)?

not quite. the ones included in the Syncterm pack don't seem to be used by default, but can be added into a custom list and then selected to be default for a specific bbs in the dialing directory. from what i can tell Synchronet itself always sends the font manually if it's not in that original 43.

I assume only .F16 fonts (4KB filesize) are supported?

F16, F14 and F8 are seemingly the only ones Sync & Syncterm supports (it checks the file size to determine which one is which in the code. at least
for the version of Syncterm I have)

Is there documentation on the font support in SyncTerm? I didn't search too hard but didn't find anything describing the escape sequences used other than the brief description in STFN.DOC.

the fonts can be created with https://int10h.org/blog/2019/05/fontraption-vga-text-mode-font-editor/
and the docs are here https://gitlab.synchro.net/main/sbbs/-/raw/master/src/conio/cterm.txt

BTW the file endings on the doc and cfg are unix-style, so they don't display quite right in DOS.

i'll update it if we manage to get it to work.. a bit disheartening heh. the st32.exe one runs on my bbs fine and the st16.exe one seems to work okay in the video, but that doesn't mean anything if it doesn't work for anyone else!
:)

Alex

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (21:1/616)

Seems to have the same behaviour on my system.
Nothing output, returns errorlevel 1.

made a little video for how i run it. not really sure
why it's misbehaving now..

Progress!

Now, when I run it, in Syncterm I see:

ST-FONT v0.4b (c) 2024 Alexander Grotewohl (fusion)
Terminal type is... NOT SyncTERM. Bailing.


It's better than nothing! :)


Chris/akacastor


--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

Now, when I run it, in Syncterm I see:

ST-FONT v0.4b (c) 2024 Alexander Grotewohl (fusion)
Terminal type is... NOT SyncTERM. Bailing.

Looking at the serial log, after "ESC[c" is sent by ST16, Syncterm responds "ESC[=67;84;101;114;109;1;31c".

However, once "ESC[=67;84;" has been received, ST16 immediately responds that the terminal is NOT Sycnterm.


Chris/akacastor


--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)

On 24 Apr 2024, AKAcastor said the following...

Now, when I run it, in Syncterm I see:

ST-FONT v0.4b (c) 2024 Alexander Grotewohl (fusion)
Terminal type is... NOT SyncTERM. Bailing.

Looking at the serial log, after "ESC[c" is sent by ST16, Syncterm responds "ESC[=67;84;101;114;109;1;31c".

However, once "ESC[=67;84;" has been received, ST16 immediately responds that the terminal is NOT Sycnterm.

okie dokie, https://kirin.dcclost.com/~alex/stfn-05b.zip

hopefully that's the last one hehe

thanks again,
Alex

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/25 (Windows/32)
* Origin: cold fusion - cfbbs.net - grand rapids, mi (21:1/616)

okie dokie, https://kirin.dcclost.com/~alex/stfn-05b.zip

hopefully that's the last one hehe

Yes - it's working in DOS 6.22 w/X00 here!


Chris/akacastor


--- Maximus 3.01
* Origin: Another Millennium - Canada - another.tel (21:1/162)